Well, that's a step in the right direction. I would still like to see the rest of my dunes opened.

This just in too --

The Senate Energy Committee passed S. 1107 this morning with NO amendments to include other agencies such as the Forest Service or the BLM. This is truly an enormous victory!

Some Senators on the Committee received hundreds - even upwards of a thousand - calls and faxes over the last four days from across the nation. One office received only FOUR faxes saying recreation fees are maybe OK! It was clear to them that fees for the Forest Service, BLM and US Fish & Wildlife Service have almost no public support.

This enabled them to resist strong pressure from the Department of Interior and Forest Service, which continued even yesterday afternoon, to add other agencies to S.1107.

Our thanks to YOU - and please pass those thanks along to others who you asked to call or fax Congress - for making this happen!

And thanks particularly to all those who contacted DC as representing a public lands organization of some kind.

The next step - to push legislation similar to S.1107 and Kill Fee Demo in the House.

so do i have to pay this weekend... or should i keep a copy of this in my truck to be like NEEENER NEEENER NEEEEEEEENER

Vicki's on the same list as me! I actually tried to post that letter from Mr. Robert Funkhouser but the board glitched on me...

Notable point: "One office received only FOUR faxes saying recreation fees are maybe OK!"

Four out of the thousands of letters and faxes actually kinda approved of Demo Fee.... All the rest were opposed!

I've been trying to tell everyone, Demo Fee is on the way out! So, what's the BLM gonna do then? They'll probably have to do another business plan!

There is a time limit, of sorts, on when this thing has to be completed and signed. Sometime next year the current legislation that authorizes Demo Fee will run out. It was made very clear the last time it was re-authorized that another re-authorization would be out of the question. (Congress said this). They went on to say that it was time to either make it permanant or drop the program. This bill is in response to that. You could surmise that Demo Fee could be abolished by at the latest, the end of next season.

This should also give the BLM pause with implementing Demo Fee at Dumont. Why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on some kind of fee collection system if the program is on the way out? And why orginize a TRT?

Lots of questions...

What a huge victory!



The Pastor

No, it's not a law yet. It must still go through the House of Represtatives and finally our President must sign it.

Current Demo Fee is authorized until, I believe, the end of next season. It would be very irregular for this to change, even if this bill were signed into law today Demo Fee would still be on the books. This law only allows for Demo Fee to elapse, it does not remove it.

The Pastor

Thats great news........

Awesome news everybody, see we do have a voice, and obviously it was heard this time!

Sounds like more BS to me I'll bealive it when i see it....until then I will PAY like the rest of you.....Do I hear refund NOT

DOH!! glad i didnt try it i woulda came home with 100 dollar ticket cuz i didnt buy a 25 dollar one...

Not to be a spoiler here, but didn't they already change the ISDRA fee to a use fee, or cost recovery fee? Wouldn't that mean we are still stuck with paying?

It was still authorized under the "Demo Fee" law. They just changed what they called it.

The Pastor

OK, so say they stop charging fees at Glamis. What is the next step we need to take to get the Gubmint to foot the bill to keep the ISDRA open?

The thought of this backfiring and the BLM saying, "Sorry, no money, the ISDRA is closed, PERMANENTLY" just scares the hell out of me.

When it comes to this issue my glass is definitely half empty.

There are a lot of OHV organizations working on how to get money to the ISDRA, campaigning heavily for more funding. Heck, even Filner chimed in his support. But then again, Filner is a strong opponent of the fee demo program so he would naturally support more appropriated dollars instead.

The ASA, ORBA and some others are going to (are in?) Washington to start really lobbying our representatives.

OHV Lobby Day is coming up at the end of March and DUNERS will be there pushing from that end too.

The threat of "we'll be forced to shut it down" has been around for a very long time and I'm ashamed to say that at one time I swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

Then I started doing some research about the fee demo program and how it and the OHMVR money has come to not supplement or enhance visitor satisfaction on our public lands, but has become instead the very blood that keeps the areas going. That's not how it was supposed to be, but that's how it's ended up.

If that's not how it was intended then there is a way to get it back to what it should be.

As for shutting Glamis down... Glamis is difficult and costly to shut down. If they can afford the manpower it would take to shut it down due to funding issues, they obviously have enough money to keep it open.

Brian/Pastor knows a story about a recreation area that took a chance, stood up against the fee demo program and won.

There's always a risk, but you have to weigh the odds and when is the risk great enough to take?

Vicki

Gee,
Doesn't the gubmint already make more money from the recreationalists (US),
Then the make from the enviromentalists.

In fact, the enviros just suck
up the money we pay to the gubmint
with their lawsuits.

The whole thread he is great! Goes to show you that when our kind of folks come together and make our collective voice heard, we can make a difference.

So... given the above, we need to once again make this voice heard by first finding out what the President's new budget shows for APPROPRIATED funding for the ISDRA, compare with the REAL numbers necessary to manage this area, then we need to FLOOD Our Congresspersons and Senators with nicely worded letters requesting this funding.

This is way cool !!!. Best news I have heard in a long time !!.
How does this affect the closures ?, (AMA) , Status Quo ?.

Not to pee on the fire or anything, but how does this help get the dunes back to pre 2000 ?. You know , dune past china wall !.

Sure it will, "maybe" save us a few buck's at the gate but in the long run, what is more important ?.

I will believe it when next year, Im pulling into Glamis without paying and the dunes are still open!

:: The Pastor is speechless ::

I am almost in tears....
It seems like I've been alone for so long on this issue!

Finally, others are "getting it"...



The Pastor

The point against commericalization is well taken and I agree. I don't like what commericalization has done to a lot of places. Hey, I'm one of those people that don't like any of the pavement out there. I remember when it wasn't there! I duned north of the highway a few times when it was still legal.

Anyway, I'm still concerned and will remain so until/if congress appropriates enough money to let the BLM operate, including the biological studies that are mandated.

Without those studies we will lose it all and the CBD will be happy again.

Just because demo fees/recovery fees end doesn't mean congress will automatically give the money needed.

Washroad's concerns are vaild. But, it is the duty of BLM in this current administration to request sufficent funding to cover their obligations. I'm wondering if BLM requested such funding in the current budget proposal? Do we need to pressure Congress to include the necessary funds to accomplish the scientific mandates they imposed on the agency?

More news on the decision...

Fees for public lands suffer blow in Senate

By Scott Condon
Aspen Times Staff Writer

The ability of the U.S. Forest Service to charge a fee to visit places like the Maroon Bells and possibly expand the program to cover hiking on public lands was dealt a potentially lethal blow in the U.S. Senate yesterday.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 23-0 to make the Recreation Fee Demonstration Project permanent for only the National Park Service. The ability to charge the fee would lapse for three other federal agencies — the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service.

Opponents of the fee hailed the committee’s vote as a "remarkable victory." Kitty Benzar, co-founder of a Norwood, Colo.-based citizens group called the Western Slope No Fee Coalition, said all senators on the committee were flooded with hundreds of e-mails and telephone messages urging them to kill the fees. The group didn’t oppose the use of the fees by the National Park Service because studies show it uses the program effectively and efficiently.

The No Fee Coalition has persuaded 10 counties in Colorado to formally oppose fees. The Pitkin County commissioners agreed Tuesday to pass a resolution against the program and urge Congress to devote more funds from the general budget to the public-land management agencies.

Benzar said the Department of Interior, which oversees the BLM and Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, lobbied the senators hard right up to the time of the vote yesterday to renew the program for all four agencies.

"You can't believe how hard they pushed for this," said Benzar.

Scott Silver, executive director of Wild Wilderness and a vocal opponent of the fee demo program, said the vote showed that grass-roots efforts really can work. "We went toe to toe with some powerful players and — this time — the people won," he said.

The bill had bipartisan support. It was proposed by a Republican, Sen. Craig Thomas of Wyoming.

Critics of the fee demo program say taxpayers are already providing funds to manage and use public lands, so they shouldn't be hit with another fee. They also claim it forces the agencies to use lands they should be protecting as a commodity to be developed. The agencies tend to develop facilities to offer the public more of a "benefit."

Critics also fear that the fee demo program will lead to privatization of public lands or greater use of profit driven concessionaires. The foes claim that the program could be expanded so that a payment would be required to visit any national forest and desert canyon.

The cash-strapped land management agencies counter that the program is vital for raising and keeping funds at the sites where they are needed most. Local Forest Service officials say the funds raised at the Maroon Bells pay for maintenance of bathrooms, staffing and presentation of interpretative programs at the immensely popular site. Visitors are charged $10 per vehicle in morning and evening hours, and the Forest Service gets some proceeds from bus tickets sold at midday when vehicles are prohibited.

The program raises about $120,000 annually. If Congress lets the fee demonstration program lapse for the Forest Service, it's uncertain how it will affect the Bells. The Forest Service and Pitkin County teamed before fee demo was created in 1996 to restrict access in the Maroon Creek Valley and charge visitors.

County Commissioner Mick Ireland told Forest Service officials Tuesday he imagines that approach would be resurrected if the fee demo program is killed.

The fee demo fight isn't over. Amendments to keep the program alive for the other agencies could still be added when the bill is debated on the Senate floor. Benzar said the bill approved by the committee yesterday lets the program lapse for the three agencies rather than specifically killing it to avoid rubbing salt in the wounds of supporters.

"It's hard to kill a federal program. It's like 'The Night of the Living Dead,'" she said, referring to the classic horror flick.

[Scott Condon's e-mail address is scondon@aspentimes.com]

Never argued that the demo fee is badly managed.
Never argued that the BLM is badly managed financially.
All govmint agencies have to spend all they collect so they can say they need more for the next year, ad infintum.
Everyone knows that.
Still, getting the proper amount of money for biological studies is easier said than done.
Everyone knows that also.

But they certainly weren't going to give the money WITH Demo Fee in place.

Ya gotta start somewhere...

The Pastor

Bravo, I was not that opposed to paying, but on that note nor did I ever beleive it would be closed down because of lack of funds. I never supported the Demo Fee, but I purchased many passes to avoid the Gestasapo's iron fist, "pardon the pun"