The U.S. Forest Service Recreation Fee-Demo Program on Public Lands is still trying to get a handle on how to market itself to the general public. While the Forest Service steadily goes forward with the program, the Forest Service continues to search for ways to make the controversial program more appealing. Deschutes National Forest Supervisor Sally Collins states, "The program is too complex and it is difficult to understand" in a recent issue of Your Changing Forest, a newsletter published by the local Forest Service. Collins pledges to simplify the program next year by creating a universal pass, accepting passes from other National Forests and perhaps making "...passes available closer to the actual recreating locations."
These changes may appease those recreators who consider the Recreation Fee Demo Program an inconvenience, but outdoor activists who consider the program to be a violation of their federal rights may not be so easily swayed. Scott Silver, Director of the anti-trail-fee organization Wild Wilderness, is one of many undeveloped recreation enthusiasts who believe the program is an attempt by the recreation industry to show that the American public is willing to paying for use of its own land. They worry that once fee payment is permanent, Congress will cut National Forest recreation budgets, leaving the Forest Service managers of our public lands without the means to do so and more heavily dependant on the private recreation industry. Allegedly, these budget cuts would force the cash-strapped land managers to seek alternate methods of funding, presumably in the form of public/private partnerships.
Local and national Forest Service representatives have consistently denied the charges of these groups, insisting that they are simply doing what is necessary in the face of shrinking budgets and increasing recreation demands. In a letter dated November 28, 1998, USFS Recreation Fee Demonstration Program Manager Linda Feldman wrote, "Mr. Silver is also mistaken in believing that the fee demo program encourages privatization of national forest. Instead, it does quite the opposite. The program allows fees to stay at the site so that Forest Service employees have the funds to manage our recreation sites ourselves instead of having to contract out for those services."
In 1997, visitors to the Deschutes National Forest paid $175,000 for various recreation passes under the Fee Demo Program. Forest Service materials point out that most of the money stays in the forest where it was collected. According to a Deschutes National Forest Service newsletter article entitled ÔRec Fee Demo' Program Accomplishments & Trends, after subtracting administrative costs and fees paid to the vendors who actually sold the passes, "...the Rec Fee Demo program generated about $110,000 during 1997 and 1998, with 80 percent of that going directly to work accomplished on the ground."
When asked to detail how those funds are spent, agency spokespersons have consistently pointed to trail maintenance. The Bulletin, one of Bend's daily newspapers, reported on July 27, 1998 that "Terri Gates, spokeswoman for the Deschutes National Forest, said her forest is able to spend about $120,000 more this year for trail maintenance and other projects because of fees collected last season." In an August 29, 1998 article in the same daily newspaper, Forest Service trails specialist Marv Lang indicated that additional funds from the Fee Demo Program had allowed him to accomplish more trail work. In the Fall/Winter 1998 issue of Your Changing Forest, acting Recreation Program Manager Jen Fitzpatrick gushed, "One of the most exciting things about this program is seeing the work we have actually accomplished as a result of the revenue generated by the fees. In addition to clearing hundreds of miles of trails, ...our trail crews have built four and reconstructed two bridges, installed 105 waterbars for better erosion control and removed 81 hazard trees at trailheads." The article also mentioned that interpretive services at Lava Lands Visitor Center had been "enhanced", but it did not offer details.
Looking closely at the Forest Service's own numbers, the focus turns from trail maintenance to unspecified "enhancements". The Oregonian, reported on August 11, 1998 that "Most of the money the Deschutes National Forest collected in fees last year went to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument for such things as $10,000 worth of TVs and VCRs, for new carpets, paneling and graphics at displays, and for replacing or remodeling toilets. Only about $30,000 of the $175,000 collected in new fees went to work associated with trails."
If it looked bad in August, it got even worse in December, when the Deschutes National Forest saw its recreation budget slashed by 27%. More importantly, that 27% represented a cut of $175,800, almost exactly the amount generated by the Fee Demo Program last year. That's when local land managers began following the script that Silver and fellow activists say was written by the recreation industry. In response to the budget cut, Keith Clinton, the district's recreation team leader told a reporter, "It's like anyplace else. When times are lean, you have to try and get as creative as you can be." Acting Deputy Forest Supervisor Phil Cruz explained, "There's always new ways of doing things. It's really pushing ourselves to be creative and work with partners." This budgetary shifting would seem to negate the gains in service citizens were expected to see from their local trailhead fees.
Interestingly enough, the Forest Service's new creative efforts have taken the form of awarding more permits to private concessionaires for recreation services. And though Cruz said he didn't think the public would notice a big difference, he admitted, "Delivery will be different."
This change in delivery methods will likely increase revenues for the Forest Service, but at what price to the public? Many recreators have been dismayed to discover that their Trailhead Passes are not honored by private concessionaires operating on public lands. Though Cultus Lake is on the Deschutes National Forest, Trailhead Pass owners who want to park near it must pay an additional $5 to the private company that maintains the facilities there. The company, High Lakes Contractors, operates over 20 facilities on more than 200 acres of public land, including Elk Lake, Lava Lake and West Cultus Lake, to name a few locations.
While increased public/private partnerships may mean good news for local land managers and private concessionaires, they will likely mean the opposite for the general public. Instead of a non-profit government agency managing the nation's forests for the American people, an increasing number of private contractors are managing the forests for profit. Being right about the Fee Demo Program and its implications may earn Silver the right to say, "I told you so." But somehow, those don't seem like just rewards. As he puts it, "When you're a conspiracy theorist, being right isn't all it's cracked up to be."