San Diego, CA – Starting on January 1, 2016, Cabrillo National Monument (NM) will increase entrance fees for visitors in order to fund important maintenance and improvement projects within the park.
Fees will increase from $5 to $10 per vehicle for 7-day entry. The Annual Pass will go from $15 to $20 per year. Motorcycles will pay $7 for entry and pedestrians and bicyclists will now pay $5 instead of $3 for a 7-day visit. This will be the first increase since the park began charging an entrance fee 27 years ago.
“This modest increase in fees will allow us to continue to protect, preserve and share the natural and cultural resources here at Cabrillo NM with current visitors and future generations,” said Superintendent Thomas Workman. “After carefully considering the impact of a fee increase on visitors and community members, we came to the conclusion that this is the right course of action to improve facilities and services important to visitors.”
Entrance fees have supported a wide range of projects that improve the park and visitor experiences, including rehabilitating trails, education programing, removing exotic plants to restore natural habitat, and the creation of a new park film. Additional revenue from this fee increase will upgrade military history exhibits, construct an accessible interpretive shelter at the tide pools and rehabilitate the Main public restrooms at the visitor center, to name a few.
In the fall of 2014, the National Park Service conducted a nationwide review of entrance fees. To solicit public input, Cabrillo NM launched a civic engagement campaign in November 2014. During the public comment period, the park received 49 formal comments. Many people felt that the original proposal was too much of an increase to make all at once. In response to public comment, the park modified the proposal to reduce the
amounts.