The cost of visiting one of Arizona's many National Park Service sites is going up next year to fund improvements at the site.
Tonto National Monument, near Theodore Roosevelt Lake in Central Arizona, currently costs $7 per person to visit, but that will increase to $10 per person on January 1, the monument said in a news release. The admission fee applies to those age 16 and older; younger visitors will continue to receive free admission.
The monument's staff said the increase will fund important maintenance and improvement projects. In the past, revenue from admission fees has been used to improve the visitors center, conduct outdoors and youth engagement programs, and pay staff wages.
Tonto National Monument protects two Salado cliff dwellings thought to have been inhabited from the mid-1200s to the mid-1400s. The monument is about an hour's drive from Payson and a two-hour drive from the Phoenix area.
The monument and other Park Service sites that charge admission offer a handful of fee-free days when admission fees are waived. In 2019, those dates are January 21 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), April 20 (the first day of National Park Week), August 25 (the Park Service's birthday), September 28 (National Public Lands Day) and November 11 (Veterans Day).
For more information, visit Tonto National Monument's website.