UPDATE: The local offices that sell the passes have been resupplied and say they have more than enough to meet demand.
Sometimes supply just doesn’t keep up with demand.
America the Beautiful, the National Parks and federal recreational lands senior pass has been around for years, but a looming price hike created a run that the federal government can’t keep up with. The local offices that sell the pass are not exceptions.
The Fort Vancouver and Gifford Pinchot National Forest visitors centers ran out of the passes weeks ago.
“It’s been a phenomenal response,” said Tracy Fortmann, the superintendent of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, saying that on a daily basis over the last month, between 160 and 200 people have come in trying to buy the pass.
Heather Ibsen, a spokeswoman for Gifford Pinchot, said the forest’s visitors center at Fort Vancouver has sold around 3,200 passes since October, and more than a third of those were sold in the last two weeks of July. That’s about 10 times more than it sells in a typical year.
The reason behind the drive? On Aug. 28, the cost will jump from $10 to $80 — the first price increase in about two decades.
The senior pass is available to any U.S. citizen age 62 and older. It grants free access to any federal recreation site for the rest of its owner’s life. Additionally, up to three of the passholder’s companions are admitted free at per-person fee sites.
Where access is charged per vehicle, everyone riding with the passholder enters for free — so long as they’re not in a commercial vehicle. It may also provide a half-off discount at campgrounds, boat launches and interpretive sites.
Bob Cromwell, chief of interpretation at Fort Vancouver, said the local rush on senior passes began in February shortly after the government announced the price would be going up sometime this year. Demand shot up just about a month ago when official notice of a price increase went out.
“Then it was ‘Oh, my God, this is an incredible deal,’ that’s what we’re seeing,” he said.
The fort and the forest have ordered more passes, but it’s not yet clear when they’ll receive new ones.
The pass is administered by the U.S. Geological Survey and is available by mail or on the agency’s website in addition to being sold at federal recreation sites.
USGS is warning that online and mail-in senior pass applications can take up to 12 weeks to process, though applications postmarked before Aug. 28 will be processed at the $10 price.
Available, with caveats
Although there aren’t any local passes to be had, people can still buy them and immediately reap the benefits — with a few caveats. Rather than getting pass right away, purchasers will receive a voucher, which will give them access to federal recreation sites.
Once their pass is ready, the purchaser will have to bring their receipt and voucher in with them to get their plastic card.
