Land of the Fee: Entrance Fees and the National Park Service

Abstract

What are the implications of increasing a public agency's ability to generate its own revenue for political control of the bureaucracy? This article uses historical cases of public land user fees to argue that, under certain conditions, such a change, rather than increasing agency autonomy, actually facilitates congressional intervention and control. Specifically, if the revenue increase carries no guarantees of increased appropriations and maintained levels of discretion, then old funds are supplanted by new funds with new strings attached. I illustrate the argument by examining the impacts of increased entrance fees on the National Park Service in recent years.

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