CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) Starting next month, Shenandoah National Park will join national parks stretching from the Grand Canyon to Acadia in Maine in a move to going cashless.

Effective July 1, the four entrances to the approximately 200,000-acre national park will no longer accept cash payments for entry passes.

“By transitioning to the cashless system, Shenandoah will increase efficiency, improve accountability and it’s going to also lower some cost to the park and reduce some security risks,” Shenandoah National Parks spokesperson Carly Adams told Cville Right Now on Monday. “And it just frees up the staff to be able to help with other visitor services, as well.”

Dozens of sites in the National Park Service system, including Acadia National Park in Maine and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, have already made the move.

For Shenandoah, the change impacts the entrances at Front Royal, Rockfish Gap, Swift Run and Thornton Gap, which will now only accept debit and credit card payments, as well as campground sites in the park.

The park’s gift shots, lodging, bookstores and restaurants will continue to accept cash, Adams said. They are operated by Shenandoah National Park Association or Delaware North and there are no immediate plans to transition those outlets to cashless operations.

Only about 10% of transactions at Shenandoah National Park in the last fiscal year involved in-person cash purchases, Adams said.

“So, with that low number and the increased movement towards using electronic payment system in general, it was a smart idea for the parks to do that,” Adams said. “The National Park Service as a whole is moving that direction.”

Adams the park plans to work with third-party vendors in the communities around the park to offer in-person cash sales for passes.

“We’re trying to make it as easy as possible,” Adams said. “We’re working on getting those vendors in place.”

Adams said updates can be found at the Shenandoah National Park’s website and on its social media accounts.