A consultant's report for the National Capital Commission recommends charging an entrance fee for Gatineau Park – $4 per person with maximum of $8 per vehicle.

It's one in a number of user fees the report says could raise up to $1.5 million annually should the NCC executive committee adopt the recommendations.

Cyclists on Gatineau Park trails, like this one, would have to pay for the pleasure
Cyclists on Gatineau Park trails, like this one, would have to pay for the pleasure

The money raised would help maintain the park and pay for conservation efforts.

Park visitors are currently asked to pay at certain parking lots, and to go cross-country skiing.

The proposed user fees would mean anybody driving into the park would pay, and it would cost money to hike, cycle, and go on a picnic.

However, the current parking lot fees would be dropped, such as the one at Meech Lake.

The fee proposal is getting support from local environmental groups, who like the idea it could deter cars from entering the park.

Environmentalist Jean Langlois said he'd prefer everyone have free access to nature, but provincial and federal governments aren't providing enough money to keep the park pristine.

"And so there is a harsh reality that either we don't protect the parks and don't spend the money keeping them in their natural condition, or we charge entrance fees," said Langlois, with the Ottawa Valley chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

Langlois wants any money raised to go towards conservation, not towards building new roads through the park, referring to the controversial proposal to extend the McConnell-Laramée Boulevard.

The NCC says 1.5 million people visit the park each year, 85 per cent of those by car.

If approved by the NCC, the new fees wouldn't come into effect until 2006.