Price of Adventure : New Law Charging Admission to National Forests Catches Many by Surprise

Cheryl Elom of Ojai has trekked to a particular Sespe Creek swimming hole in the Rose Valley Recreation Area since she was 17 years old.

Now a 33-year-old mother of three, her kids learned to swim in the watery oasis near Lion Campground in the shadow of the starkly stunning Piedra Blanca sandstone formation.

So it was not surprising that the hospital housekeeper became the first person to show up at the Ojai Ranger District office to dutifully buy a $5 daily Adventure Pass on Monday, the first day visitors were required to pay to play in all four Southern California forests.

“I almost live up here all summer long,” she said as her children plunged into the cool mountain water. “I just love this place. I don’t really care if I have to pay $10 to come up here.”

The $5 daily or $30 annual Adventure Passes are part of a three-year pilot program that for the first time requires people to pay a fee before using the trails, watering holes and picnic tables on national forest land. The passes are also available at local convenience stores and gas stations.

Good for access to all four Southern California national forests, the Adventure Pass program approved by Congress last year is expected to generate millions of dollars a year to improve neglected, vandalized and sometimes nonexistent trails, signs, restrooms and other amenities.

The Ojai Ranger District, one of five administrative units in the forest, has a $3-million backlog of recreation projects. At least 80% of the money collected locally will be plowed back into the forest rather than disappear into the U.S. Treasury’s gaping maw.

“I tell them this money is not going to the big chamber pot in Washington, D.C.,” said Glen Gill, one of 10 recreation technicians in Los Padres hired to explain--and enforce--the fee pilot program.

“We understand not everybody’s going to be satisfied with the program,” Gill added. “But the one thing I emphasize is that if they pay the fee, they have every right to hold the Forest Service accountable on these four forests. This money is not going to be spent on fighting forest fires in Redding, Calif. It’s to be spent here.”

The program got off to a shaky start Monday with most people unaware of the Adventure Pass requirement. Visitors without a pass hanging from their vehicle’s rearview mirror--except those driving through forest land and campers who already pay a separate fee--risk a fine of up to $100.

But tickets aren’t being handed out yet in an effort to win public acceptance. As of midmorning, only 36 annual passes had been sold since going on sale a week ago.

“We went to the Ojai ranger station this morning and they didn’t tell us anything about it,” said a surprised Rhondi Sandblom of Laguna Niguel, as she sat beneath a tree at Rose Valley, picnicking with her family.

Among the people expressing the greatest hostility to the fees are those who use the forest the most.

“I think it sucks that we’ve got to pay to use the Los Padres,” said Santa Barbara resident Jim McKenzie, a Sierra Club member, preparing for a hike with his son. McKenzie noted the general public wasn’t asked for its input before the fees were put into effect. “I would have at least written and complained.”

Daniel Rupp of Ojai, a member of the Keep the Sespe Wild Committee who was buying his annual pass Monday, wasn’t too wild about the idea either.

“It’s like a tax,” he said. “I don’t especially like it, but I don’t especially dislike it either. If we pay for what we use, that’s a valid philosophy.”

But officials hope most forest users will join Elom in enthusiastically embracing the program.

“I prefer to pay if it’s going to keep graffiti out of here and the parks clean,” she said, surveying the decaying campground. “We’ve got to have a safe place to take our kids somewhere. . . . And it’s good for my nerves.”