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December 26, 2006
Lands pass of little use at West Slope BLM areas
by BOBBY MAGILL
If you’re considering picking up a new “America the Beautiful” Pass for
federal lands access anytime soon, caveat emptor: The pass can’t be
used for access to many Bureau of Land Management recreation areas in
the region. “Here, it just doesn’t buy you anything,” unless you’re
planning to visit Arches or Canyonlands national parks, said Russ Von
Koch, BLM Moab recreation branch chief.
The federal government will introduce the annual $80 America the
Beautiful Pass on Jan. 1, admitting its owner to nearly any National
Park Service, BLM, U.S. Forest Service or U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service site that charges an entrance fee. The National Park Service
will phase out the $50 National Parks Pass. The new pass basically
renames and raises the fee of the American Eagle Passport, which for
$65 admits its owner to the same recreation areas as the new pass. The
passport is also being phased out. All National Parks Passes and
passports issued this year will be honored through their 2007
expiration date.
But other than national parks, there’s little else to use the pass for
in eastern Utah or western Colorado, mainly because there are no fees
to enter most BLM and Forest Service lands here. The new pass will be
invalid for all camping, day use and boating fees at recreation areas
in the BLM’s Grand Junction and Moab resource areas, which encompass
most of Delta and Mesa counties in Colorado and Grand County, Utah.
That means the pass won’t work at Gunnison Gorge National Conservation
Area, Utah’s Slickrock Bike Trail or for any river permit for the
Colorado or Gunnison rivers in either Colorado or Utah.
Gunnison Gorge east of Delta charges a $3 daily “special recreation”
fee, which climbs to $5 if you’re camping, while the Slickrock Bike
Trail charges $7 per person. Von Koch said one of the only BLM
recreation areas in the region that will accept the new pass is Red
Rock Canyon National Conservation Area near Las Vegas, which features a
large visitor center and other amenities absent on most BLM land on the
Colorado Plateau. “We don’t have facilities of that magnitude here
that would qualify for inclusion in the pass program,” he said.
Few Forest Service areas will accept the new passes. Western Slope
recreation areas in local national forests accepting the pass include
the Maroon Bells and Vail Pass, both in the White River National
Forest. Regional Forest Service spokesman Jim Maxwell said Wednesday
he was unsure how many national forests in Colorado will honor the pass
for their recreation areas, but many are on the Front Range.
The America the Beautiful Pass will not affect the annual $20 Colorado
National Monument pass, but the new pass is the only one that will
admit you to all the nearby national parks, including Arches,
Canyonlands and Black Canyon. Colorado National Monument Chief Ranger
Phil Akers said he’s unsure how the new pass will affect the fee
program at the monument. If you purchase the new pass at the monument,
he said, 80 percent of the money garnered from sales of the new pass
will benefit the monument directly, paying for facilities maintenance
and interpretive displays.
But, if you purchase the pass at a retailer, none of the money benefits the monument directly, Akers said.
“For the areas you like to recreate in for the upper Colorado River,
please buy your pass in those areas so the funds can stay in those
areas and be used in those areas,” said Grand Junction BLM spokeswoman
Melodie Lloyd.
For more information about the new pass, log onto www.recreation.gov.
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