Lake Mead entrance fee rises Friday

Entrance fees to Lake Mead National Recreation will increase $5 on Friday, June 1.

The fee, which provides entrance to the park for seven days, will be $25 per private vehicle, $20 per motorcycle and $15 for bicyclists, pedestrians and those on horseback. An annual Lake Mead park pass will cost $45. Camping and vessel fees remain the same.

The higher fees are being charged at 117 national parks to provide additional funds for infrastructure and maintenance.

“Revenue from entrance fees has allowed us to address deferred maintenance and upgrade our campgrounds, extend our launch ramps and provide quality experiences for our visitors,” said Lizette Richardson, park superintendent.

Eighty percent of entrance fees charged at Lake Mead remain in the park and have been used for projects such as the nearly $2 million renovation project at Boulder Beach Campground this spring, and more than $5 million in the past few years to extend launch ramps.

The park plans to use future fee revenue to make additional improvements to its campgrounds and launch ramps while supporting other projects that have direct visitor benefit and improve the visitors’ experience, such as repair and maintenance of facilities, enhanced amenities, resource protection and additional programs and services.

National parks have experienced record-breaking visitation, with more than 1.5 billion visitors in the past five years. Throughout the country, the combination of an aging infrastructure and increased visitation has put a strain on park roads, bridges, campgrounds, waterlines, bathrooms and other visitor services and led to a $11.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog nationwide.

The current rates at Lake Mead have been in effect since 2016.

Entrance fees are not charged to those with interagency, senior, access or military passes. Information about the passes can be found at https://www.nps.gov/lake/planyourvisit/fees.htm.

Additionally, the Park Service offers a free Every Kid in a Park Pass is free to U.S. fourth-graders as well as a free annual pass to those who volunteer 250 service hours with federal agencies.

There also are several entrance fee-free days offered each year; the remaining fee-free days for 2018 are Sept. 22 and Nov. 11.