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| The recreation industry has finally shown its fee-demo hand. Not even the hole-card is left unturned. And now that everything is in plain view, I invite you to look at what they're holding and decide to call, or fold, as you see fit. You may not be seated at the table, but what's been wagered belongs to you as much as it belong to those holding the cards. It's not too late for you to get involved. The recreation industry turned over their final down card on May 6th, 2004 when Christine Jourdain, representing both the American Council of Snowmobile Associations and the American Recreation Coalition, testified before the House Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands. What Jourdain told Congress will cause jaws to drop amongst those who have not followed the issue. It will likely cause heart palpitations amongst those who have hoped, or perhaps prayed, that anti-fee opponents were wrong in their long-standing claim that fee-demo is part of a bigger agenda. The full testimony can be read at http://www.wildwilderness.org/docs/jourdain.htm A concise and stinging, paragraph-by-paragraph summary of Jourdain's testimony appears below. I strongly encourage you to read it and then read the original to assure yourself that I have been faithful in my paraphrasing. The bottom line is this --- the table is piled high with chips with the fate of outdoor recreation on America's public lands at stake. Read what fee proponents shared with Congress and then decide whether you are prepared to let them walk away with what is now yours or whether you're prepared to call their bluff. It is only a bluff. The recreation industry is not holding sufficiently high cards that it can beat the whole of the American People, no matter how hard they may try. They may be powerful, but they are not that powerful -- at least, not yet. Scott ---- Paragraph by Paragraph Summary follows --- #1 My name is Christine Jourdain and I am today speaking on behalf of 25 state snowmobile associations plus to more than 100 member corporations of the American Recreation Coalition. #2 We thank Mr. Regula for having been our inside man and for having implemented the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program which we created and helped write. #3 We want to stress that fees are just only one tool in our privatization toolbox. Other tools include increased agency dependence upon volunteerism, partnerships and more. #4 Twenty years ago a couple of recreation industry leaders had a vision. #5 Those leaders created the American Recreation Coalition they acted upon that vision. Working with President Reagan, we laid out a path that would lead to the day our vision became reality. #6 We applaud the committee for what it's so-far done to implement that vision. #7 We consider the first 7 year fee-demonstration program has been a success. We now call upon you to pass our new-and-improved, Phase Two demonstration program. #8 We want you to know that we support the basic principles of HR 3283, but that bill does not go far enough. Not by a long way. #9 We almost hate to say this, but we will NOT support HR 3283 in it's present form. #10 Our biggest concern is that this legislation doesn't give us control of the program nor does it give us management control of the public lands. We're concerned that if we were to pass HR 3283 today, it will be difficult for us to come back and take what we left sitting on the table. #11 Our next biggest concern is that some public lands are not included within this program. We insist that every last federal land management agency be included. #12 We are also very pissed that some agency personnel are overcharging our outfitters, guides, concessionaires and other private recreation-service providers. This needs to be corrected and one of our other Board members will testify on that issue later in this hearing. #13 In order to ensure nothing like that every happens again, we want Congress to create a new "National Recreation Fees Advisory Board" upon which our members would sit. This board would effectively control the program, would report directly to congress and would determine how and where fees were collected and spent. #14 We also want to have Congress establish a slush-fund into which money from existing fee sites can be deposited and from which money can be withdrawn, as necessary, to develop currently undeveloped sites in anticipation of charging new fees at those sites. Perhaps we'll call this 'the build in and they will pay fund'. #15 We have been frustrated that there are still wage laws in this country which, quite frankly, have been giving us fits. We also know there are millions of Americans who are being excluded from their public lands because of these fees. So here are a few idea we've proposing for changing the law and getting around those annoying problems. #16 We also want Congress to give an even bigger cash incentive to outsource the management of public recreation facilities. Let our friends run a public recreation site and we're prepared to give the agency a 10% cut of whatever fees we collect... but no more than that! #17 We also want Congress to rely more fully on public-private-partnerships and upon a new gimmick we're calling: "Non-Appropriated Funding Instrumentatlities" (NAFI). You'll recognize NAFI as gas-tax money, recreation trails fund (RTF) money, highway budgets, scenic byways dollars, state-side contributions from LWCF and a dozen other off-budget funds. We intend not only to use these sources to replace appropriated dollars, we (acting though our new Fee Advisory Board) intend to exert ultimate control over how these funds are spent and through that control, control of the lands themselves. #18 And finally, we want the Fee Advisory Board to be giving new authority to start charging for things that congress has long prohibited -- things such as the use of drinking fountains, undeveloped parking areas, scenic overlooks, toilets and individual picnic tables. #19 Thank you all for coming today. If any of you Congressmen have questions, I have brought with me ARC's President, Derrick Crandall, and several ARC members and staffers. We will be happy to explain in greater detail exactly what we expect of you. #20 If you'd like to contact me, my name, once again, is Christine Jourdain and you can call me at (517) 351-4362 or drop me an e-mail at cajourdain@aol.com So ends the testimony of Christine Jourdain. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Scott Silver Wild Wilderness 248 NW Wilmington Ave. Bend, OR 97701 phone: 541-385-5261 e-mail: ssilver@wildwilderness.org Internet: http://www.wildwilderness.org ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |