The National Park Service announced on Monday Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park will increase its entrance fees for Point Park to provide additional funding for infrastructure and maintenance needs to enhance the visitor experience. Effective Jan. 1, 2020, the entrance fees to the park will be $10 per person, ages 16 and older, for a seven day visit. An annual park pass will be $35.
All revenue received from entrance fees remain with the National Park Service and helps ensure a quality experience for all who visit, it was stated.
At Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, 100 percent of entrance fees stay in the park and are devoted to projects that support the visitor.
“Park entrance fees are a vital part of our overall strategy to fund infrastructure repairs and improve the experience for all park visitors,” said Superintendent Brad Bennett. “With additional investments from annual project funding and philanthropic support from park partners, we are committed to preserving this special place for future generations.”
In response to public comments on a fee proposal released in October 2017, there will be a modest increase for all entrance fee-charging parks, rather than the higher peak-season fees initially proposed only for 17 highly-visited national parks.
National parks have experienced record breaking visitation, with more than 1.5 billion visitors in the last five years. Throughout the country, the combination of an aging infrastructure and increased visitation has put a strain on park roads, bridges, campgrounds, waterlines, restrooms, and other visitor services and led to a $11.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog nationwide, officials said.
The additional revenue from entrance fees at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park "will help further reduce the park’s maintenance backlog on visitor centers, cultural landscapes, historic monuments, and more than 80 miles of trails. Within the past two years, entrance fee revenues have funded repairs to the Point Park flagstone walkways, rehabilitation of the exterior façade of the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center, and an engineering study to renovate the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center atrium. The next major fee-funded project will be a reconstruction of the visitor restrooms at the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center across the street from Point Park."
Point Park has collected entrance fees since 1998. The current rate of $7 per person has been in effect since January, 2018. While Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is one of 117 units within the National Park System that charges an entrance fee, the other 302 sites managed by the National Park Service will remain free to enter.
Entrance fees are not charged to persons aged 15 years and younger or to pass holders of the America the Beautiful: The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass series, which includes the Annual Pass, the Senior Pass, the Access Pass, and the Military Pass. The price of the annual America the Beautiful: The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass and lifetime senior pass will remain $80. These passes may be obtained at the Point Park entrance fee station in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. All other destinations within the 9,000-acre expanse of the park – such as Cravens House, Ochs Gateway, Signal Point, Sherman Reservation, Orchard Knob, Moccasin Bend, and Chickamauga Battlefield – remain free of any entrance fees.
The purpose of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is to preserve, protect, and interpret the nationally significant resources associated with the Civil War Campaign for Chattanooga and the 12,000 years of American Indian presence on Moccasin Bend. With its historic significance, scenic views, and 80-mile trail system, the park continues to serve as a major driver of the local tourism economy, remaining the top tourist destination in the greater Chattanooga area with close to 1 million visitors annually. In 2018, park visitors spent almost $56 million in surrounding communities, supporting 837 jobs in the local area for a cumulative economic benefit of over $69 million to the local economy.