Date: September 21, 2007
Contact: Melissa Wilson, 406 888-7895

WEST GLACIER, MONT. – All National Park Service sites, including Glacier National Park, will offer free visitor admission on September 29 for National Public Lands Day. All entrance fees, including commercial tour entrance fees and transportation entrance fees, will be waived on this day. However, other park user fees, such as camping fees, are not waived. A seven-day pass to Glacier National Park is normally $25 for a private, non-commercial vehicle.

“America’s public lands showcase the country’s spectacular beauty and fascinating history,” said National Park Service Director Mary A. Bomar. “I encourage everyone to take advantage of this fee free day to explore a national park or lend a hand to help the land.”

Nine federal agencies, 125 state and local partners, dozens of non-profit organizations, tens of thousands of individuals, and national sponsor Toyota Motor Sales, USA are expected to participate in more than a thousand volunteer projects across the country. Please visit http://www.publiclandsday.org for more information.

One third of the land in the United States has been set aside as open space. 600 million acres of parks, refuges, forests, wetlands, cultural sites, and other shared areas provide a variety of public resources.

National Public Lands Day is the only time that entrance fees are waived systematically on public lands throughout the country. Normally, 147 of the country’s 391 National Park Service sites charge entrance fees ranging from $3 to $25. The other 244 areas do not have entrance fees. U.S. Veterans are admitted to national parks for free each year on Veteran’s Day. 

The other federal agencies not charging for admittance that day include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Forest Service.

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