agreement on every strategy, the Committee 

 agreed to present all of the strategies it 

 considered followed by the percent of support 

 among committee members for each strategy. 



Strategy 1 (see Table 1 for level of 

 committee support) : The Legislature 

 and/ or the Paries Division and FWP 

 should increase selected existing fees and 

 taxes according to Table 1. Of the 42 parks 

 in the system, 20 are fee sites. Most fee parks 

 charge an entrance fee of $4 per car. An 

 annual park pass is also available, and in the 

 fall of 2001 FWP raised the fee for the pass 

 from $20 to $24; the fee is now the same for 

 residents and non-residents alike. An early- 

 binJ discount of $4 is still available until early 

 February of each year. 



Strategy 2 (100 % support) ; Pariis 

 Divisions, specifically, regional paric 

 managers, should work with local citizens 

 and communities to foster public-private 

 partnerships and "friends of the local 

 state paric. This expectation should be 

 included in the performance appraisals for 

 regional park managers. 



The friends groups should be encouraged to 

 help the parks division articulate a vision and 

 management plan for the local park, and to 

 set-up "trusts" or other appropriate vehicles 

 to raise private funds to support their local 

 state park. 



Realizing that no single model will work for 

 all state parks, the Futures Committee 

 recognizes a number of existing arrangements 

 that seem to be working, including but not 

 limited to Friends of Makoshika, Traveler's 

 Rest, Friends of Bannack, and the Heritage 

 Park Commission. 



Strategy 3 ^89 % supp ort): The FWP 

 Commission should raise the fee for 

 candleUght tours at Lewis & Clarit 

 Caverns from $8/$5 to $15/$8. This strategy 

 was proposed because demand far outstrips 



the available slots for candlelight tours. But at 

 least one Committee member felt that these 

 fees should stay at their current levels. It 

 seemed inappropriate, they said, to raise fees 

 on local people bringing families and friends 

 to the caverns during the winter holidays. The 

 addirional revenue would be minimal, and it 

 would be more in the holiday spirit to simply 

 ask visitors to make donations in support of 

 parks if they felt so inclined. 



Sttategv 4 (78 % supp ort): The FWP 

 Commission should raise the fees for 

 annual paric passports to $30/$18 ($24/$15 

 for eariy bird purchases). Most Committee 

 members felt that the existing $24/$ 15 fee for 

 an annual park passport was a real bai^ain. 

 They agreed that park users should bear a 

 significant share of the costs for providing 

 parks, and most felt that park users would 

 understand the need for a fee increase and 

 accept it. But several Committee members 

 said that the park system provides a 

 widespread public benefit and so should be 

 supported by all Montanans. They worried 

 that increasing entrance and annual passport 

 fees would inhibit some Montanans from 

 using the parks. 



Strategy 5 (67 % support) ; The 

 Legislature should pass a referendum to 

 either (a) create a one- mill levy dedicated 

 to state parks (which would result in 

 about $2.2 miUion annually); or (b) create 

 a license plate fee - that is, adding a $4 or $5 

 fee to the purchase of license plates for all 

 vehicles "one-ton" and under. Given that 

 there are about 900,000 vehicles that would be 

 subject to the license plate fee, this strategy 

 would generate a total of $3.6 to $4.5 million, 

 or a net gain of about $3.1 to $3.9 million 

 each year. People would still be required to 

 pay for camping, showers, and other 

 amenities at state parks, in addition to fees at 

 special parks such as Lewis and Qark 

 Caverns. 



11 



State Parks Futures Ccmrittee, DecanberJ, 2002 



