Visit To Volcano No Longer Free

Entrance fees take effect Monday at two Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument visitor centers, U.S. Forest Service officials have announced.

The fees, required at the Coldwater Ridge and Mount St. Helens centers, are $8 for each person 16 and older and $4 for those with a Golden Age or Golden Access passport for a three-day pass, or $24 and $12 for an annual pass. Either pass is good at both centers. Children 15 and under are free.

Four-fifths of the money will be used to help make up for a $2.5 million funding shortfall at the monument, manager Lynn Roberts said.

The rest is to be distributed among other pilot sites in a test of new user and entrance fees at designated national parks, forests and wildlife refuges.