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As outlined in the article below Senator Baucus of Montana has taken a strong stand on the new fees and other changes to the Forest Service's recreation program under the Recreation Site Facility Master Plan. According to the Senator's spokesperson "the senator vows that the increased fees will never come to fruition" and “However, 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".
With the Forest Service planning to eliminate many of your favorite picnic areas, trails, and campgrounds while increasing fees at those areas that remain it is time to ask your Congresspersons and Senators to weigh in to protect the public's interest in public lands. Congress needs to take a hard look at where these Full Cost Recovery recreation policies are heading.
Over the coming days, weeks and months the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition will be asking will be asking individuals, originations and local governments to get involved by contacting their Congressional representatives asking them to hold oversight hearings and take legislative action to:
*Roll back the Recreation Site Facility Master Planning process in the Forest Service. This program promises to eliminate thousands of recreation sites, reduces operating seasons, increases fees, creates new fee sites and turns hundreds more sites over to concessionaires. The RSFMP turns the Forest Service recreation program into a taxpayer funded "For-Profit" venture that forces Americans away from the forests and damages local economies.
*Repeal the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) for the BLM, Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish & Wildlife Service and NPS. While the fee program remains extremely countenance, the agencies continue charge the public outside of the authority of the FLREA. Incentives created by the FLREA are the driving force behind policies such as the RSFMP.
For more on BLM and Forest Service FLREA Implementation click here.
This includes repealing the new $80 "America The Beautiful Pass" which is pricing the public out of visiting our Parks and other public lands. Others in Congress question the new Pass :
"critics of the fee hike, including Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., questioned the high cost of the pass. "An $80 fee is certainly higher than what folks should have to pay to recreate on federal lands," Thomas said. Thomas, the outgoing Senate Parks Subcommittee chairman, said he opposed 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," said Thomas. (Jackson Hole Star)
*Limit the cost of National Park entrance fees. Park fees are doubling further driving visitation down. This has been highlighted in a recent letter from Congressman Peter Defazio to the Department of the Interior concerning increased fees and lost spending priorities.
*Audit the agencies budgets and mandate that 75% of Congressionally appropriated recreation funding gets to the ground. The Forest Service, for instance, has had its recreation funding increase 22% over the last decade while according to local FS managers local funding has decreased by 50% in some cases. The WSNFC currently estimates that, at best, as little as 18% of Congressionally appropriated funding for Forest Service recreation actually gets to the ground.
Its been two years since the FLREA was attached as a rider on a spending bill. All the public has to show for it is agency policies that are pricing the public out of THEIR public lands, policies that replace appropriated funding with fees at the local level, agencies that think they are above the law in charging fees and decommissioning of thousands of recreation campgrounds, picnic areas and trails.
We applaud Senator Baucus, Senator Thomas, Rep. Defazio and others for their stand on fees and the RSFMP. For those of you in Montana, Wyoming and Oregon you might want to contact the Senators Baucus and Thomas as well as Rep. Defazio to give support. For those that live elsewhere, please start contacting your elected officials. Ask them to oversee and restore the public in public land.
For more information go to: http://www.westernslopenofee.org
Robert Funkhouser, President
Western Slope No-Fee Coalition
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01/05/07
Forest plan hikes user fees
By EVE BYRON - IR Staff Writer
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus is vowing to fight a plan calling for new or
increased fees at all of the Helena National Forest’s rental cabins and
campgrounds.
The plan is part of the federally mandated Recreation Sites Facility
Master Planning Process, in which Helena National Forest employees
looked at all of the services available to the public and the cost of
providing those amenities.
The analysis showed that $118,700 was appropriated, and $53,400 was
raised through fees — like those paid at campgrounds and cabins — last
year. But operating costs were around $166,300, and annual maintenance
costs topped $130,000.
So the Forest Service is proposing to open one new rental cabin while
closing two others; remove toilets and parking lots at eight trailheads
or developed recreational sites; increase fees at all seven rental
cabins and at seven campsites; and institute new fees at four campsites.
All of the rental cabins also would be closed for one to six months out of the year for maintenance purposes.
The USFS analysis shows this would lower the annual operating costs by
$42,000 and the maintenance costs by $21,000, while almost doubling the
amount paid in fees. This would allow the Forest Service to chip away
at a deferred maintenance backlog of around $500,000.
As part of this proposal, more Forest Service employees probably will
have to be assigned to visit campgrounds and cabins to make sure the
fees are being paid and the facilities aren’t being overused. However,
no new employees would be added to the ranks; instead, current staff
will be reassigned.
“We hope this will allow us to provide better services to the public,”
Amy Teegarden, Helena National Forest spokesperson, said on Thursday.
“This is a five-year program, and nothing will happen overnight.
“The plan is to start with the simple changes first, and those that are
more noticeable to the public, such as the fee increases, will be the
slowest to occur. But we’ve already closed the Cummings and Strawberry
Lookout cabins.”
She noted that the Forest Service has been told it had to cut services
and raise prices to cover its own costs — in effect, to run the Forest
like a business.
Any changes are considered administrative actions that don’t need a
formal comment process. However, open houses will be held to gather
public reaction to the proposal and the plan could be changed based on
information gleaned from those meetings. The dates for those meetings
haven’t been set.
But a spokesman for Baucus said that the senator vows that the increased fees will never come to fruition.
“The good news is that the Forest Service has agreed to involve the
public in the process, and Max is pleased by that,” Baucus spokesperson
Barrett Kaiser said. “However, 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.
“Montanans already pay to use those facilities on April 15.”
Baucus previously has introduced bills that would create a permanent
firefighting fund for the Forest Service. He believes this could help
cover the deferred maintenance costs, since the Forest Service often
must divert the maintenance money or other recreational funding to
cover the high price of fighting wildfires.
“Max is committed to addressing the Forest Service maintenance backlog,
but this (charging new or higher fees) is the wrong way to go about
it,” Kaiser said. “Folks can count on Max to stop this.”
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- Land management 
