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FROM: Western Slope No-Fee Coalition
This year's Congressional Summer
Recess is a good time to pause and take stock of where things stand in the
movement to free our public lands from access fees. Here's an update of recent
developments and ongoing efforts.
S.2438 The Fee Repeal and
Expanded Access Act
The Fee Repeal Act was introduced into the U.S. Senate in
December, 2007, 4 months to the day following the unexpected death of Robert
Funkhouser, our co-founder and first President. Without Robert's ceaseless
efforts the bill would never have happened, and it is heartbreaking that he was
not there to celebrate.
The celebration was brief, however, because now comes the hard
work of getting the bill passed. It has four powerful sponsors: Max
Baucus (MT), Mike Crapo (ID), Jon Tester (MT), and Ken Salazar (CO), but it has to get through the committee process before it can move to the floor
for a vote.
It has been assigned to the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee, and is expected to be heard in the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. We are pushing for a
hearing in September, because after that it's hard to be noticed above all the
election-year noise. The bill must get a majority vote in the full Committee to
move forward.
You can read more about the bill and its effects, and link to a
non-partisan national legislative watch website where you can cast your vote in
favor of the bill HERE.What You Can Do: Contact the leadership of the Committee and Subcommittee, and
urge them to schedule S.2438 for a hearing as soon as possible: Committee Chair: Jeff Bingaman (NM) 202-224-5521, Committee Ranking Member: Pete Domenici (NM) 202-224-6621, Subcommittee Chair: Ron Wyden (OR) 202-224-5244, Subcommittee Ranking Member: John Barrasso (WY) 202-224-6441.
Contact your own Senators and ask them to co-sponsor S.2438. If
your Senator is on the Committee, your call carries extra weight. View a list of
Committee Members HERE. House Hearing on Fee
Implementation
On June 18, the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests,
and Public Lands held an important hearing on the implementation of the current
fee law, the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, or RAT for short.
(Recreation Access Tax).
Chairman Raul Grijalva (AZ) opened the hearing
with a moving opening statement about Congress's commitment to free public
access to public lands, and his statement was backed with a slide show of fee
areas across the country.
Witnesses for the Forest Service (Undersecretary of
Agriculture Mark Rey) and Department of Interior (Deputy
Secretary of Interior Lynn Scarlett) then testified, claiming that the
fees are popular and are working great.
They received an intense grilling from the Subcommittee members,
and their responses were evasive at best and downright misleading at worst. It
was pretty clear that they are completely out of touch with the intense anger
and opposition that most Americans feel when they are charged money for access
to lands that they already own and pay to maintain with their hard-earned taxes.
The second panel of witnesses kicked off with Idaho
State Representative George Eskridge, who sponsored Idaho's unanimous
state resolution calling for repeal of the RAT. He was followed
by Western Slope No-Fee Coalition President Kitty Benzar, National Recreation and Park Association's Richard Dolesh, Bill Wade, who heads the Coalition of National Park
Service Retirees, and Peter Wiechers, a teacher and
kayaker from California.
A completely different picture emerged from this panel, one that
shows people being priced out of their own public lands, local economies trying
to cope with declining visitation, working families (and their kids) staying
home because they can't afford to visit the great outdoors, and agencies unable
or unwilling to account for millions of dollars in fee revenue, much of it being
charged under legally questionable circumstances.
The anti-fee witnesses carried the day, and there are strong
indications that a Repeal Bill will be introduced in the House as a companion to
S.2438 in the Senate. We will let you know the moment that happens.
You can view archived video of the hearing and read Rep.
Grijalva's opening statement and the written statements of the witnesses HERE. What You Can Do: Contact the Subcommittee Leadership and thank them for holding
the hearing. Urge them to introduce legislation to repeal the Federal Lands
Recreation Enhancement Act. Subcommittee Chair: Raul Grijalva
(AZ) 202-225-2435, Subcommittee Ranking Member: Rob Bishop (UT)
202-225-0453.
Contact your U.S. Representative and ask him
or her to introduce legislation to repeal the Federal Lands Recreation
Enhancement Act. If your Representative sits on the House Natural Resources
Committee, your call carries extra weight. View a list of Committee Members HERE. The RecRACs Keep (Steam)Rolling
Along
Beginning in 2007, the Forest Service and BLM Recreation
Resource Advisory Committees have been coming on line and beginning their work.
Known as RecRACS, they are mandated by the fee law and are
supposed to act as representatives of the public, recommending for or against
new fee areas and fee increases.
Each RecRAC consists of a spectrum of users, including
recreationists, local and tribal governments, guides and outfitters, and
environmental groups. In some areas new committees were established, in others
existing BLM advisory groups are being used. A few states (AK, NE, WY) have
opted out of the RecRAC process, at the request of their Governors. You can
see an interactive map at the Forest Service's RecRAC
website. The RecRAC members are selected and appointed by the agencies
themselves, and the members all represent groups that are beholden to the Forest
Service and BLM for their particular activity or area of interest. They are
selected because they are likely to do the agencies' bidding.
The results are about what you would expect: a virtual
assembly-line of fee approvals.
They have questioned only 35 fee proposals, of which 19 were
denied or tabled, and 16 withdrawn by the agencies - to be reworked and brought
back another day.
That's 747 fee proposals in just over one year, of which 712, or 95%, have been approved. If you think that's because they were
reasonable proposals, supported by the general public and in conformity with the
law, well think again.
The general public didn't even know about most of these new and
increased fees until they were a done deal, even though public support is
required by law.
Here are just a few of the problems.
-
Meetings have ALL been held on weekdays, during the day.
-
Meetings have been held by teleconference, and email meetings
are authorized.
-
Many of the meetings have never been publicly announced at all.
-
Meeting dates and times have been changed at the last
minute.
-
Agendas have not been made available in advance.
-
Agenda items have been added at the last minute without public
notice.
-
RecRACs have been asked - and have agreed - to "pre-approve" fee
increases up to a certain percentage.
-
Comments sent in about fee proposals by the public have been
withheld from, or misrepresented to, the RecRAC members by agency
spokespersons.
-
Minutes of meetings have not been posted for months, or not
posted at all.
<CONTINUES>
This year's Congressional Summer
Recess is a good time to pause and take stock of where things stand in the
movement to free our public lands from access fees. Here's an update of recent
developments and ongoing efforts.
S.2438 The Fee Repeal and
Expanded Access Act
The Fee Repeal Act was introduced into the U.S. Senate in
December, 2007, 4 months to the day following the unexpected death of Robert
Funkhouser, our co-founder and first President. Without Robert's ceaseless
efforts the bill would never have happened, and it is heartbreaking that he was
not there to celebrate.
The celebration was brief, however, because now comes the hard
work of getting the bill passed. It has four powerful sponsors: Max
Baucus (MT), Mike Crapo (ID), Jon Tester (MT), and Ken Salazar (CO), but it has to get through the committee process before it can move to the floor
for a vote.
It has been assigned to the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee, and is expected to be heard in the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. We are pushing for a
hearing in September, because after that it's hard to be noticed above all the
election-year noise. The bill must get a majority vote in the full Committee to
move forward.
You can read more about the bill and its effects, and link to a
non-partisan national legislative watch website where you can cast your vote in
favor of the bill HERE.What You Can Do: Contact the leadership of the Committee and Subcommittee, and
urge them to schedule S.2438 for a hearing as soon as possible: Committee Chair: Jeff Bingaman (NM) 202-224-5521, Committee Ranking Member: Pete Domenici (NM) 202-224-6621, Subcommittee Chair: Ron Wyden (OR) 202-224-5244, Subcommittee Ranking Member: John Barrasso (WY) 202-224-6441.
Contact your own Senators and ask them to co-sponsor S.2438. If
your Senator is on the Committee, your call carries extra weight. View a list of
Committee Members HERE. House Hearing on Fee
Implementation
On June 18, the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests,
and Public Lands held an important hearing on the implementation of the current
fee law, the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, or RAT for short.
(Recreation Access Tax).
Chairman Raul Grijalva (AZ) opened the hearing
with a moving opening statement about Congress's commitment to free public
access to public lands, and his statement was backed with a slide show of fee
areas across the country.
Witnesses for the Forest Service (Undersecretary of
Agriculture Mark Rey) and Department of Interior (Deputy
Secretary of Interior Lynn Scarlett) then testified, claiming that the
fees are popular and are working great.
They received an intense grilling from the Subcommittee members,
and their responses were evasive at best and downright misleading at worst. It
was pretty clear that they are completely out of touch with the intense anger
and opposition that most Americans feel when they are charged money for access
to lands that they already own and pay to maintain with their hard-earned taxes.
The second panel of witnesses kicked off with Idaho
State Representative George Eskridge, who sponsored Idaho's unanimous
state resolution calling for repeal of the RAT. He was followed
by Western Slope No-Fee Coalition President Kitty Benzar, National Recreation and Park Association's Richard Dolesh, Bill Wade, who heads the Coalition of National Park
Service Retirees, and Peter Wiechers, a teacher and
kayaker from California.
A completely different picture emerged from this panel, one that
shows people being priced out of their own public lands, local economies trying
to cope with declining visitation, working families (and their kids) staying
home because they can't afford to visit the great outdoors, and agencies unable
or unwilling to account for millions of dollars in fee revenue, much of it being
charged under legally questionable circumstances.
The anti-fee witnesses carried the day, and there are strong
indications that a Repeal Bill will be introduced in the House as a companion to
S.2438 in the Senate. We will let you know the moment that happens.
You can view archived video of the hearing and read Rep.
Grijalva's opening statement and the written statements of the witnesses HERE. What You Can Do: Contact the Subcommittee Leadership and thank them for holding
the hearing. Urge them to introduce legislation to repeal the Federal Lands
Recreation Enhancement Act. Subcommittee Chair: Raul Grijalva
(AZ) 202-225-2435, Subcommittee Ranking Member: Rob Bishop (UT)
202-225-0453.
Contact your U.S. Representative and ask him
or her to introduce legislation to repeal the Federal Lands Recreation
Enhancement Act. If your Representative sits on the House Natural Resources
Committee, your call carries extra weight. View a list of Committee Members HERE. The RecRACs Keep (Steam)Rolling
Along
Beginning in 2007, the Forest Service and BLM Recreation
Resource Advisory Committees have been coming on line and beginning their work.
Known as RecRACS, they are mandated by the fee law and are
supposed to act as representatives of the public, recommending for or against
new fee areas and fee increases.
Each RecRAC consists of a spectrum of users, including
recreationists, local and tribal governments, guides and outfitters, and
environmental groups. In some areas new committees were established, in others
existing BLM advisory groups are being used. A few states (AK, NE, WY) have
opted out of the RecRAC process, at the request of their Governors. You can
see an interactive map at the Forest Service's RecRAC
website. The RecRAC members are selected and appointed by the agencies
themselves, and the members all represent groups that are beholden to the Forest
Service and BLM for their particular activity or area of interest. They are
selected because they are likely to do the agencies' bidding.
The results are about what you would expect: a virtual
assembly-line of fee approvals.
They have questioned only 35 fee proposals, of which 19 were
denied or tabled, and 16 withdrawn by the agencies - to be reworked and brought
back another day.
That's 747 fee proposals in just over one year, of which 712, or 95%, have been approved. If you think that's because they were
reasonable proposals, supported by the general public and in conformity with the
law, well think again.
The general public didn't even know about most of these new and
increased fees until they were a done deal, even though public support is
required by law.
Here are just a few of the problems.
-
Meetings have ALL been held on weekdays, during the day.
-
Meetings have been held by teleconference, and email meetings
are authorized.
-
Many of the meetings have never been publicly announced at all.
-
Meeting dates and times have been changed at the last
minute.
-
Agendas have not been made available in advance.
-
Agenda items have been added at the last minute without public
notice.
-
RecRACs have been asked - and have agreed - to "pre-approve" fee
increases up to a certain percentage.
-
Comments sent in about fee proposals by the public have been
withheld from, or misrepresented to, the RecRAC members by agency
spokespersons.
-
Minutes of meetings have not been posted for months, or not
posted at all.
The RecRACS are nothing but grease on the wheels of the
fee steamroller as it barrels down the highway, smashing the concept of public
lands like so much roadkill.
The process is a sham of public participation, and a
waste of taxpayer dollars.
What You Can Do: Get
familiar with the past activities of the RecRAC for your area
(see their website and
our Box
Score), make contact with the members, and watch their
website for meeting notices.
When you find out about a meeting, be sure to
submit comments, encourage others to submit comments, and attend the
meeting in person if you can. Make it impossible for them to claim that
they have general public support.
This approach has stopped a few fee proposals. If you get
involved it can stop many more.
Recreation Facility
Analysis
The Forest Service's Recreation Facility Analysis is almost done.
After three years of persistent effort, we have now obtained about 80% of the
individual Forests' RFA 5-Year Plans. Here's what they show:
-
At least 1,344 developed recreation
sites will be closed, decommissioned, or converted to dispersed use with most of
their amenities removed.
-
At least 1,400 sites will have their
season of use shortened.
-
At least 1,000 sites will have
facilities like toilets, picnic tables, and fire rings removed.
-
At least 278 sites will have drinking
water or waste water systems closed down.
-
At least 522 sites will have services
like toilet cleaning and trash pickup reduced.
-
At least 948 fee sites will have the
fee increased.
-
At least 732 new fees will be
implemented at sites currently free.
-
At least 405 sites will get stepped-up
fee enforcement.
-
At least 1,139 sites currently
operated by the Forest Service wil be turned over to concessionaires, volunteers, local governments, or prison labor to
run.
RFA (formerly Recreation Site Facility Master Planning or RSFMP)
continues to be a largely internal process with minimal, shallow, and
disjointed public participation.
We stand by the position that any planning effort that has such
a substantial impact on our National Forests should be conducted under
the rules and regulations of the National Environmental Policy Act, or
NEPA. You can read more about RFA/RSFMP, including analysis reports,
agency documents, and individual Forest plans, at our website HERE.
If they are planning to close or decommission
areas that you think should stay open, remove
facilities that you think should remain, add fees to
areas that are now free, or increase existing fees, contact
your elected officials (national, state, and local) and make a
fuss. Contact us as well, and we will put you in touch with
folks in other areas who are facing the same problem.
You are not alone and there is strength in networking!
Thanks For The
Dinner!
And finally, a huge thanks to all of you who viewed Aaron Johnson's film about the
fee program at Mt Evans on YouTube. I only needed to generate 700 viewings
in order to claim victory in our little bet, and the film is well over 1,100 and
still counting!
Aaron has promised to buy me dinner in September when he visits
this corner of Colorado, and I plan to hold him to it. He's also promised to
keep the great videos coming until we restore public access to OUR public lands!
I'll share those links as I get them.
Please enjoy the rest of the
summer. I hope you are spending time outdoors with your family and introducing
your kids to the beauty of THEIR public lands.
Congress comes back into
session on September 8. With action pending in both the Senate and House to
repeal the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, we are in a great place,
thanks to your support and perseverence.
As always, Thanks!
Kitty Benzar,
President
Western Slope No-Fee
Coalition
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