Senior adults in north Georgia and across the country are purchasing their Lifetime Senior Passes for National Parks sites before the price goes up on August 28.
The America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Lifetime Senior Pass will increase from $10 to $80 on that date.
The reason for the hike is legislation passed by Congress in December of 2016, requiring the price of a Lifetime Senior Pass to match that of the Interagency Annual Pass. The legislation also introduced a new Annual Senior Pass, which can be purchased for $20, and the purchase of those over four years can be traded in for a lifetime pass after year four at no additional charge.
All U.S. citizens and permanent residents ages 62 or older are eligible for the pass that gets them in to all parks operated by the National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In our area, that includes Lake Lanier.
Passes can be purchased at select parks run by the aforementioned agencies, including several in North Georgia. Parks officials have said ahead of the deadline, several locations have run out of passes to sell. Seniors are encouraged to call ahead before heading out to purchase a pass, or they may purchase passes online.
More information about the federal recreation passes can be found here.
From the National Parks Service website
http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/8/567211/cost-of-lifetime-senior-passes-for-national-parks-sites-to-take-big-price-jump