National park fees to be waived April 16-24

If you’ve been wanting to experience one of the area’s national parks and have been waiting for the right time, that time is now.

Death Valley National Park and all other national parks in the area are celebrating National Park Week, saving visitors money by waiving the entrance fees to their natural wonders.

From Saturday until April 24, entrance fees like Death Valley’s normal $20 per car fee will be waived, in addition to other parks’ fees in the area.

“I hope the entrance fee waivers will provide an extra motivation to encourage people to come visit this spectacular national park,”said Mike Reynolds, Death Valley National Park superintendent.

If you can’t make it out this week, there are three other times that entry fees will be waived before the end of the year. From August 25th through the 28th for the National Park Service’s 100th Birthday Weekend, September 24th for National Public Lands Day and November 11 to celebrate Veterans Day. Entry fees into other national parks will be waived as well.

Those fees go toward funding projects like improving the picnic area at Furnace Creek, improving the visitor use area at Dante’s View, repaving the Sunset Campground, and repairs to flood-damaged buildings and infrastructure at Scotty’s Castle.

The remaining 20 percent of entrance fee revenue goes to support projects primarily at parks that do not charge an entrance fee.

This year is a special time to visit a national park because the National Park Service is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

There are 410 units of the National Park System, including national recreation areas such as Lake Mead in Clark County and national historic sites such as Manzanar in California.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.