High Country News


WESTERN ROUNDUP- Jan. 19 , 2004
A moment of truth for user fees
by Puanani Mench


Critics say fees take the ‘public’ out of the public lands


The Recreation Fee Demonstration Program, or "fee demo," has raised a
ruckus in the West since its 1996 debut, when the public started "paying to
play" on federal lands. Recreation fees — charged for access to hiking
trails, visitor centers and other spots — have been authorized for 400
sites managed by the Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land
Management and Fish and Wildlife Service.
The program is the brainchild of Ohio Congressman Ralph Regula, R, who
thought fees would help fix a multibillion-dollar maintenance backlog on
public lands. It has met emphatic opposition from a wide range of
public-lands users, who argue that fees represent double taxation, turn
land managers into profiteers, and allow private industry to make money
from public lands. Nonetheless, fee demo has survived for eight years,
extended every few years through " riders," language attached to unrelated
bills in Congress. A rider passed in September extended the program until
January 2006.
Now, Regula is pushing a bill that would make fee demo permanent, and
extend fees to virtually all federal lands, including recreation areas
operated by the Bureau of Reclamation. Visitors would have to purchase an
"America the Beautiful Pass," costing between $85 and $100, that would
cover " basic fees" for parking, visitor centers, restrooms and picnic
tables. Amenities like camp sites and boat launches, as well as commercial
tours and group events, would be extra. The bill would also increase
penalties for people who refuse to pay — from the current $100 fine, to up
to $5,000 and 6 months in jail.
But Regula’s bill flies in the face of mounting criticism of the program,
including a bleak report from the investigative arm of Congress. "(The bill
is) so far over the top on what is reasonable that it’s almost ludicrous,"
says Robert Funkhouser, president of the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition, a
grassroots group based in western Colorado.
Privatizing the public lands
For some fee foes, Regula’s bill is most disturbing because it would turn
the fee program over to "non-governmental entities," such as nonprofit
groups and private contractors.
Already, critics say there is enormous pressure on land managers to bring
in fee money, because Congress has starved them of funding. They say the
fee program has turned public-land stewards into salesmen and developers.
Bring in private industry to administer the program, they say, and you’ll
see industry pushing an even stronger, profit-driven agenda, rather than
looking out for the public’s best interest or the health of the land.
But Interior Department officials have voiced strong support for the
provisions in Regula’s bill, and privatizing fee management fits in nicely
with the Bush administration’s push to contract out agency jobs. Several
agencies, including the F orest Service, the Park Service and the BLM, have
already partnered with Reserve USA, a subsidiary of Ticketmaster, to offer
online campground reservations. Gail van der Bie, recreation manager for
the Forest Service in Washington, D.C., says the company tags a $9 fee onto
advance reservations for 33,000 Forest Service campsites nationwide.
But critics contend that privatization is a slippery slope. Soon, they say,
rustic campgrounds will be turned into upscale RV parks. "We’re going to
see recreation become an extractive industry," says Jon Orlando of the
Arizona NoFee Coalition. "That’s the threat."
Already, there are signs of this starting. A young Boise firm, NomadISP,
has begun offering high-speed Internet access to campgrounds via
satellites. CEO Kelly Hogan says Internet access is becoming highly
desirable for laptop-toting recreationists. The service has been tested in
25 Forest Service campgrounds in the Northwest, and Hogan says orders are
starting to come in. "In the next two years, if campsites and campgrounds
don’t install it, they’ ll lose business," he says.
Are the agencies ready for a pony?
The fee demo debate heated up last spring, when the General Accounting
Office released a damning report on the Forest Service’s management of the
fee program. Longtime fee champion Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., ordered the
report in response to criticism that agencies were squandering fee money on
projects like the Amphitheater Campground near Ouray, Colo., which was
renovated at a cost of $19,354 per campsite.
Of the $35 million in gross revenue the Forest Service reports from fee
demo in 2001, the report finds that 43 percent went back into collecting
fees and administering the program. And the Forest Service has no system
for determining whether or not fee demo has helped solve the maintenance
backlog. "The Forest Service has made little real progress in resolving its
long-standing performance accountability problems and remains years away
from implementing a credible performance accountability system," the report
says.
"The GAO report crystallizes the inadequacies of this program," says Josh
Penry, who was the staff director for the House Forests Subcommittee when
the report was issued. "If there’s minimal value added on the ground, why
go through the brain damage and continue to pursue a policy that creates
dissent?"
Ironically, McInnis, who chaired the Forests Subcommittee, has reserved his
criticism for the Forest Service. He supported the recent rider that
extended the program for another two years, and insists that the program
can be " fixed." Some believe that the GAO report may become just another
argument that private industry can do a better job than public agencies.
But the Forest Service’s van der Bie says change is on the way. Her agency
is collaborating with the Interior Department to streamline fees and make
them more consistent. The Forest Service promises renewed vigilance in
managing fee money, and says administering the fee program should cost no
more than 25 percent of the money fees bring in.
Even with such reforms, critics oppose the push to make the fee program
permanent. "If your kid can’t keep a goldfish alive," says Kitty Benzar of
the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition, "you don’t buy them a pony."
Congress will likely pass a bill deciding the fate of fee demo this year.