Is it time to start charging non-residents higher fees for use of public lands?

Originally Posted by Parnassia

Wait, is it the fee structure you're complaining about or the fact that snowbirds clog things up? Hard to tell. IMHO, the fact that there's enough of them visiting to clog things up is probably better for state coffers than the opposite. Volume may offset the indiscriminating prices they pay.

How states choose to fund maintenance and operation of their public land facilities differs quite a bit. Fixing the funding problem is probably a lot more complex than raising entrance fees. Sure, entrance fees help, but at least for the state and federal land management agencies I've worked for (full disclosure...not in AZ) they were not the primary source of maintenance dollars, or fees didn't go straight back to maintain the park they were collected at. They were pooled and thus diluted. Maintenance work was prioritized state-wide so that's how the $ was apportioned.

Remember, those snowbirds spend their money on more than park entrance fees. They buy fuel, food, booze, stay in other lodgings, visit attractions & entertainments, take tours and excursions, buy tourist stuff, and some purchase fishing and hunting tags and licenses (which many states do charge non-residents more for). How sales price revenue gets apportioned to state operation costs requires political will. If the will isn't there, public recreation areas will be neglected.