Tuition fees. Book fees. ATM fees. Parking fees. It seems that every where you turn these days you're being charged fees. Luckily you can always head out to the mountains or deserts to rest and recreate for free. Or can you? Thanks to a federal program created in 1996, many of your favorite parks and wild places are now forcing you to cough up your hard-earned dough. This insidious legislation, which goes by the name of the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program, depends upon your willingness to pay these everyday fees.
This "Fee Demo" program gives the four federal land agencies (USFS, BLM, NPS, and Fish & Wildlife) the right to charge fees in 100 areas each. The main selling point of this program is that up to 80% of the money collected in a particular area stays in that jurisdiction rather than ending up in the federal treasury.
On the surface, this sounds like a great program, but there are several points to first consider:
1. The Fee Demo represents double taxation; not exactly what a cash-strapped student wants to hear. These lands have already been set aside for the enjoyment of all and funded through our taxes. This program takes the land out of the public domain and turns it into a commodity. Forest Service personnel are no longer stewards of our lands, but developers and concessionaires. The Fee Demo effectively turns the taxpayer from an owner into a customer (in fact, the USFS already refers to us as "customers" in several sources). Now, I'll be the first to admit that we need more funding for our public lands, but this should be done through Congressional appropriations, not user fees.
2. The Fee Demo was originally intended as a temporary program (hence the name "Demonstration") designed to gauge public response to user fees. The truth is that Congress has extended the Fee Demo each time public opposition has threatened to kill it. The Fee Demo will lead to further budget cuts and perpetuate the notion that we must "pay to play" on our own public lands.
3. As the Parks and Monuments meet their financial backlogs, will the fees be reduced or eliminated? Don't count on it! And since Fee Demo revenues cannot be used to purchase additional lands, the extra income will actually create the need to spend that money, usually on unnecessary building and paving. This will obviously have a negative effect on the wilderness experience.
4. Between 20-25% of all fees collected under this program go to the collection and law enforcement of those very fees. This program creates another layer of bureaucracy that needs to pay for itself. If this is such a fantastic program, why not make the fees voluntary?
5. Congress has consistently chosen to subsidize industrial uses such as mining, grazing, and logging. It does not make sense, either economically or environmentally, to charge fees for low-impact recreational activities while subsidizing commercial uses which cause serious and irreparable damage to our pristine wildlands. There is good reason why over 100 environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, the Access Fund, American Whitewater, the International Mountain Biking Association, and the Mountaineers oppose the Fee Demo.
"But what can I do?"
First, do NOT pay the fees. Every fee collected is counted as a "YES" vote in support of the Program. At the very least, ask for and fill out a comment card. Second, write to your Congress Creatures demanding an end to the program. Finally, join the cause (www.wildwilderness.org or www.freeourforests.org) and spread the word.
Public lands are something we can afford to support. Like public libraries and public schools, they are an integral part of our democratic tradition, a legacy that should not be sacrificed to corporate greed.
Now get out there and enjoy YOUR public lands! |
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