Goodbye Recreation Fee Demonstration Program

[char]

Pulled this off cascadeclimbers.com

Goodbye Northwest Forest Pass. Thanks to the folks who worked hard to get rid of this crock of shit.

SENATE COMMITTEE REJECTS PERMANENT FEE DEMO FOR FOREST SERVICE, BLM, AND USFWS.

PASSES BILL FOR NATIONAL PARKS ONLY.

Grassroots Effort Moves Parks Fee Legislation

In what is being called a 'remarkable victory,' opponents of the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program are today celebrating what they see as the beginning of the end of recreation fees on the National Forests and other public lands.

Despite enormous pressure from the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture to make the Fee Demo program permanent for the National Parks, Forest Service, BLM, and US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee this morning unanimously voted to pass S. 1107, the Recreational Fee Authority Act (Senator Craig Thomas, R-WY), which makes recreation fees permanent for the National Parks only. The bill will allow Fee Demo to lapse for the BLM, US Forest Service and US Fish & Wildlife Service.

Fee-opponents in recent days had flooded Senate offices with faxes and phone calls, expressing their general acceptance of park fees and their adamant opposition to fees for recreation on lands managed by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Opponents of recreation user fees came together to prevent Thomas' legislation from being amended and to ensure that it would be moved out of committee as a 'parks only' bill. Gale Norton, Secretary of Interior, lobbied Senators hard in an effort to included permanent fee authority for the other three federal agencies within the Fee Demo program.

“Senator Thomas and Senator Craig (R-ID), Chair of the public lands subcommittee, as well as all Senators on Committee, did an excellent job protecting their constituents ownership of these public lands.” Said Robert Funkhouser President of Western Slope NoFee Coalition.

Another long time opponent of these fees, Kitty Benzar, co-founder of the WSNFC said: "The Tide has turned, and with a growing groundswell for ending this ill-conceived recreation fee program, it is becoming every more clear that we will soon see the end of fees to take a hike in the woods."

The Fee Demo program in the Forest Service, BLM, and USFWS has been recognized as a failure in terms of public acceptance and financial viability. Recent administrative changes to enforcement procedures particularly within the BLM, such as increasing penalties for being on public land without a pass to $5,000, have fueled the growing Fee Revolt taking place across the nation.

Contact:
Robert Funkhouser, WSNFC
802-867-2298

Kitty Benzar, WSNFC
970-259-4616

[Blurred Elevens]

Holy shit Char, I think I like you now.

I've been dealing with the forest nazis on Vail Pass for a few weeks now. Long story short, $25 dollar ticket and 10 dollars in fees later....I'm still up on those fucks like 15 dollars. hehe

We need to get rid of that BS here too!!!!!!!!!

[char]

Is Vail Pass a National Park? Thats the only place where they are going to have Fee Programs now.

[Blurred Elevens]

No, of course not. Vail Pass is in the National Forest. (White River?)


When will all of this take effect? This is CRAZY FUCKING GOOD NEWS!!!!

I was thinking that was just Washington, but I reread and it seems nationwide....WORD THE FUCK UP!!!! WAHHOOO!!!

Also please take note on the Republican influence directly affecting me. HELL YEAH!!!

[char]

It takes effect Oct. 04 I believe.

Edit: Basically, what is happening is that they are passing a bill to allow the NPS to collect a fee for NP use. The Fee Program for the USFS, BLM, USFWS is merely lapsing. They aren't extending the program due to public opinion and finacial viability of the program (costs more to ticket than is brought in by the program).

[Blurred Elevens]

I'm going to print this and hand it to Kirpatrick and the other forest ranger douchebags that harrass us on Vail Pass every weekend! Thanks again Char.

[Dr. Crash]

Yeah! Now, how much to go to Rainier?

drC

[summit]

Yes... Vail Pass is in White River National Forest

The rec fee demo was a creation of the big .gov faction of the GOP. Looks like we the people won against big .gov

[char]

Originally posted by Dr. Crash
Yeah! Now, how much to go to Rainier?

drC

$50 annually or $5 for 7 days.

http://www.nps.gov/mora/pphtml/fees.html

[Dr. Crash]

Thanks char. Looks like $30 for Rainier annually ($50 is nation-wide). Though they add $10 per vehicle.

What are the boundaries where you pay? IOW, when I'll go skin up Panorama Point this Friday, will I pay?

Thanks for helping that Rainier JONG.

drC

[char]

I dunno, I've never been to Rainer NP (well once I was on a fire that was 300 ft away, but we never crossed into it).

A better question might be, who is going to be there to catch me? "I didn't know" is always a good answer.

[Blurred Elevens]

bumping a kick ass thread.

[CaddyDaddy77]

Nice, we have some jack-ass fees down here that willno longer be required. I was writing this is robbery on the slips when I put them in the box.

[Mountain Junkie]

This would have been a perfect place to post a picture I thought about taking last weekend. The setting was great; three rangers basking in the sun on two brand new sleds at the Vail Pass guard house. Your demo fee dollars at work!!!!

[Chronic]

Good news - I just hope that they stop enforcing the policy before it expires in October.

[Stikki]

Originally posted by Dr. Crash
What are the boundaries where you pay? IOW, when I'll go skin up Panorama Point this Friday, will I pay?

Coming from the west (Longmire) you pay at the big gate just as you enter the park. It's something like 10-15 miles and 4,000 vert from the gate to Paradise.

If you're asking about climbing fees I think it only counts if you go higher than Muir. Panorama is halfway to Muir and in the summer is a maintained trail for tourists.

[Spats]

Note to Cali maggots: goodbye "Adventure Pass"!

Anyone else in SLO/SB/Bay Area notice that they stopped doing any trail maintenance at all in Ventana right when the fee program started? Because suddenly all the rangers had to write tickets?

I'm proud to say I boycotted the "Adventure Pass".

[Blurred Elevens]

Originally posted by Mountain Junkie
This would have been a perfect place to post a picture I thought about taking last weekend. The setting was great; three rangers basking in the sun on two brand new sleds at the Vail Pass guard house. Your demo fee dollars at work!!!!

Yup, RMK 600's.....fuckers.

That reminds me, how come we've never hooked up? We'll be back at the pass this weekend. Let's meet.

[Blurred Elevens]

I'm lost now. I was pretty stoked, and than I read this in the local paper yesterday. What the fuck is going on?










Jane Stebbins

February 23, 2004
SUMMIT COUNTY - Kitty Benzar is waiting for a phone call from Summit County.

Benzar is a member of the Norwood-based Western Slope No-Fee Coalition (WSNFC), an organization formed to combat the U.S. Forest Service's fee demonstration program.

The program was implemented in 1996 to offset impacts on the forest and improve amenities for visitors. Many said they would only support the program if the bulk of the money went to improvements in the area in which it was collected.

The WSNFC says the Forest Service shouldn't charge the fees because taxpayers already pay for use of public lands. Additionally, Benzar said, the fees have generated more animosity - rather than less - between user groups in various parts of the country.

Jackson and Pitkin counties just joined the state Legislature and nine other counties - La Plata, Montezuma, San Juan, San Miguel, Gunnison, Saguache, Rio Grande, Hinsdale and Mineral - in opposition to the program. Also, Ouray County has managed to get the program removed from Yankee Boy Basin, where the Forest Service was charging fees to people using county roads.

The trial program was supposed to expire after two years, but legislators have reauthorized its extension throughout the years - most recently on an appropriations rider through Dec. 31, 2005. Other legislation is pending that would allow the program to expire in the Forest Service, BLM and Fish and Wildlife Service.

Howard Scott, who administers the summer program in Summit County, thinks the program will become permanent after its current run ends.



Program alive in Summit

Benzar thinks Eagle County will be next in joining the opposition - and she hopes Summit County will follow in its footsteps.

"No county has ever turned us down," she said. "But it takes a bit of legwork. You have to get on the county commissioner agenda, get speakers, and convince commissioners. It's easier for someone who lives nearby to do that."

Summit County is home to nine summer fee stations, including Cataract, Surprise and Eaglesmere trailheads, the Cataract Lake, Davis Springs, Elliot Creek, and Willows campgrounds and the Cow Creek North and Cow Creek South areas at Green Mountain Reservoir.

There also is a winter recreation fee demo program at Vail Pass, an area popular with both motorized and non-motorized backcountry users.

People arriving by vehicle are charged a $5 entrance fee, of which 95 percent stays in the area to pay for toilet maintenance, bathroom cleaning, trash service, a law enforcement officer, a fee collection officer and two maintenance employees.

Scott said people support the fees as long as they can see benefits.

"It's one of the more popular programs," he said. "When it becomes permanent, it should evolve into a project that everyone can enjoy and support."

The Forest Service is trying to create a statewide or regional pass program so people won't have to pay each visit.



Adding to contentious atmosphere

Benzar said management practices haven't worked to alleviate conflict between user groups, notably motorized and non-motorized forest users.

"There are spontaneous revolts breaking out everywhere," Benzar said. "Vail Pass is heating up. It isn't working. It's adding to the whole atmosphere of conflict that already prevails there. People get out of their car into a CDOT rest area, they're confronted with information about where they can't go or what they can't do. They start off P.O.'d, then you charge them money for the privilege and they're more P.O.'d.

"People have a better attitude when they feel they have ownership in the land than when they have to pay an entrance fee," she continued. "All of a sudden it's someone else's job keep you on the trail, pick up your trash. It's more like visiting Disneyland than some place you own. "

Some users, she said, seek out other, less popular areas, thus spreading the environmental problems around.

"We're definitely hearing about that on Vail Pass," Benzar said. "People are saying they're seeing more snowmobile traffic on their county roads because people are trying to avoid Vail Pass."

It's not just the environmental sector complaining about the fees, either.

"The motorized community hates this just as much," she said. "Our biggest successes have always happened when we've had bipartisan support."

Benzar would prefer to work with the Forest Service on issues pertaining to the forest, but the program pits users against agencies, she said.

And she doesn't like legislators "stealing" Forest Service monies for other projects.

"They shouldn't take money budgeted for recreation or maintenance, budget it for different things and leave district rangers strapped for cash," Benzar said. "We consider this a crutch and a long-term problem. They're not seeing the bigger picture."



Jane Stebbins can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 228, or jstebbins@summitdaily.com.

[Blurred Elevens]

Char is so caught up in the rug-munching 101 thread, that she can't even look at anything else. Need your thoughts here Ellen.