Effective Nov. 1, 2015, Cabrillo National Monument (CNM) in Point Loma will increase entrance fees for visitors from $5 to $10 per vehicle for seven-day entry, as well as increasing the annual park pass from $15 to $20 per year.
Motorcycles will pay $7 for entry. Pedestrians/bicyclists will be charged $5 instead of $3 for a seven-day visit.
It is the first fee increase in 27 years of fee collection at the national park.
“This modest increase in fees will allow us to continue to protect, preserve and share the natural and cultural resources here at CNM with current visitors and future generations,” said National Park Service 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.”
Park entrance fees have supported a wide range of projects that improve the park and visitor experiences, including rehabilitating trails, offering education programming and removing exotic plants to restore natural habitat, as well as creating 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 Cabrillo’s visitor center.
In fall 2014, NPS conducted a nationwide review of park entrance fees. CNM followed suit with its own civic engagement campaign in November 2014. During the public comment period, CNM received 49 formal comments, on an original proposal that could have as much as tripled park entrance fees.
Many people felt that the original proposal was too much of an increase all at once. Responding to public comment, CNM modified the proposal to reduce the amounts.