FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 11, 1999

Contacts: David Czamanske (626) 458-8646, david.czamanske@sierraclub.org
          Bill Corcoran (213) 387-4287, bill.corcoran@sierraclub.org
          Scott Silver (541) 385-5261, www.wildwilderness.org

ANGELES CHAPTER of the SIERRA CLUB JOINS OPPOSITION TO
CONTROVERSIAL RECREATION USER FEES FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC LANDS, WILL
PARTICIPATE IN AUGUST 14 NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST FEES

Summary: Volunteers from the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club will
be out in force throughout Angeles National Forest on Saturday, August
14, joining hundreds of grassroot activitists across the country in a
National Day of Protest against the Federal Recreation Fee
Demonstration Program, being implemented in Southern California under
the innocuous name "Adventure Pass".  The Pass, which costs $5 per day
or $30 per year, has been required of all visitors to Southern
California national forests since June 1997.

Club volunteers will be handing out information flyers explaining why
the Sierra Club opposes the program, and talking to forest visitors to
urge them to contact Members of Congress with a request for repeal of
the program. The Club opposes charging recreation fees for access to
public lands, except developed sites and lands managed by the National
Park Service.

"Why must forest visitors pay a fee to enjoy a hike, observe wildlife,
or watch a sunset," asks Sierra Club activist David Czamanske, "while
taxpayer funds are being used to subsidize commercial extractive
industries such as logging, grazing, and mining, that result in
environmental damage to forest natural resources?"  "And why", he
adds, "is the government charging fees, which discriminate against our
poorest citizens, for simple recreational activities when it is well
known that recreation is necessary for a healthy and productive life?"

The exact locations of Sierra Club protests are still being decided,
but will likely include major entry points to Angeles National Forest,
such as Chantry Flats and Mt. Baldy Village.  Other grassroot
activists are mobilizing for peaceful protests at additional Angeles
National Forest entry points, such as Clear Creek Information Station,
as well as entry points to the Los Padres, San Bernardino, and
Cleveland National Forests here in Southern California.

The national Day of Protest is being coordinated by Scott Silver of
Bend, Oregon, the nation's leading activist in alerting forest
visitors to the dangers of commercialization of our nation's public
lands.  Grassroots organizations, from New Hampshire, Ohio, and
Tennessee in the East and Midwest, to Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah,
Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and California in the West, have sprung
up wherever the Rec Fee Demo Program has been implemented, will also
be participating in the National Day of Protest.

Background: Although the U.S. Forest Service, Clinton Administration,
and Congress continue to expound the public's willingness to pay fees
in order to visit National Forest and Bureau of Land Management lands,
there is increasing evidence of public disapproval.  Grassroots
organizations opposed to charging fees for recreational access have
sprung up throughout the country, and national environmental advocacy
groups are stepping up efforts to terminate the experimental
Recreation Fee Demonstration Program.

Under this program, authorized by a rider attached to the 1996
Department of Interior Appropriations Act, four government agencies
(Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service,
and National Park Service) have been charging fees for access to
hiking trails, picnic sites, and other recreation facilities.
Meanwhile Congress has deliberately reduced recreational
appropriations to these agencies, which are plagued by enormous
maintenance backlogs and outdated facilities.

The public and environmentalists are asking why the Forest Service and
other agencies are still starved for money at a time when there is a
trillion-dollar budget surplus.  Millions of visitors directly benefit
from funding for facilities and management of public lands each year,
making it one of the greatest values afforded to taxpayers.

"What this adds up to is an effort to acclimate the public to paying
for something for which there is a long tradition of free access,"
says David Czamanske, Chair of an ad hoc Sierra Club steering
committee organizing against the Rec Fee Demo Program.  "Recreation
industry lobbyists have been pushing user fees since 1979.  If the
public has to pay for recreational access and Congress permits private
industry to develop commercial facilities on public lands, then the
proponents of privatization stand to reap enormous economic benefit."

Although many people are willing to pay to use recreation facilities
on public lands, environmentalists counter that protections afforded
to forests and watersheds through proper management and limited
development benefit everyone by providing clean air and water,
wildlife habitat, and healthy forests.

Scott Silver, Executive Director of Wild Wilderness in Bend, Oregon,
reports "The Forest Service shows no inclination to listen to the
growing public opposition to Forest fees. Unless enough public protest
reaches Congress directly, it is likely that Forest fees will soon be
made permanent."  With this in mind, Wild Wilderness, several chapters
of the Sierra Club, and organizations throughout the country are
joining in a National Day of Protest against the Recreation Fee
Demostration Program on August 14, 1999.

Their views have already found sympathetic ears.  Legislation to end
Forest Service participation in the Rec Fee Demo Program, known as the
Forest Access Immediate Relief Act (HR 2295), has recently been
introduced by Congresswoman Lois Capps (D, Santa Barbara). This
legislation, if enacted, would offset lost revenues by prohibiting the
use of taxpayer funds to subsidize logging roads constructed for the
benefit of purchasers of Forest Service timber. "It's just not fair
that my constituents must pay extra fees to hike, picnic, or see a
sunset in our National Forests," says Rep. Capps, "when big logging
companies get subsidies for their activities on these same public
lands."

The Sierra Club also opposes the Rec Fee Demo Program because of its
ominous potential to transform recreational management of public lands
from a public service orientation to a commercial enterprise.  There
is strong evidence that recreational interests that generate the most
income (mechanized-lift skiing, off-road vehicle use, resort
development and power boating) would take precedence over lower-impact
activities like hiking, camping, backcountry skiing, nature study, and
educational outings.  This trend toward commercialization and
motorization of the nation's priceless public lands is an additional
reason the Club opposes recreational user fees.