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Quoted from appended recreation industry insider newsletter:
[Planned meetings between House staff and Departmental representatives have been postponed until the week of August 23rd and we have been promised that the WSTPC will be sent a copy of the discussion draft following that meeting.]
When industry and government share the same bed, all sorts of mischief can happen. All too often it is the public that gets screwed. As you will see, that's what is happening today with public lands recreation policy.
The appended update comes from the Western States Tourism Policy Council. WSTPC is a lobby group that has long been intimate with the American Recreation Coalition. It is one of the nation's most influential proponents of commercial recreation/ tourism on America's public. Unless you are in the tourism industry, they are NOT your friends.
WSTPC's website is www.wstpc.org . Until recently, if you typed that address into your web-browser you'd go directly to that domain. Try it now and you'll be redirected to the State of Alaska's Commerce Community and Economic Development domain where the WSTPC site now resides.
Recall that Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK), now governor of Alaska, earned ARC's top honors in 1997 for his unflagging efforts to bring their pay-to-play agenda to our public lands. Coincidence??? Hell no!!! .
Please read on to see what WSTPC and the Alaskan Economic Development folks are saying about fee-demo legislation that is quickly moving forward and could pass this year!!!! Learn of their efforts to make recreation user-fees the permanent law of the land and to do so in spite of what they openly acknowledge as massive public / grassroots opposition!
I'm counting upon each and every one of you to deliver that opposition. I'm counting upon those with newsletters, media contacts, or personal communications networks to expose the collusion occurring between the private sector and the recreation / tourism industry. I'm counting on everyone to keep writing and sending those letters to the editor and letters to Congress!! Fee-Demo must be stopped and it can still be stopped, so long as the public voice can be heard above the grunts and groans of those rolling in the sack.
Scott
PS.... Here's another link to grunting and groaning. This is very explicit and is many will find it quite disgusting. It is the current newsletter of the National Forest Management Association
--- begin quoted ---
WSTPC NATIONAL ISSUES BULLETIN
July/August, 2004
An e-mail service for members of the Western States Tourism Policy
Council by WSTPC Washington, DC, Representative Aubrey King
(202.251.6845), who can provide more details on any of the issues
reported here. Comments or suggestions are always welcome.
<SNIP>
Recreation Fee Demonstration Program
A fee demo "discussion draft" has been developed by House committee and
circulated to Senate staff and to the Interior and Agriculture
Departments. Planned meetings between House staff and Departmental
representatives have been postponed until the week of August 23rd and
we have been promised that the WSTPC will be sent a copy of the
discussion draft following that meeting. It is very encouraging to see
this level of determination by Congressional staff, but as already
noted, time is very short and there is little time available to move
such complex legislation through both houses of Congress. It can also
be anticipated that intense grassroots opposition to fee legislation
will be mounted once draft legislation is actually introduced. Current
fee demo authorization extends until the end of 2005, so it is
important at least to establish a good base for a strong Congressional
push next year.
Among the issues still to be resolved are: How can fees be restricted
to areas with sufficient recreation opportunities to justify charging
for public use? (We have suggested that state tourism offices can play
a very useful role in identifying such areas.) What kind of review and
approval advisory process can be established to provide meaningful
oversight of the fee process? (We are urging that state tourism offices
should be part of any such process.) Should fee legislation apply to
multiple agencies or limited to one? (The WSTPC urges that any fee
legislation should include at least the four land agencies now in the
fee program.) Should fee revenue be shared with counties and other
local governments? (The WSTPC suggests that revenue should be shared
only if it is mandated for uses that benefit visitors to the public
lands or enhance the visitor experience.)
On April 21st, the Senate Energy and Resources Subcommittee on Forests
and Public Lands held a hearing on fee demo as administered by the
Forest Service and the BLM. WSTPC Treasurer Carl Wilgus testified at
this April 21st hearing in strong support of the fee demo program. On
May 6th the House Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation held a
hearing on H.R. 3283 by Representative Ralph Regula (R-OH), which would
make fee demo permanent for the four agencies now included and would
add the Bureau of Reclamation. The National Alliance of Gateway
Communities testified at this hearing. The NAGC and WSTPC fee demo
positions are in agreement. On May 19th the Senate passed by voice vote
S. 1107 by Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY), which would make fee demo
permanent only for the National Park Service.
The Administration would like to make the current fee demo program
permanent for the four agencies now included - National Park Service,
USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Fish & Wildlife
Service - and expand the program to include the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. The Administration is also
willing to authorize establishment of intergovernmental, regional fees
to encompass Federal, State and local lands; and give gateway
communities more of a role in administering the fee program. The
Administration has expressed support for H.R. 3283. In fiscal 2004, it
is estimated that the fee demo program will collect an estimated $180.2
million, with the National Park Service receiving $124.7 million, the
Forest Service $42 million, the Bureau of Land Management $9.5 million
and the Fish & Wildlife Service $4 million.
The 2004 Interior Appropriations Bill extended fee demo for fifteen
months until December 31, 2005, and once again urged the authorizing
committees (the House Resources Committee and Senate Energy and
Resources Committee) to write permanent fee demo legislation.
The WSTPC is working with the Administration and Congress to support
broader reform of Federal land agency fees, including a requirement
that would allow revenue from special use permits to be retained and
used at the location where they are collected. The WSTPC opposes S.
1107 because it would apply only to the National Park Service and would
weaken support for fee demo at the other land agencies.
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