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I'm going to keep this introduction short. The article which follows is graphic. It provides perhaps the best illustration yet of things we've been warning against for a very long time.
For more than a decade, Wild Wilderness has made the case that recreation fees would be  used to bring about the privatization and commercialization of recreational opportunities upon national forest, national parks and other public lands. With the passage of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) in late 2004, the agencies were given the green light to proceed. Today you can see the results.
Pasted below is crystal clear description of how the fee authority of FLREA is being used to privatize access to, and management of, publicly owned National Forest resources. Read it and discover that the new "America the Beautiful Federal Recreation Lands Pass" you just purchased for $80 (or your Golden Age Pass) isn't going to get you into nearly as many places you had thought. Once your favorite recreation site is taken over by a concessionaire, you may discover that it is no more "public" than is Disneyland.
Scott
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June 24, 2007
Pay for views: Taxpayers now have to pay to visit some of the most popular recreation areas in the Chattahoochee National Forest
As a result, some are questioning letting for-profit companies manage the sites
By DEBBIE GILBERT, The Times - CLARKESVILLE
The Chattahoochee National Forest has turned over management of some of
its most popular recreation sites to a for-profit company, raising
concerns about whether the public will have enough access to these
taxpayer-funded lands.
In May, Clayton-based Chattahoochee Management, Inc., began taking over
operations at 17 sites in the Chattooga ranger district, which includes
parts of White, Habersham, and Rabun counties.
The national forest used to charge a small parking fee at some of its
most heavily used sites, a practice allowed under the federal "fee
demo" program. But in 2005, those fees were eliminated at many sites
because the Forest Service did not have the manpower to collect the
money or monitor compliance.
Chattahoochee National Forest officials also want to outsource as many
recreation areas as possible, to free up rangers from "housekeeping"
tasks so they can spend more time on duties such as law enforcement.
In June 2006, the forest announced that Chattahoochee Outdoor
Adventures, which has now been incorporated as Chattahoochee
Management, would be granted a special-use permit to operate seven
sites.
The number of sites has now been expanded to 17, and user fees have been reinstated in all of those areas.
Larry Luckett, recreation manager for the Chattahoochee National
Forest, said there's also another concessionaire, Ocoee Adventures,
operating seven sites in North Georgia's Blue Ridge district.
"We couldn't provide the services that made us feel comfortable about
charging fees," he said. "These companies can perform tasks such as
cleaning the restrooms and emptying trash cans. They can also sell
useful items in the campgrounds such as ice and firewood."
Initially, the fees for most sites will be similar to what had been previously charged.
("The concessionaires) do not have the authority to arbitrarily raise
fees," Luckett said. "But if they want to make a change, we'll review
that. To some extent, it's what the market will bear."
The companies have been issued five-year special use permits, but their
performance will be reviewed after one year. If they are deemed
satisfactory, they may be granted fee increases.
For example, Chattahoochee Management is charging a $3 parking fee at
the popular Dukes Creek and Panther Creek trailheads. Those fees would
rise to $4 next year.
Parking near the swim area at Lake Russell is $4 this summer and would increase to $5 next year.
Area residents are accustomed to the idea of having to pay a fee for
recreation. Most of Georgia's state parks charge $3 per car, and the
money is used to maintain and improve the parks.
But the Georgia parks system also sells a $30 annual pass that gives the buyer unlimited access to all state parks for a year.
The Chattahoochee National Forest also sells an annual pass, for $25.
But starting next year, the pass will exclude all the sites operated by
concessionaires.
"I realize that this will make the pass less desirable," said Luckett.
"It will probably still be useful for people in the western part of the
forest, in the Cohutta area, because we don't have any concessionaires
there."
Luckett believes the inability to use an annual pass in much of
Northeast Georgia won't affect many people, because most don't visit
the forest very often.
"These sites (operated by the concessionaire) are destination sites,"
he said. "People drive up here to do one specific thing, and then they
leave."
But not everyone who uses the national forest lives in metro Atlanta.
Thousands of people live within a few minutes' drive of the federal
land. And in places such as White County, which has very few municipal
parks, the national forest may act as a de facto neighborhood park.
Imagine a person who likes to go to Dukes Creek Falls several mornings
a week to do a 2-mile jog down to the falls and back. If he or she has
to pay the $3 fee each time, the annual cost would be about $450 a
year.
The new fee structure would also affect trail groups who spend a lot of
time in the national forest, including the Clarkesville-based N.E.
Georgia Hiking Club. The group has "adopted" two trails at the Lake
Russell Recreation Area in Habersham County and frequently performs
trail maintenance there.
The club also offers evening hikes at Lake Russell once a week during the summer.
"We found out about (the concessionaire) about three weeks ago when
some members went out there to hike and someone was putting up a gate,"
said club president Beckie Hilton. "We have been working with the
Forest Service for years and years, and it bothers me that no one even
had the courtesy to let us know about this."
Members typically park at the Nancytown day-use area, where four trails
originate. Most members have annual forest passes that they've either
purchased or have earned by working a certain number of volunteer hours
doing trail work.
But once the annual pass is no longer applicable, they'll have to pay a
$3 fee each time they visit, even if they're just coming to inspect the
condition of the trails.
"To have to pay to hike the trails that we've worked so hard to maintain seems like a slap in the face," said Hilton.
Chattahoochee Management's contract for operating Lake Russell does not
mention the hiking club's volunteer agreement with the Forest Service,
and seems to indicate that the concessionaire will take over the job of
trail maintenance.
The company does not have a Web site or listed phone number. Calls to
the home of Chattahoochee Management partner Don Lovell, a former
Forest Service employee, were not returned Thursday.
Meanwhile, Chattahoochee National Forest spokeswoman Karen McKenzie
said officials are still looking for concessionaires to operate other
areas of the forest.
The Forest Service has been trying to form a partnership with the state
of Georgia so that Unicoi State Park can take over operation of Anna
Ruby Falls, one of the forest's most popular attractions.
Such an arrangement would make sense, since the two properties are
adjacent and the state park's employees, who also operate Unicoi Lodge,
already have the necessary expertise.
But Luckett said negotiations have been hampered by bureaucracy. "The
state and the feds have not been able to reconcile their conflicting
policies," he said.
Luckett said he understands why some people may be unhappy about paying
a fee for access to land that their taxes are already subsidizing.
"But people have come to expect a certain level of service when they
come here for recreation, and there's just no way to provide that
without additional funding," he said.
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- Privatization 
