The response to Wild Wilderness' recent alert by folks such as yourself, was epic. I give a sincere "thank you" to everyone who contacted the Obama Transition Team. Not only were your concerns about John Berry's heard, so were your thoughts regarding rec-fees and your warnings about the black-hat American Recreation Coalition.  A week ago, those topics were not on the President Elect's radar screen and today they are. That's a major accomplishment --- one that will pay dividends for years to come.

With regard to the nomination of Ken Salazar to lead the Interior Department, that appears to have been a middle of the road choice. There were candidates whose values aligned more closely with those of Wild Wilderness. There were candidates whose appointment would have been far more frustrating. For the first time since the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program was introduced in 1996, the incoming Interior Secretary is someone on record as opposing  recreation fees. Senator Ken Salazar was a co-sponsor of the Fee Repeal and Expanded Access Act of 2007, S2438 -- a bill that did not pass in 2008 and which will almost certainly be reintroduced in the next session.

 

With Salazar's confirmation, I hope and trust that the Department of Interior will cease issuing politically-motivated, ideologically-grounded reports claiming the public simply adores the rec-fee program and that it has been such as unqualified success.

 

Likewise, I hope and trust that the incoming head of Interior will cooperate with the President and Congress to repeal the fee program and to actively reverse course and distance the land management agencies from the numerous pro-privatization, pro-commercialization and pro-motorization recreation policies implemented by the Bush Administration at the behest of the ARC. It truly is time for a change!

 

Once again, I thank everyone for their support and look forward to the possibility of making positive headway in the years to come.

 

Scott

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