Entrance Fee Increase at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Dave Carney

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

COOLIDGE, AZ – Casa Grande Ruins National Monument announced that, effective January 1, 2018, the monument’s entrance fee will increase. The increase comes after extensive civic engagement from September 21 to October 22, 2017, and support from federal, state and county stakeholders. Outreach included scheduled questions and answer meetings, three local community events, print media, and social media. Generally, the public was in support of the fee increase.

Under the authority of Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), Casa Grande Ruins National Monument retains 100% of the recreation fees collected at the monument. Entrance fee revenues have provided funding for several projects at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, all of which have focused on improvements to visitor services, visitor facilities, or visitor safety. Past examples include construction of the new theater at the monument visitor center, repaving the visitor center parking area, producing a new park film, a ruins stabilization and preservation program, and new wayside exhibits, which are used by visitors to the monument every day.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument currently charges a per person entrance fee of 5 dollars ($5.00) for adults, ages 16 and over, for a 7-day pass. The new entrance fee, beginning January 1, 2018, will be 10 dollars ($10.00) per person, age 16 or older, for a 7-day pass. Prices of interagency passes (https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm) will not be affected and holders of these passes will still receive free entry into the monument.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument protects the multi-story Great House (Casa Grande) and the remnants of other ancient structures built by the Ancestral Sonoran Desert People over 800 years ago. Established as the nation’s first federal archeological reserve in 1892, the Ruins sparked the beginning of the archeological preservation movement in America. The monument is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., May through September, and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., October through April, except for the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Independence Day holidays, when the monument is closed. Directions and additional information are available on the monument’s website (http://www.nps.gov/cagr). You may call (520) 723-3172, or follow us on Facebook by searching for Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.