Washington Erases Park Day-Use Fees

And there was much rejoicing:

komo news | Washington Erases Park Day-Use Fees:

March 20, 2006

OLYMPIA - Washington is removing the $5 day-use parking fee from its 120 state parks. The much-maligned fee had caused park attendance to plummet during the past three years since it was imposed.

Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the repeal bill on Monday, and state parks Director Rex Derr announced that rangers will no longer ask that day users pay the fee.

Now, I'm as much in support of user fees as the next libertarian, but when there's so many alternatives to choose from (e.g., city and county parks with no fees), it's no surprise that the state parks were seeing significant drops in attendance. State parks are neat spots, but not $5 neater than some other nearby spots to stop and eat lunch.