Richard Cunningham
This is your chance to make a difference in how the backcountry will be experienced in the future. The Federal Governments Recreational Fee Demonstration Program is the ill-conceived idea that anyone who parks a vehicle within a National Forest area must have an Adventure Pass. These fees are not applicable to national parks. They cover almost a third of the country’s federal lands.
Those of you who have not been affected by the Adventure Pass program or aren’t aware of it should be warned. This program is intended to improve the park system by charging users fees to park vehicles in any of our national forests. It is actually another type of taxation:
1 Creates a new, wasteful bureaucracy.
2Covers covers the backcountry with expensive and ugly signs
3Diverts forest personnel from productive and useful duties and transforms them into gun-toting, meter maids.
4Destroys a 250 year-old tradition that the federal and state common lands belonged to the people, not government officials.
5Allow Congress to Steal Your Tax Money That They Have Acceded to Use to Purchase and Maintain These Common Lands. Then, they can spend it on other pet projects.
6Turns federal land owners into paying customers, who must now purchase a special pass to allow them to use their property.
7Low-income residents are not allowed to enjoy their wilderness heritage.
8Sets a dangerous precedent because once you have a special pass to access the backcountry, that pass can be revoked at anytime! Presently, the penalty for not having an Adventure Pass is as severe as
WHAT TO DO TO PREVENT IT
The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee will meet on April 6th to discuss whether the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program, originally set to expire in September 2001, could become a federal law. Despite opposition from all populations where the program is being evaluated, including local governments and the Sierra Club, proponents claim that there is no problem with the American public paying for forest fees. Tell them that you want it to be stopped immediately!
1Write Congressman Ralph Regula House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee B-308,Rayburn Washington DC. 20515
2Send them a brief note:
Stop the Adventure Pass Demo Fee.
The Forest Service should be properly funded
Conserve the national forests and not charge for them.
*Request that your postcard or letter be included in the record for Public Witness Day on April 6.
Click here to see what Ralph can send you by e-mail.
Although it is still painful, it is not as severe as licking a stamp.
To be certain, send your letter no later than April 4th. Stopping this foolish program will be a tremendous service to your country. Stop the Adventure Pass!
