![For countless generations, American Indians have quarried the red pipestone found at Pipestone National Monument. These grounds are sacred because the pipestone quarried here is carved into pipes used for prayer. Many believe that the pipe's smoke carries one's prayer to the Great Spirit. The traditions of quarrying and pipe making continue here today. ] Minnesota State of Wonders - Summer on the Prairie. BRIAN PETERSON • brian.peterson@startribune.com Pipestone, MN 08/02/14](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/RSOF3Y4S6UOXN4JA2P4QLAJ7E4.jpg?&w=1080)
Theodore Roosevelt National Park has a cabin where its namesake president once lived, grand wildlife like bison and elk, and a rugged landscape with spires known as hoodoos. Beginning June 1, it also has a slightly higher entrance fee.
A visit to the North Dakota park now costs $15 per person; it had been $12. The costs for a noncommercial vehicle or a motorcycle rose $5, to $30 and $25 respectively. (The fee for a vehicle covers all the people inside; the single-person entry fee is for those who reach the park by walking, biking or taxi.)
The park is one of 117 National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee, and the costs for all of them have been raised, effective either June 1 or Jan. 1. At some, prices will rise again in 2020. They range from monuments and battlefields (Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, for example) to big-name national parks such as Yosemite, Zion and Rocky Mountain. Nearly all of the most-visited national parks saw fee increases (Great Smoky Mountains has no fee), so for some Minnesotans, the cost of a summer vacation just ticked up.
Vacationers planning to stop at Glacier National Park should be prepared to pay $35 per vehicle, up from $30. The same is true at Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks. Visitors to Badlands National Park in South Dakota have a reprieve until Jan. 1, 2019, when the price of a vehicle entry will rise from the current $20 to $25; it will go to $30 on Jan. 1, 2020. In all cases, there is also a price increase for individuals and motorcycles.
Of the six national park sites in Minnesota, only Pipestone National Monument is slated for a price increase, although it is currently free due to a temporary suspension of fees.
The suspension, unrelated to the nationwide fee overhaul, is ongoing while management undertakes an analysis of "costs associated with collection and to ensure that fees are directed to the highest priorities, including deferred maintenance," said Lauren Blacik, superintendent at Pipestone.
The monument in southwest Minnesota, known for its prairie landscape and the pipestone quarried by American Indians, is one of the Park Service sites that have collected fees; if fees are reinstated at the monument, the current plan as outlined by the agency is to charge $10 per person rather than $7. (Indians, many of whom deem the land sacred, have always been given free access to the monument.)
Minnesota's Voyageurs National Park — a wild world of lakes, islands and shoreline thick with forest, on the border with Canada — charges nothing to enter. Fees for overnighting, either via houseboat or camping, have not gone up. Other Minnesota sites managed by the Park Service — Grand Portage National Monument, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, North Country National Scenic Trail and St. Croix National Scenic Riverway — are free of charge.
