Reply to C&O Canal Usage Fee Proposal

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Reply to C&O Canal Usage Fee Proposal

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Ray (webmaster) on 1/12/2015 5:47:41 AM:

C and O Canal Invites Feedback on Proposal to Increase and Expand Entrance and Other Fees Park-wide

http://www.nps.gov/choh/parknews/c-and-o-canal-invites-feedback-on-proposal-to-increase-and-expand-entrance-and-other-fees-park-wide.htm

Paul A on 1/14/2015 11:15:42 PM:

Not unreasonable or surprising considering the state of our nations budget. The only thing I don't get is paying the same for hiker/biker camping as drive-up camping. When I hiked the trail in 2011 not all of the hiker/biker sites had a picnic table or a handle on the water pump. Still a nice and cheap vacation though, all things considered.

John from Pittsburgh, PA on 1/17/2015 1:00:26 PM:

I always thought the free hiker/biker sites were an incredible deal if you didn't feel like staying at a hotel. I'm actually quite surprised it's always been free access to the park for this long. I'd be willing to pay for a 3, 5, or 7 day pass however they decide to break it down. Not sure how they'll enforce it as there are tons of access points. It's not like Yellowstone NP where you have just a handful of remote entrances. If this means keeping this wonderful resource running smoothly, I'm all for it. I've read that staff working at the park has been slashed big time over the last 10 years. If this sees just a few more employees hired as well as making sure all of the existing water pumps are working, why not?

Jim Simm from Hagerstown, MD on 1/19/2015 6:58:26 AM:

After watching the NPS squander their operating budget barricading parking lots with Jersey walls, pallet banding shut the port-a-johns, removing the pump handles and scheduling more enforcement personnel to patrol the towpath than routinely assigned when the park was normally open, during the 2013 government shutdown. I have no sympathy or patients for any of this chicanery… $22 a night indeed to stay at a primitive hiker-biker campsite, just plain lunacy in my book. With all that college education sitting around at park HQ in Hagerstown it is any wonder that they could not conceived a more constructive means to close the budget shortfall instead of saddling it on the backs of the taxpayers. I am planning to attend the 28th public meeting at park HQ and give them a piece of my mind and strongly encourage anyone who values the towpath and what it stands for to show up also. Jim

John on 1/19/2015 2:33:48 PM:

Many other Parks charge some Fee even for day use. They are just trying to make up for budget shortfalls and with the current Political climate (and new majority) in Washington I expect the funding in Parks to be severely slashed.

CLB from Bel-Air/Cresaptown area on 1/29/2015 2:23:39 PM:

I can understand some kind of fees to help with upkeep, but there are more questions than answers...How would it be enforced? A lot of people walk or bike every day from their home, not a specific access point for exercise....Other people walk/ride ~7 times, but scattered throughout the month...a 7 day pass wouldn't help that. Parking fees would require a complex schedule as some park in 1 spot and return to it, some park somewhere to drop off & park somewhere else to pick up, some are there for 20 mins, an hour or two, all day, or multiple days....some use it daily or it's a one shot deal. Some try to visit on a holiday, when they're off & find they have to walk half-way across town to use a bathroom because things are closed & locked up (Labor Day 2014)Enforcement, if it could be done, would be labor intensive...(this would be paid for HOW? People wouldn't & many even couldn't pay the fees that would pay for the salaries)We need many more answers before we can say OK.

John from Hancock, MD on 1/30/2015 9:06:22 AM:

I can just see it now. Heightened enforcement personnel and patrols along the towpath where the conversation does not start with “Hello, how are you today and are you enjoying your towpath experience” but rather “YOUR PAPERS PLEASE”! So much for innocent until proven guilty.

Awf Hand from Chippewa Falls on 2/2/2015 11:18:23 AM:

While the proposed 20$ primitive camping fee probably won't make me change my overall trip plans, it will make me rethink where I pitch my tent and whether there are enough other amenities on that patch of ground to make it worth the money.

Anonymous on 2/4/2015 3:59:51 PM:

I finally thought I had found something I wanted to do every year. $20 a night? Im done.

Awf Hand from Chippewa Falls on 2/5/2015 5:24:19 PM:

The comment period for this ends on Feb 22, 2015. PLEASE GIVE THEM FEEDBACK. Commenting here can help get the word out about the proposal, but often-times committees and boards operate in a vacuum of comment. If you don't submit feedback, they will only hear from those who made the proposal.

George from Hancock, MD on 2/9/2015 11:13:20 PM:

It was reveled at the Hancock meeting this evening that the NPS is backing off on their intent to raise entrance fees and impose a $20 per night fee at all of the hiker/biker campsites. Instead, they are going to focus on collecting parking fees at Great Falls Tavern to close the budget shortfall. It was also discussed that the NPS C&O Canal owns some rather expensive and sophisticated “paving” equipment, however, has only enough discretionary funds to resurface only, ONLY two miles this fiscal year and no means to pay qualified personnel to properly and safely operate the paving machine. If that wasn’t enough there apparently is a whole slue of deferred maintenance items (locks, culverts, aqueducts, wears, etc…) and the general mentality by upper management is to let them fail before any genuine effort is forwarded to repair much less maintain anything. In light of these facts, it is apparent that the entire infrastructure of the 184.5 mile canal/towpath is doomed to collapse into disrepair, ruin and decay.

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