FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) intends to implement new overnight camping fees at three campgrounds along the Dalton Highway beginning this summer to keep pace with consistently growing public use and maintenance costs.
Dalton Highway is Alaska’s only road connection between the interior of the state and the North Slope. Between 2011-2018, the BLM recorded a 409% increase in visits along the route with about 15,000 visits annually to the sites impacted by these changes.
In summer 2022 and 2023, the BLM may start charging $10 per night at three previously free campgrounds to help pay for maintenance and improvements. A new fee is also proposed for an RV dump station at Five Mile Campground. The establishment of the new fee sites is detailed in today’s Federal Register.
Fees have not been charged at Five Mile, Arctic Circle, and Galbraith Lake campgrounds since they were developed in the 1990s. The new fees will make BLM fees consistent with similar recreational opportunities offered by the state and other federal agencies in the region.
In addition to establishing permanent tent and trailer campsites, the BLM has improved area campgrounds with new picnic tables and fire rings. Other amenities included in some campgrounds are pull-through sites, garbage collection, and vault toilets.
“While the fee changes are relatively small, they’ll make a big difference for improving and maintaining campgrounds,” said Tim La Marr, the BLM’s Central Yukon Field Manager. “They are also part of the BLM’s efforts to improve access to recreation on public lands, respond to increased visitation to the Dalton Highway area and support Alaska’s tourism economy.”
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Slowly but surely, boon docking areas will be turned into developed campgrounds to accommodate the increase in RVers that can’t get along without all the amenities. Improving access to public lands often ruins the reason people go there in the first place, e.g. wild and isolated camping. We don’t need anymore resorts. Keep the wild lands wild. Let the glampers stay home.
A vault toilet and a fire ring aren’t usually considered glamping. $10 is still a bargain at these along the road sites. Lots of options for wild camping up there.