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DEAR PUBLIC LANDS SUPPORTER:
Fee Alert!
A congressional hearing has been scheduled in Washington DC for Wednesday June 18th at 10am EDT, on public lands access fees.
Your comments are needed and may be emailed directly to the House's
National Parks, Forests and Public Lands subcommittee for inclusion as
testimony in the official record of the hearing.
Below you will find background information, some points to include in
your comments, the format required, and the email address to send them
to. There is also a sample letter to fax to Subcommittee members
requesting their attendance at the hearing.
You can also watch the hearing live on your computer, on June 18th!
Information about the live webcast will be posted at the Subcommittee
website.
BACKGROUND:
The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) was enacted as a
rider to the 2005 omnibus appropriations bill. It replaced the
Recreation Fee Demo Program that had been in place since 1996. It was
never voted on in the House and was never introduced in the Senate.
The oversight hearing on Wed June 18th, before the House of
Representatives Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public
Lands is titled "Paying to Play: Implementation of Fee Authority on
Federal Lands." The subcommittee will be examining all aspects of
implementation of the FLREA and all comments will be useful.
In the US Senate, S. 2438, introduced in December 2007, would repeal
most provisions of the FLREA and revert fees to the statutes in place
prior to Fee Demo's enactment in 1996. S. 2438 has not yet been
scheduled for a legislative public hearing in the Senate. Neither has
it yet been introduced in the House of Representatives.
It is the hope of fee opponents that the upcoming outcry from the
American public to the House public hearing on June 18th will lead to a
number of Representatives coming together to introduce a House version
of S. 2438.
As usual, this action alert is truly a grassroots effort, passed from
organization to organization and from family to family around the
nation. There is no wealthy big-name nationwide group leading this
push for comments. The input to the House Subcommittee at the June
18th public hearing is very much up to you, and to thousands of others
like you, who believe in the long-standing principle of fee-free access
to undeveloped federal public lands. Please participate!
WHAT TO WRITE:
Please send testimony that is as specific as possible. Do not copy the
phrases below verbatim. Change them around and make them personal. Add
additional concerns that you have about access fees.
Some points to include in your comments:
- The FLREA specifies that access fees are prohibited simply for
hiking, biking or horseback riding on public lands. Yet thousands of
trailheads are still subject to access fees on Forest Service and BLM
lands (name some such trailheads which you use).
- Protest the Forest Service's creation of HIRAs (High Impact
Recreation Areas), where fees are levied for access to thousands of
acres of undeveloped land. The FLREA restricts access fees to
developed sites that have six amenities present (permanent toilets and
trash cans, picnic tables, interpretive signs, designated parking and
security services).
- Mention that National Park visitation has fallen 5% since 2000,
and that Forest Service visitation declined 25.7% on forests surveyed
in 2000 and again in 2005.
- State your concern about the Forest Service's Recreation Facility
Analysis, a nationwide program that proposes to permanently close
thousands of recreation sites which the agency considers unable to pay
their way with fees. This is going on with little or no public notice.
- Recreation Resource Advisory Committees, set up by the Forest
Service to give the green light to new and/or increased access fees (as
required by the FLREA), are conducting their business without
meaningful public input. Moreover, the costs of these committee
meetings are not being counted as an administrative fee program expense
by the agency.
- Many National Parks charge additional fees (on top of entrance
fees) for access to backcountry areas, for interpretive programs, and
for mandatory transportation systems set up to protect some Parks from
excessive traffic.
- Include examples of places where fees are being charged by the
Forest Service and BLM for: parking, scenic overlooks, hiking/riding
trails, general access, use of undeveloped backcountry, and camping in
undeveloped areas, even though all of those are prohibited from fees by
the FLREA.
- Relate any experiences you may have had with enforcement authorities.
- Say that you support a return to the fee policy that existed from
1965 to 1996 under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, when the
Forest Service and BLM charged fees only at developed camping, boating,
and swimming sites, and the entrance fees at National Parks covered
access to interpretive programs, backcountry activities, and mandatory
transportation systems. Fee revenue was subject to oversight by
Congress, not levied as a double tax by local managers who get to keep
the money and make the spending decisions.
WRITTEN EMAIL TESTIMONY IS BEING ACCEPTED FROM NOW THROUGH 5 PM EDT ON JULY 2 BUT PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. YOUR TESTIMONY WILL BECOME PART OF THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE HEARING.
HERE'S HOW TO SUBMIT TESTIMONY.
PLEASE FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY TO BE SURE YOUR TESTIMONY IS NOT REJECTED.
1. TESTIMONY MUST BE SUBMITTED AS A WORD OR WORD PERFECT EMAIL
ATTACHMENT, SINGLE SPACED AND FORMATTED FOR 8 1/2 X 11 PAPER. Note: NOT
pdf format!
2. THE SUBJECT LINE SHOULD READ: TESTIMONY FOR JUNE 18 OVERSIGHT HEARING.
3. BODY OF EMAIL SHOULD SAY: PLEASE INCLUDE THE ATTACHED TESTIMONY IN
THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE OVERSIGHT HEARING ON "PAYING TO PLAY:
IMPLEMENTATION OF FEE AUTHORITY ON FEDERAL LANDS."
4. SIGN THE BODY OF YOUR EMAIL WITH YOUR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS.
5. ATTACH YOUR TESTIMONY AS A WORD OR WORD PERFECT DOCUMENT
SINGLE-SPACED AND FORMATTED FOR 8 1/2 X 11 PAPER. MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE
YOUR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS. THE GREETING ON YOUR TESTIMONY SHOULD READ:
"DEAR MR CHAIRMAN AND DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE."
6. YOUR TESTIMONY MUST BE NO MORE THAN 12 PAGES, PREFERABLY NO MORE THAN TWO PAGES.
7. ADDRESS YOUR EMAIL TO:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
with a cc to
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Please spend some time asking friends and family to submit comments as
well! The more comments that are received, the stronger will be the
case for repealing the FLREA. Thank you all for your help.
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
Another important action to take is to contact the members of the
Subcommittee and ask them to be sure and attend the Hearing. Let them
know that this is an important issue to you and that you are submitting
written testimony and will be watching the webcast.
If your own Representative is on the Subcommittee (see list below) you
can ask for their attendance by email using the form at their website.
Start at www.house.gov to find your Representative's site. This only works if you are one of their constituents.
All others should be contacted by phone or (preferred) fax. Don't use regular mail, it will be delayed in security.
Keep your message short, simple, and polite. Here is a sample message.
(It cannot be stressed strongly enough that exact copies of this sample
letter will carry little weight with the Representatives, since using
it verbatim takes so little effort. PLEASE change it around, put it
in your own words AND add some personal comments.)
"Hello, I am contacting you to request that
Representative _______ please attend the oversight hearing on public
land recreation fees on June 18 in the Subcommittee on National Parks,
Forests, and Public Lands. I am concerned that excessive fees are
limiting access, reducing visitation, and discouraging Americans from
enjoying the benefits of outdoor recreation on the beautiful National
Forests, Parks, and Bureau of Land Management lands that we all own in
common. This is an important issue to me. I will be submitting written
testimony into the record and will be watching the webcast of the
hearing. I hope to see Representative ________ there."
Here is the contact information for the Subcommittee members:
Raul Grijalva, Chairman (AZ) Phone: 202-225-2435 Fax: 202-225-1541
Dale Kildee (MI) Phone: 202-225-3611 Fax: 202-225-6393
Neil Abercrombie (HI) Phone: 202-225-2726 Fax: 202-225-4580
Donna Christiansen (VI) Phone: 202-225-1790 Fax: 202-225-5517
Rush Holt (NJ) Phone: 202-225-5801 Fax: 202-225-6025
Dan Boren (OK) Phone: 202-225-2701 Fax: 202-225-3038
John Sarbanes (MD) Phone: 202-225-4016 Fax: 202-225-9219
Peter DeFazio (OR) Phone: 202-225-6416 Fax: 202-225-0032
Maurice Hinchey (NY) Phone: 202-225-6335 Fax: 202-226-0774
Ron Kind (WI) Phone: 202-225-5506 Fax: 202-225-5739
Lois Capps (CA) Phone: 202-225-3601 Fax: 202-225-5632
Jay Inslee (WA) Phone: 202-225-6311 Fax: 202-226-1606
Mark Udall (CO) Phone: 202-225-2161 Fax: 202-226-7840
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD) Phone: 202-225-2801 Fax: 202-225-5823
Heath Shuler (NC) Phone: 202-225-6401 Fax: 202-226-6422
Rob Bishop (UT) Ranking Member Phone: 202-225-0453 Fax: 202-225-5857
John Duncan (TN) Phone: 202-225-5435 Fax: 202-225-6440
Chris Cannon (UT) Phone: 202-225-7751 Fax: 202-225-5629
Thomas Tancredo (CO) Phone: 202-225-7882 Fax: 202-226-4623
Jeff Flake (AZ) Phone: 202-225-2635 Fax: 202-226-4386
Steve Pearce (NM) Phone: 202-225-2365 Fax: 202-225-9599
Henry Brown (SC) Phone: 202-225-3176 Fax: 202-225-3407
Louie Gohmert (TX) Phone: 202-225-3035 Fax: 202-226-1230
Tom Cole (OK) Phone: 202-225-6165 Fax: 202-225-3512
Dean Heller (NV) Phone: 202-225-6155 Fax: 202-225-5679
William Sali (ID) Phone: 202-225-6611 Fax: 202-225-3029
Doug Lamborn (CO) Phone: 202-225-4422 Fax: 202-226-2638
PLEASE TAKE ACTION TODAY TO RESTORE PUBLIC ACCESS TO PUBLIC LANDS!
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