White Sands National Monument Addresses Infrastructure Needs & Improves Visitor Experience
ALAMOGORDO - In April 2018, the National Park Service announced service-wide fee increases for all entrance-fee charging parks. Therefore, White Sands will modify its entrance fees to fully incorporate the new entrance fee schedule and provide additional funding for infrastructure and maintenance needs to enhance the visitor experience. All of the money received from entrance fees remains with the National Park Service, with 80 percent of the revenue staying at White Sands.
Effective Jan. 1, 2020, the entrance fees to the park will be $25 per vehicle, $15 per person, and $20 per motorcycle. Entrance fees are valid for entry for seven consecutive days from the date of purchase.
The revenue from entrance fees at White Sands has enabled rehabilitation to the park’s accessible Interdune Boardwalk Trail, restoration of the porch poles of the historic Spanish pueblo-adobe visitor center, and a complete rehabilitation of the monument’s 1930s era sewage system. In addition, a significant revitalization to the park’s water tower was conducted in 2019 to provide much-needed repairs to the park’s water delivery system.
Park entrance fees have been used to update and repair the park’s picnic facilities, create exhibits for the visitor center museum, and facilitate park ranger-led public programs.
On Jan. 1, 2020, the price of the annual White Sands National Monument Pass will be $45; however, the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass and Lifetime Senior Pass will remain $80. The Access Pass and Annual Pass for U.S. Military remain free. For more information visit: www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm
White Sands has charged an entrance fee since 1937, and the park is one of 165 National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee; the other 254 national parks remain free to enter.
Details on park projects funded by entrance fees can be found at https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/management/yourdollarsatwork.htm.
For park information, hours, and entrance fees, please visit the monument website at www.nps.gov/whsa.
About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 419 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
