| WESTERN SLOPE NO-FEE COALITION |
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THE FEE-FREE PRESS
DEAR PUBLIC LANDS SUPPORTER
The deadline for public comments on a proposed trail fee at three Wilderness Areas in two National Forests in Oregon has been extended to January 10th.
The Deschutes and Willamette Forests want to charge fees for all overnight access plus nearly 25% of day use trails at three designated Wilderness areas in the Cascades Range. They claim that hiking is a "specialized recreation use."
These fees would be illegal under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act and would exclude the public from accessing and enjoying their public lands.
If you already commented there are some additional points below that you can add. If you haven't commented yet please do it right away!
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HIKING IN A WILDERNESS AREA IS NOT A SPECIALIZED RECREATIONAL USE!
Three Wilderness Areas in Oregon Will Require Fees For Access If This Proposal Is Implemented
The Mt Jefferson, Mt Washington, and Three Sisters Wilderness Areas already plan to require limited-access permits starting this year to prevent overcrowding and resource damage.
Now the Deschutes and Willamette National Forests want to take the next step and start charging money for those permits.
They claim authority for such fees under a clause in the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) that allows a fee for "specialized recreation uses" such as group activities, recreation events, and motorized recreational vehicles.
Congress never meant that to apply to private individuals who are hiking, walking, horseback riding and camping in a completely undeveloped part of a National Forest. Such fees would set a horrible national precedent for other Wildernesses.
The deadline for comments
has been extended to January 10th - send yours now, or expand on what you already submitted, before it's too late!
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Send in your comment by email to:
We provided suggested points in our
previous Action Alert. Following are some additions to those ideas. You can supplement your earlier comment with these if you sent one, or send one now if you missed the original deadline. You should put these into your own words and make them specific to the activities that you enjoy:
- This fee proposal is unprecedented. The Willamette and Deschutes National Forests are the first in the U.S. to try to implement a fee system on three entire Wilderness Areas - more than 450,000 acres - for all overnight users and day hikers at 19 trailheads.
- The proposed fee violates FLREA, which prohibits charging for general access, hiking, horseback riding, or dispersed camping.
- Traveling on foot through a Wilderness Area is not a "specialized recreation use."
- The Forest Service has not justified why a permit system is necessary in the first place or why these wilderness areas require "extraordinary" management activities.
- The Forest Service has not demonstrated why other means of addressing the claimed problem are not available or better solutions.
- Even if a permit system is necessary, the Forest Service can issue permits without fees.
- The Forest Service anticipates expanding these fees and permits to other areas and changing quotas - this proposal is the camel's nose under the tent.
- The fee proposal says that Wilderness travelers must carry their permit and photo identification with them and present them upon request to any Forest Officer or other law enforcement official. Requiring photo ID is an excessively high burden that is not even required to exercise fundamental Constitutional rights. For example, Oregon does not require photo ID to vote. There is no reason why recreating on public lands should require photo ID.
- The Forest did not release their Fee Management Plan until December 10, 2019 - well after the close of the original comment period - and held no public meetings or open houses before submitting it to an advisory committee for approval. The Plan was not posted at the websites of both the Willamette and Deschutes National Forests even though it is being jointly proposed and affects both Forests. It was published only on the Willamette's site.
- The forests are using two advisory committees to seek approval of their fee proposal, one on the west side of the Cascades and one on the east (see following article). The members of these committees were not selected to represent a broad range of recreation interests, as required by FLREA, and are not qualified to make recommendations on recreation fees. On the west side they are using the Hood-Willamette advisory committee, which was created to provide advice under the Secure Rural Schools Act. On the east side they are using the John Day-Snake committee, which was created to provide advice to the Bureau of Land Management and has no expertise in issues that affect National Forests.
- This proposal is of dubious legality, has been poorly designed, and does not take public concerns into sufficient consideration.
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CASCADES FEES PUBLIC MEETING JANUARY 14TH
The final requirement that the Forest Service has to meet in order to impose permit fees on three Wilderness Areas is to obtain recommendation from a Recreation Resource Advisory Committee.
The committee operates under this clause in federal law:
"A recommendation may be submitted to the Secretary only if . . . general public support for the recommendation is documented"
"I wouldn't say the response was surprising - fees are rarely popular," said Matt Peterson, who led the project for the U.S. Forest Service.
Despite that admission that they have utterly failed the "general public support" test, the forest has scheduled a committee meeting for January 14, only four days following the new close of the comment period. No honest analysis of nearly 13,000 comments can be conducted in only four days!
The committee meeting is open to the public but like all such meetings it is scheduled so as to make it difficult or impossible for ordinary citizens to attend. They anticipate acting outside of the public eye since the public is hardly ever able to be there.
If you can clear your schedule it would make a huge difference for YOU to attend this meeting and voice your concerns and opposition to this fee plan. Here is where and when:
Tuesday, January 14th, 9 a.m.
Keizer Community Center, Claggett Room
930 Chemawa Road NE
Keizer, Oregon 97303
Public comment will be limited to 3 minutes per person, and if you plan to speak you must request to do so by January 10th by email to Jennifer Sorensen jennifer.sorensen@usda.gov
The meeting agenda is posted
HERE.
If you live anywhere in the vicinity of Salem Oregon, take the day off, call in sick, or quit your job.
Go to this meeting!
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The Western Slope No-Fee Coalition is a broad-based organization consisting of diverse interests including hiking, biking, boating, equestrian and motorized enthusiasts, community groups, local and state elected officials, conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats, and just plain citizens.
Our goals are:
- To eliminate recreation fees for general access to public lands managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management
- To eliminate backcountry fees and interpretive program fees in National Parks
- To require more accountability within the land management agencies
- To encourage Congress to adequately fund our public lands
Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Kitty Benzar
Western Slope No Fee Coalition |
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