Entrance Fees May Double for National Parks
BALDWIN: A Grand Canyon visit may soon cost you twice as much as it normally does for park entrance fees. The National Park Service wants to charge $70 for admission. That is more than double the current prices to 17 popular parks during peak season, that includes Yellowstone, Yosemite, Mount Lanier. The hiked fee would help pay for infrastructure improvements. Critics say it could become unaffordable for a lot of Americans. The National Park Conservation Association say, quote, "The administration just proposed a major cut to the National Park Service budget, even as parks struggle with billions of dollars in needed repairs." With me now, Don Hafner. He and his wife have visited all 59 national parks in 59 weeks. I'm so jealous. I said my New Year's resolution was to visit more parks. So I'm jealous of you Don Hafner. Can you tell me your favorite park and why?</s>DON HAFNER, HAS VISITED ALL U.S. NATIONAL PARKS: Hi, Brooke, and thanks so much for having me today. That's a question that we get all the time. And it's really difficult to pick a favorite. But I would suggest to everyone, if you can get to Denali National Park in Alaska, it's a very special place.</s>BALDWIN: That's a good one. Bucket list. Bucket list.</s>HAFNER: Yes.</s>BALDWIN: All right. So the fact that potentially the entrance fee could go up to $70. I understand you are saying it's a necessary evil. Why?</s>HAFNER: My understanding of the history of the national parks is that they have been chronically underfunded for 100 years. And that's an indication to me that Congress is not going to do a lot to fund them further. So it's really going to be up to the people of the United States, whether it's through charitable contributions or user fees, to help fill in that gap a little bit.</s>BALDWIN: OK.</s>HAFNER: I'll tell you I was a little surprised yesterday when I read the amount.</s>BALDWIN: You were?</s>HAFNER: But a lot of the money is going to have to come from us.</s>BALDWIN: I understand you do have a solution of sorts, you know, advice to other potential park goers. What is that? The wake of this rate hike?</s>HAFNER: Well, there are a lot of things that people can do to lower their costs. For example, Yellowstone has an annual pass just for that park of $60. And that's one way that you can save some money. But the national parks offer an annual pass. And the highest cost that anyone would have to pay for that is $80. And that gives you access to the parks that have a fee for an entire year unlimited.</s>BALDWIN: Did my annual pass last year in Wyoming in Tetons National Park. So there you go. I just have like 53 more to go. Don Hafner, thank you so very much.</s>HAFNER: You can do it.</s>BALDWIN: Nationalparks.com. I can do it. I'll get to Alaska. Thank you so much. Let's continue on our breaking news. A day after the divide in Republican Party appeared to be going deeper, the president of the United States said, moments ago, he believes there's great unity in the Republican Party. Coming up next, my CNN colleague, Breanna Keilar, joins me to do a story that hit close to home, when she was filling in for me as anchor chair a week ago. It happened amid an ugly feud that dragged Gold Star families into the public eye. Do not miss this. That's coming up.