The Obama administration sent to Congress a $1.5 billion proposal to upgrade national parks, using a combination of tax money, fee increases, donations and commercial partnerships for a three-year improvement plan marking the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.
The National Park Service Centennial Act would seek $100 million in private donations each year for three years, matching them dollar-for-dollar with tax money for special “challenge” projects. It would spend another $900 million to address a maintenance backlog in parks, and $300 million for projects on other federal lands.
Those improvements would be funded, in part, by increasing the cost of a lifetime pass for senior citizens. People aged 62 and older now pay $10 for the lifetime pass, which would be raised to $80. The remaining $70 would help fund a $300 million National Park Service Second Century Fund. The proposal would also add 5% to the cost of camping or lodging in national parks.
But the program would also expand the use of free park passes for people who volunteer 250 or more hours a year. Right now, that program is capped at $3.5 million, which allows for only about 43,750 passes at $80 apiece. Last year, 247,000 people volunteered almost 6.7 million hours of time.
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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I’m all for improving the national parks, especially as a member of the National Parks Foundation. I would advise more modest fee increases than those being proposed. We could build one less jet fighter or strategic bomber and get a good ways there. But I like to see the President pushing some initiative, regardless.