Rumor has it that 1: 2005 passes will be available in July; and 2: the price is unchanged.

Greg

That would be cool if the cost is the same, last year when I bought mine at the SSSS the BLM people said it was gonna be 90. for 2004, 180 for 2005, 270 for 2006, and by 2007 $360. we always take 2 cars out in our family, so it would get expensive, guess we just have to go out more to balance the cost

I don't think $90 is COOL. I sure as hell didn't get my $90 worth this year. All I got was enforcement, enforcement, & more enforcement!! It's all about revenue. Anything else is just lip service by greedy, bureaucratic, cover-their-ass, government money-wasters.

I heard they graded wash road all the way to wash 99.. Now we can haul ass down that road as far as we want..

You can bet that if they graded that road, they are going to assume that people will take advantage of it and haul but........ and have a couple of badges there to greet them and give them invites to court.........

Another thing is, they probably graded it to make it easier for patrol vehicles to get around and monopolize that end of the dunes also..

BULLSHIT!!!!!
The new CA State Day Use Passes are out and the new price is 115.00..
These are needed to park at the beach or in start parks that dont have over night camping.. So for those that need to use 2 cars its super expensive..

Just plain BS..
180 - 2 ISDRA passes
230 - 2 day use passes

http://store.parks.ca.gov/park/dept.asp?de...0F8KKLBVQ2R79UA

Diesel gas somewhere effin up there as well..

SailAway-

Has there been any reports on complience for last season? How much was collected from the passes. And how much of it, and where, it was spent on ISDRA? Sure would like to see some numbers. You know the numbers they are going to base next years price on. Remember..."if we have great compliance and an abundance of money then we will reduce the price next year" Yeah right

But if I read the BLM's budget document correctly, through the month of April, their projected income was supposed to be $4.9 Million, but they have only collected $2.5 Million.

So, if they've received only half as much money as they projected, and collected it at twice the rate they planned, does that mean they overestimated visitiation by about 400%? In other words, they originally thought there would be 4 times the number of vehicles requiring passes than actually were there, and based their budget projections on that.

If this is in fact the case, wouldn't that be a positive thing? Less ammunition for the eco-nazi's to claim "overuse" of the dunes? The BLM should be able to reduce their budget across the board by 75% as well. Or does it spell doom and gloom that they will want to up the annual fee by 400%? (ignoring the latest "rumor" of course)

How they even estimate visitation is a scary issue, let alone how they actually count the visitors.

You make a good point, one which I'm sure they will make when continuing to charge the same fee as last year (while we all kiss the ground because fees weren't raised), that the reason they still have to charge the same even though they exceeded compliance expectations is because of low visitor counts.

Did anyone feel the ISDRA had fewer people there this year than last? How about Thanksgiving... I wasn't there due this year (first time in many) so let's hear from people who were there. Did it seem uncrowded?

In my opinion, the "off" weekends aren't even "off" weekends anymore.

So was visitation really down? How many passes were sold altogether?

One last point... if they knew the figures were different than expected, they must have known that at the season mid-point.

Why wasn't this brought to the duning public's attention to discuss alternatives?

Okay, one other thing... how much grant money is being figured into the budget? Will we be forced to pay for more equipment that the BLM didn't bother to put into a grant request? Uniforms?

Sheesh.

Vicki

$90 is still WAY to much.
Are you all happy with $90?

I'm thinking that a little bonfire near the Ranger Station where we burn all of last years passes in protest might be fun!

PastorVor

Can you buy passes online yet, I figure they are hi dollar they can step it up on how they sell the passes

Thanks Vicki had friends in Or. and Wa. that wanted to know for Thanksgiving.

I don't want ANY fees at the ISDRA. They should get Federal Appropriated dollars to run the place, period. For 20 years going to Glamis I don't see many improvements and that is FINE with me...

Lets see 2000, 35 Rangers. 2001 70 Rangers. 2002 who the hell knows how many? and so on, and so on. Coming soon more rangers than campers, maybe they can ticket each other for faded underwear tags.

You will have an assigned ranger to each camp.. he will be camping with you and riding with you. Please provide your ranger 3 square meals and beverage a day..
Thanks you..

NO RANGERS - Let the natural selection start!!!