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I recently did an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting on the topic of the US Forest Service's efforts to close, decommission and privatize campgrounds and generally shrink its developed r ecreation program in an effort to improve profitability and minimize operating costs.
That interview became part of a special broadcast given the title "What's the Value of Forest Recreation", the text of which can be read below. For those wishing to hear the broadcast, a link is provided.
I thought this was a well-done production. Hope you enjoy it.
Scott
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What's The Value Of Forest Recreation?
By Christy George
Portland, OR December 6, 2007
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN to Broadcast
With just one year left in his term, George W Bush's administration is making big changes in Oregon's forests.
As Christy George reports in part two of her series, Forest Politics,
Bill Clinton may have been the first president to charge fees in the
forests -- but George Bush's Forest Service is looking at making every
National Forest pay its way.
The Forest Service is inventorying every campground, boat launch and
fire-pit in the nation. Those that are little-used will be shut down
and those that are popular may be improved.
Jocelyn Biro oversees developed recreation planning for the Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest.
Jocelyn Biro: "For years we've been fixing things with baling wire and
twine, and not knowing what our total needs are out there."
The Forest Service also plans to charge fees for attractions that used
to be free. Like Sahalie Falls in the Willamette National Forest.
Sahalie Falls is on the drawing board for a new $5 fee.
Scott Silver: If this becomes a fee area, basically people are asked to
make a decision: Do they want to stop here? Do they want to stretch
their legs? Is it worth $5 for 5 minutes?
Scott Silver started his group Wild Wilderness to fight what he calls
"pay to play" recreation. He found allies among people stopping by
Sahalie Falls, like Oklahoma visitor Elwyn Hofan.
Elwyn Hofan: "Seeing them this time of year with snow around and
everything is pretty spectacular. With fuel costs what they are for
traveling it's nice to see something without paying for it."
The recreation plan also turns over some Forest Service facilities to
private concessionaires. To Scott Silver, it's part of a Bush
administration pattern of privatizing government.
Scott Silver: "It basically takes what was a public good and transforms
it into an item of commerce so people will have to think about it. And
the dollars that we pay to provide us with these benefits will no
longer provide benefits and everything will be a la carte."
Chuck Shephard: "If anybody thinks there are these private guys getting rich off the taxpayers, it's not true at all."
Chuck Shephard owns Hoodoo Ski Area, just up the road from Sahalie
Falls. He manages a lot of Forest Service campgrounds, and expects to
manage even more as part of the recreation plan. He says it's
unrealistic to think public land is cost-free just because the public
already owns it.
Chuck Shephard: "You do have to pay for them twice because once they're in, they still have to be maintained."
Shephard says he makes ten thousand dollars a year profit on his
concessions, which he plows back into improvements. And he says, his
successful real estate business -- not his concessions -- pays his
salary.
Barbara Thomas: "What I wanted to ask about on the Mt. Adams Horse Camp. You said they're going to increase the fees there."
Julie Litson/USFS: "We've talked anywhere between $10 and $12.50 -- per night."
This week, the Forest Service held an open house in Vancouver, for users of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Nathan Goodman: "I used to use this campground a lot here."
USFS rep: "Fill out that card over there. That's kind of on the list."
On the night of the worst rainstorm in decades, sixty to seventy people
walked around the room, looked at charts and maps of what will stay
open and what will close, and composed their comments.
Roger Cole: "They're talking about improving some of the campgrounds, and that to me is a fee looking for a place to spend it."
Anita Will: "Did they take into consideration that since '96 we've had
flood damage up there, and the roads have not been repaired since '96.
We've had several wars where the funding was taken away from the Forest
Service?"
Dave Seesholtz: "The Forest Service is trying to respond to a very
conservative administration in Congress and the users are the ones that
are the losers."
Brian Parr: "After seeing a little bit of the budget and knowing that
it's declining every year. That's why, as a group, we do as many
volunteer hours as we can, to try and help offset some of those costs."
Lawrence 'Rocky' Rockwood: "Well, I think we need to go to Congress"
Christy George: "And?"
Lawrence 'Rocky' Rockwood: "Get more money!"
Jocelyn Biro says the Forest Service can't rely on the federal budget alone.
Jocelyn Biro: "We're primarily accustomed as a culture for paying for
things that we use, and even though we do pay taxes, Congress holds the
purse strings."
The forest experience will now be branded. The Forest Service's Terry
Slyder helped create niche statements for each forest -- like the one
for the Willamette National Forest -- 'follow the water.'
Terry Slyder: "It's what people think of. They think of the various
rivers that run down from the Cascades -- and the qualities of the
water, cascading and rushing down through the hills and the blue, sort
of cobalt color of that water. It also has to do with the folks who use
and recreate in that the area. They're very connected to the fishing,
to the boating, to the suntanning."
The statements are still being finalized, but here are a few: The
Winema-Fremont National Forest is 'Find Yourself, By Yourself.' The
Deschutes is 'Fun in the Sun.' And the Columbia River Gorge is ''Wind,
Water and Wow.' That one is still a draft.
Whether it's an epidemic of childhood obesity, or aging baby boomers, people are using the National Forests differently.
The Forest Service couldn't say whether attendance is up or down, but
Scott Silver says his sources inside the agency say a recent study put
attendance at the National Forests down by more than 25 percent.
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- Land management 
