Some Fees and Quiet

The forest roads of Silverado Canyon don’t seem like much--just miles of scrub oak, sycamore and faded wildflowers, a good number of flies and a great deal of silence.

Now, however, hikers and bicyclists seeking solace on these dusty trails are required to pay $5 for a day’s use or $30 for an annual pass. The three-year pilot program, which started Monday, applies to the Cleveland, Los Padres, Angeles and San Bernardino national forests.

In Orange County, that means Silverado and Trabuco canyons, where hiking trails and four-wheel drive roads are a favorite haunt for tens of thousands of people a year.

Those merely driving through the forest won’t need a so-called Adventure Pass, but those planning to use the trails and roads for recreation will, and they face a $100 fine if they fail to comply, Cleveland National Forest officials said.

Anyone parking on forest land to use the trails must post an Adventure Pass in their windshield, officials said. Those who hike or bicycle into the forest do not need a pass.

The program is designed to supplement shrinking tax allocations to some of the most heavily trafficked federal lands in the country.

Eighty percent of the money raised will stay with the local forests and go to projects like improving restrooms, trails and trash bins, Cleveland National Forest spokeswoman Betty Hawkes said. Visitors will have a say in how the money is used, she added.

While forest officials have spent the last month passing out fliers and talking to hikers about the upcoming program, many forest visitors were hearing about it for the first time Monday.

Brian Tidball, 36, of Orange used to ride the road on his street-legal dirt bike. On Monday, he drove to check out the recently opened gate and found a sign: “Forest Adventure Pass Required.”

“I understand why you have to pay,” Tidball said after forest protection officer Laura Kaye, hired last month to help implement the Adventure Pass program, handed him some information. “Everyone would be up here if you didn’t. As long as the road is open, I’m not against paying for it.”

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In truth, though, no one had to buy a pass Monday. To prevent animosity, Kaye said, officials plan to hold off on the fines until the public is better educated about the program.

“The idea is to get voluntary compliance,” Kaye said Monday as she patrolled the canyon roads at Silverado and stopped to talk with the rare visitor driving through. “It’s not like going to the Grand Canyon where there is a gate you have to pass through where you pay. We don’t have that control factor, and we don’t want that control factor.”

The U.S. Forest Service road through Silverado Canyon--closed since 1993 due to mudslides and other erosion--reopened last month and immediately became a popular entry point, Kaye said.

Some who ventured out to explore the terrain Monday were less than pleased about the new fees.

“I think I’m already paying to a certain extent, through taxation,” said John Gibson, 42, of Costa Mesa, who took a spin through the canyon with his 12-year-old son, Jason. “That’s why I was a little upset when the road was closed.”

Kaye works out of the Trabuco Ranger Station, which covers all the forest land in Orange County. She has spent the last month passing out fliers to inform motorists of the upcoming fees and tell them where to purchase Adventure Passes.

The three-year pilot program was approved by Congress last year. More than 50 other pilot programs have been established across the country, all with the intent to raise local money to maintain federal recreation areas.

But the programs were created locally and differ in scope and design. The fees also differ, said Judy Behrens, spokeswoman for the Trabuco Ranger Station of the Cleveland National Forest. That ranger station oversees some of the most heavily used land in the Cleveland National Forest, including Trabuco and Silverado canyons and the Lake Elsinore area in Riverside County. The district hosted nearly half a million visitors from October 1995 to September 1996, Behrens said.

Annual passes are good for all four national forests participating in the program, Kaye said.

In Orange County, passes are available at the Silverado Canyon Market, at 28192 Silverado Canyon Road, and the Trabuco General Store, at 31021 Trabuco Canyon Road. They also can be purchased through the Trabuco Ranger District.

Anyone seeking more information should call the Trabuco Ranger District at (909) 736-1811 or (909) 620-6208.