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The controversial Recreation Fee Demonstration program is about to take an enormous leap in the WRONG direction and it's going to cost you dearly (see appended article from today's Oregonian).
When introduced in 1996 as a test program, fee-demo was a real "User-Fee". Recreationists were asked to pay to use specific public facilities. They were told that the money they paid stayed right where they'd paid it. Recreationists were told that next time they visited that particular site, they'd see the benefits of the money they'd already paid. Whether any of this was true, is debatable. But it is what the public was told.
Today, that original User-Fee is being replaced with a regressive "User-Tax" in which recreationists pay into a general recreation fund and where there is no longer any direct connection between the "fee" paid and the benefits received. But try to remember how it once was. Less then 5 years ago, USFS literature stated:
"Of every $1 in the federal budget, only .00018 of a penny goes towards the entire Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness Resources budget for the Forest Service. This mean that a person with an annual income of $40,000 pays less than $.03 per year in taxes to recreate on Forest Service lands, nationwide."
Back then, THREE CENTS is what you paid in taxes to recreate on Forest Service-managed public lands (YOUR LANDS), nationwide. Today, Oregon and Washington just announced the availability of a brand new public lands pass that will set you back $85. DON'T BUY IT !!
The promoters of the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program are desperate. Everything they've tried with this unpopular experimental "demonstration" program has failed. The public rejected the Trail Park Pass when introduced in 1997. The public rejected the Northwest Forest Pass which came next. The public is bound to reject this new "supersized" $85 Washington & Oregon Recreation Pass.
So what comes next --- a $500 United States Passport, good for access to all public lands for one year??? Whatever happened to the days when the public was welcomed upon their public lands and when a walk in the woods was something everyone could afford?
Scott
--- begin quoted ----
Park passes available
03/09/04
In response to requests for one universal pass, seven state and federal
agencies in Washington and Oregon are now collectively offering a
convenient day-use recreation pass, which is honored at the majority of
agency sites within the region. This annual pass, called the Washington
& Oregon Recreation Pass, will be available March 18 at a cost of
$85.
The new pass will be honored for day-use at all Forest Service,
National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service sites.
It also will offer access to Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
day-use fee parks and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fee sites, and will
serve as a valid vehicle parking permit at selected Washington State
Parks and
Recreation Commission parks. Fees from the purchase of the pass will
help pay for the operation and maintenance of key recreation facilities
and services.
The Pass may only be purchased at federal sites and from authorized
vendors. This pass is an add-on to the existing Golden Eagle Passport,
or can also be added on to the National Parks Pass with the Golden
Eagle Hologram. This will reduce the need to purchase multiple passes,
while providing a cost savings to the avid recreationist.
The new Washington & Oregon Recreation Pass adds to several
recreation pass choices already available to visitors, depending on the
types of recreation experiences planned. To determine which pass
represents the best value for them, visitors are encouraged to review
pass options with those selling the passes or by visiting Nature of the
Northwest at http://www.naturenw.org/.
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- Land management 
