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Your comments needed on commercial outfitter policy |
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Written by Guest George Nickas
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Tuesday, 11 March 2008 |
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The Forest Service has extended the comment period
until March 20, 2008 to submit comments on the proposed outfitter-guide rules. Please take this opportunity to protect Wilderness from increased
commercialization and harm. The alert below contains information that can help
in preparing your comments.
Thank much,
George
Proposed Administration Policy is a Giveaway to
Commercial Outfitters and Guides
Ten years ago Senator Larry Craig of
Idaho introduced legislation that constituted an incredible giveaway to the
commercial outfitting industry. The 56-page "Outfitter Policy Act," written by
industry lobbyists, would have granted private property rights for outfitter
permits and lowered resource protection and outfitter performance standards,
while making it virtually impossible for federal agencies to enforce even the
weakened rules. The bill went nowhere, nor did similar bills introduced by Sen.
Craig in subsequent Congresses, but the industry didn't give up. Instead, it
turned to the Administration and its toadies in the Forest Service to get what
it wanted. The result is a recently proposed rulemaking change by the Forest
Service that will give the outfitters much of what they sought at the expense of
Wilderness and self-guided visitors.
Your comments are needed to help
stop this destructive giveaway and protect Wilderness from exploitation. Now is
the time to stand up and protect your right to Wilderness that remains largely
free of commercial enterprise and that provides outstanding opportunities for
solitude and primitive and unconfined recreation.
Please ACT NOW! Your
comments must be received by March 20, 2008.
The myriad and
seemingly small changes spread over 32 pages of the propose rules will have the
cumulative effect of significantly favoring the interests of commercial
outfitters over resource protection and the publics' interest. The suggestions
below will restore key provisions of current rules and help to tip the scales
back in favor of protecting Wilderness and other public
lands.
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Written by From Newswire
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Monday, 10 December 2007 |
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[ NOTE: I am delighted that Senator Baucus' News Release (appended) credits the late
Robert Funkhouser of Western Slope NoFee Coalition for his extraordinary
contribution to making this RAT repeal bill a reality. Without Rob's efforts, we
might never have gotten this far. It's now up to all of us who care about public
lands to transform this bill into enacted law. - Scott]
Baucus, Crapo Bill Would Nix Recreation Fees
Montana, Idaho Sens. Team Up To Repeal Recreation Access Tax
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies would be blocked from charging Americans higher fees to access their public lands under legislation introduced today by two prominent Western lawmakers.
U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) today joined Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) in introducing the much-anticipated Fee Repeal and Expanded Access Act of 2007.
The bill would revoke authority given federal agencies, with the exception of the National Park Service, in 2004 to institute new fees and increase existing fees at campgrounds, trailheads, and other public areas.
Specifically, the bill repeals the 2004-passed Federal Lands Recreational Enhancement Act, sometimes called the recreational access tax, and reinstates legislation dating back to 1965 that limits the use of fees on public lands.
Baucus, a long-time critic of the fees, said the current system amounts to double taxation.
"Americans already pay to use their public lands on April 15," Baucus said. "We shouldn't be taxed twice to go fishing, hiking, or camping on OUR public lands. It just doesn't make any sense. That's why Mike and I are going to fight like the dickens to get this bill passed."
The senators noted that both the Montana and Idaho State Legislatures passed resolutions to repeal FLREA.
Crapo said, "As an outdoorsman and legislator, I have always supported fair and reasonable access to our nation's public lands. Mandatory user fees for access to many of those lands limits accessibility to those who can afford the cost and results in a 'pay-to-play' system that is unacceptable. I also fully recognize that we need to adequately fund recreation activities on federal lands and will continue to fight in Congress to make sure the funding needs of our public lands management agencies are met."
Debates have flared up in communities across the West as fees began to rise after the 2004 bill was passed. Baucus said he hopes his bill will help resolve those disputes.
Kitty Benzar, president of the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition, hailed the bill. Baucus worked closely with Benzar as well as the late Robert Funkhouser, who recently passed away, in crafting the legislation.
"This bill will bring an end to a failed experiment that has for 10 years burdened Americans with a double tax and kept them away from public lands they have always enjoyed," Benzar said. "I applaud this bipartisan effort."
The Baucus-Crapo bill would:
- Repeal the FLREA
- Reinstate the fee authorities established by the 1965 Land and Water Conservation Act
- Reinstate the National Parks Pass system
- Cap the amount that can be charged for entrance to national parks.
For complete text of the bill, visit http://www.baucus.senate.gov
SOURCE Office of Senator Max Baucus
http://www.baucus.senate.gov
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Request Oversight Hearing |
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Written by Alasdair Coyne
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Thursday, 20 September 2007 |
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URGENT: Ask Senators to Hold Oversight Hearings on Public Lands Recreation Policy!
It's the end of summer and the US Forest Service is releasing proposals to close thousands of developed recreation sites around the nation - campgrounds, trailheads, picnic areas, boat launches, and swimming sites - to charge new or increased fees at hundreds of others, and to remove facilities, reduce capacity, and shorten seasons at hundreds more.
These changes are outlined in documents known as Recreation Facility Analysis (RFA) Proposed Programs of Work (PPOW). Each National Forest is producing an RFA -PPOW and the bulk of them - around 140 - are due out in coming weeks. (For the past few years, these documents were known as RSFMPs. The name change to RFA is very recent.)
The Western Slope No-Fee Coalition (WSNFC) has carefully gone over the 18 or so RFAs that are so far available to the public, and in just these 18 forests, the agency's proposals over the next five years will:
- close 407 campgrounds (17% of sites in these 18 forests);
- reduce capacity at 464 sites (20% of the total);
- remove amenities (toilets, tables, trash cans, fire rings) at 243 sites (10% of total);
- turn 225 sites over to concessionaires or partners (10% of total);
- implement new fees at 136 sites (6%);
- and increase fees at 170 sites (7%).
We don't have time to wait until all the RFAs are published to alert Congress to these threats to our publicly-owned recreation sites! In some cases, the US Forest Service has already gone and removed water systems, toilets, picnic tables, and fire rings, and completely closed campgrounds and other developed recreation sites without ANY public notice at all.
For the WSNFC's June 2007 update report on RFA/RSFMP plans click here.
ACTION ALERT CONTINUES...
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Written by Robert Funkhouser
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Tuesday, 16 January 2007 |
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January 15, 2007
HELP TURN THE TIDE in Washington on the issue of public lands access fees AND CLOSURES!
CONTACT YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES TODAY.
Skyrocketing entrance fees in National Parks, widespread recreation site closures by the Forest Service AND WIDESPREAD IMPLEMENTATION OF FEES are attracting bipartisan opposition in Congress. The change from Republican to Democratic control and the subsequent shakeup of Committees and their Chairmen has opened a window of opportunity for a top-to-bottom review of national recreation policy. It's up to us, the American People, to take advantage of that opportunity and ACT NOW to persuade Congress to put the "public" back in public lands.
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) has taken a strong stand against the Forest Service's "Recreation Site Facility Master Planning" policy that is already resulting in new fees, increased fees, site closures, and other changes to recreation programs on National Forests.
According to Senator Baucus's spokesperson "the Senator vows that the increased fees will never come to fruition" and "this proposal, at first glance, is ludicrous, because Max doesn't think that the Forest Service should balance its budget on the backs of Montanans who take their kids hunting, fishing and camping on our public lands."
Nor, we would add, on the backs of public lands users in any other state!
Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY), outgoing Chair of the Senate's National Parks Subcommittee, is criticizing the new $80 "America the Beautiful" pass that is pricing Americans out of their National Parks and other federally managed public lands.
According to Thomas, "An $80 fee is certainly higher than what folks should have to pay to recreate on federal lands," He went on to say he opposes expanding the recreation fee beyond the National Parks to other federal land management agencies, which will result in higher fees with no guarantee of improving the impacted recreation sites. "If there's a budget problem in our land management agencies, let's get to the root of it, address it head-on, and not put budget shortfalls on the back of recreational visitors."
We couldn't agree more!
Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) recently sent an open letter to Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne urging him to veto the planned entrance fee increases at Crater Lake National Park and Lava Beds National Monument. "It doesn't make sense to increase park fees while national parks are struggling to attract visitors," DeFazio said. "I am concerned that the increase in fees at Crater Lake will discourage regular visits by Oregon families. . . I agree that the national park system is in need of additional funding, but raising fees for park visitors will only drive visitors away."
NOW IS THE TIME to urge your Representative and Senators to weigh in and protect the public's interest in public lands.
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Recreation Planning Alert |
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Written by Guest: Dick Artley
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Saturday, 30 September 2006 |
(What follows is an important call to action written by a recently retired Forest Service employee)
Dear fellow citizens that enjoy recreating on public land with our
families:
You have the opportunity to help nearly 300 million owners of public
land.
Something very tragic is happening to our public land
administered by the U.S. Forest Service … and you can help.
The Forest Service has been implementing a policy initiative called
Recreation Site Facility Master Planning, or RSFMP. This policy was cooked up
in secret by the Forest Service in 2002 with absolutely no public
involvement … or congressional review...
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Written by Scott Silver
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Wednesday, 30 August 2006 |
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Massive numbers of potential recreation site closures loom, according to the following news release issued today by Western Slope No-Fee Coalition.
They've prepared an important investigative report which ends with a call to action. I encourage everyone to read on, and follow up.
Scott
--- begin quoted---
WESTERN SLOPE NO-FEE COALITION
P.O. Box
135, Durango, CO 81302
www.westernslopenofee.org
More
information:
Robert
Funkhouser 802/235-2299
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Kitty
Benzar 970/259-4616
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
August 30, 2006
For Immediate
Release
REPORT CHARGES
FOREST SERVICE WITH PLANNING TO CLOSE THOUSANDS OF RECREATION
SITES
Policy Adopted In Secret
Requires Developed Sites To Pay Their Own Way Or Close
The Western Slope No-Fee
Coalition today released a six-page research report on a secret Forest Service
Policy that could result in thousands of recreation site closures nationwide.
The report charges that since at least 2002, the USDA-Forest Service has been
secretly implementing a policy initiative called Recreation Site Facility Master
Planning, or RSFMP, that threatens to impose a for-profit model on the
management of America's National Forests.
RSFMP mandates that every
National Forest inventory all its developed recreation sites and rank them
compared to a National Required Standard. Those that do not measure up will be
closed or "decommissioned" (obliterated). The closures would affect mainly
simple, remote facilities favored by local residents, hunters, fishermen, and
others who prefer dispersed and minimally developed recreation sites. Forest
Service visitor statistics indicate that such visitors make up almost two-thirds
of all Forest users. On the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National
Forests in western Colorado, up to 100 of 138 sites are slated for closure.
That's 72% of all recreation sites!
No public or congressional
review of the RSFMP policy has yet occurred. Although 22 Forests have completed
5-Year RSFMP site closure plans and implementation has begun, none of the plans
have been publicly released. As part of their research, the No-Fee Coalition was
able to obtain two complete plans and partial information about three more. From
the data available so far they project that between 3,000 and 5,000 recreation
sites will be closed or decommissioned, and as many as 4,000 more will be
converted to fee sites or turned over to private for-profit concessionaires to
manage.
"The RSFMP program is going to
send shockwaves through National Forest gateway communities nationwide," said
WSNFC President Robert Funkhouser. "This will impact local communities'
economies, public health, and quality of life." Funkhouser points out that
among the management actions planned or already underway are removal of toilets,
capping of drinking water systems, and bulldozing of campsites.
The Report questions Forest
Service claims that plummeting recreation budgets are the impetus and
justification for RSFMP. It shows that much of the funding appropriated for
recreation by Congress never makes it to the local Forest managers. Instead, the
Report charges that it is policy decisions, not budgets, which are driving the
site closures.
"A serious reality gap exists
between what the Forest Service is claiming is available to the Forests in the
way of appropriated funds from Congress for developed recreation and what
Congress is actually appropriating," said Funkhouser. "As implementation of the
RSFMP unfolds, it is becoming increasingly clear that it is intended to be the
vehicle for reducing or eliminating undeveloped and dispersed recreation, the
very kind of recreation favored by almost two-thirds of visitors. Forest Service
Chief Dale Bosworth has identified this type of use as a threat. Those less
developed, more remote, and dispersed sites and areas are the ones that are
unprofitable and subject to closure."
In the report's Conclusion, the
No-Fee Coalition calls on Forest users to demand that the RSFMP 5-Year Plans be
subjected to public comment and review as specified in the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). They also call for Congress to scrutinize the
program, and for an audit of Forest Service recreation spending compared to
appropriated funds.
"It is imperative that this
secret policy see the light of day," concluded Funkhouser. "This is a drastic
change to National Forest recreation management that should not be allowed to
proceed behind closed doors."
The Recreation Site Facility
Master Planning report (pdf) can be read at www.westernslopenofee.org
The Western Slope No-Fee
Coalition is a national organization based in Durango, Colorado that has called
for repeal of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA). The FLREA
allows the Forest Service, BLM, and Bureau of Reclamation to charge access and
user fees on vast tracts of publicly-owned land.
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Recreation Advisory Councils now being formed |
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Written by Scott Silver
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Wednesday, 30 August 2006 |
As part of the legislative package which unleashed the RAT upon America, Congress called for the creation of Recreation Resource Advisory Councils and defined the role RRACs would serve related to user fees for outdoor recreation.
The make-up of those committees with respect to the interest groups that would serve upon the RRACs, was pre-determined. RRACs will be composed of a mix of interest groups including representative of both motorized and non-motorized recreation. The process of selecting individuals to fill those slots, has recently begun.
Pasted below is an action alert, the text of which comes from the BlueRibbon Coalition (a motorized recreation access group). I have removed all references to that organization, but have left all of their substantive information intact and provided a link to their original news release.
The BRC has done a commendable job of explaining the current opportunity to seat representatives upon the USFS/BLM RRACs and of explaining the function those RRACs will perform once established.
Just as the BRC is encouraging its motorized supporters to become engaged with the RRAC process, Wild Wilderness is encouraging its supporters to become engaged.
Unlike the BRC, Wild Wilderness is also encouraging its supporters to continue to work aggressively to bring about the repeal or substantive rewrite of the Federal Land Recreation Enhancement Act.
Scott
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USFS to flout law/close site |
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Written by Scott Silver
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Friday, 06 May 2005 |
As you all know, when Congress authorized the Recreation Access Tax as part of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill on December 8th, Fee-Demo was officially repealed. Fee-Demo was replaced by the RAT, a new law which some said would be fairer and less egregious in its implementation than the unpopular program it replaced. Unfortunately, they were wrong.
The USFS's RAT implementation guidelines were issued on April 25th and with its publication, much of the uncertainty regarding how that agency intends to interpret the new law is resolved. We now know that the USFS has no intention of making the recreation program either more fair or any less egregious. In fact, the USFS has no intention of following the law! What they intend to do is to charge the widest variety of fees for the widest variety of recreational activities by stretching the RAT far beyond what the law permits. They must not be permitted to do so!
Pasted below is an Action Alert prepared by our friends at the Western Slope No Fee Coalition. I have modified it to the extent that I've added web-links to documents that where not available on the internet when their alert was distributed yesterday morning and which I have since made available.
There's a lot of important information here. I hope you find it helpful.
Scott
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Written by Scott Silver
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Monday, 17 July 2000 |
Action Alert:
Oppose Fee-Demo Legislation
Current Until Updated
"Can't See the Forests for the Fees" is a complaint being heard from
coast to coast as the recreation industry's Recreation Fee
Demonstration Program increases its grip upon America's public lands.
Enacted as a legislative rider in 1996, Fee-Demo provides authority for
federal land managers to charge and retain user fees for an almost
limitless range of recreation products, goods and services. "Hiking",
"Fishing", "Camping" and "Skiing" have suddenly become commodities
while you and I have just as suddenly become customers.
The good news is that opposition runs deep. Over 300
environmental, conservation and recreation organizations oppose this
program.
The bad new is, on November 21, 2004 Congress abolished the
fee-demo program and replaced it with a new Recreation Access Tax (RAT)
program. RAT was authorized for a period of ten year and should be
viewed as being nothing less than fee-demo on steroids.
It's going to take much more than silent opposition to end a
program created expressly for the purpose of introducing the profit
motive into public land recreation management. The special interests
who created Fee-Demo and RAT have every intention of using it to
commercialize, privatize and further develop recreational opportunities
upon America's public lands.
PLEASE:
1) Write your elected officials and ask them you oppose Recreation Access Taxes.
2) Write letters to the editor and encourages others to do the same.
3) Know that the success of the program is being judged based
upon compliance rates and dollars collected. If you don't support the
program, don't visit RAT sites and don't pay the fees.
For additional information contact Wild Wilderness 541-385-5261, or visit us online at - http://www.wildwilderness.org.
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