Bill eliminates fees for kids at MSH centers
Friday, December 24, 2004 7:52 AM PST
By Staff
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E-mail this articleYoung people under age 16 no longer will have to pay admission fees at three Mount St. Helens visitor centers starting Jan. 2.
But it's too early to say what other effects the recently passed "Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act" will have on Forest Service recreational permits.
In addition to entrance fees at volcano visitor centers, the Forest Service charges fees to park at trailheads. Such fees were authorized under the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program, which started in 1996 and was extended several times.
The new legislation makes the fees permanent. The law "has lots of ins and outs that we're digesting," according to Tom Knappenburger, a Forest Service spokesman.
The fee changes will affect the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake, Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center and Johnston Ridge Observatory on Spirit Lake Memorial Highway.
For those 16 or older, daily admittance to one visitor center will continue at $3 per person; and admittance to all three centers will be $6 per person. Golden Passports will continue to be honored at Mount St. Helens visitor centers.
The Monument pass program provides more than 90 percent of the operations and maintenance budget for the facilities.
From November through March, the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center, the closest view of the crater open to the public, is open 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays. It will be closed today and Saturday and New Year's Day.
The Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. daily but closed on Christmas Day.
Johnston Ridge Observatory is closed for the season.
For additional Mount St. Helens information, visit the Monument website a www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/
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