Forest Fee Opponents Picket Ranger Station

Waving an American flag and carrying picket signs with messages such as “This land is still our land,” a small group of demonstrators marched in front of a ranger station Saturday to protest fees for use of the state’s national forests.

The Adventure Pass is a U.S. Forest Service program that since 1997 has charged visitors $5 a day, or $30 per year, to enter four Southern California forests.

“National forest lands have always been lands for the people,” said Heidi Mauer, a member of the Ojai-based Free Our Forests campaign, created to generate support for abolishing the fees. “You just shouldn’t have to pay to enjoy nature, to dip your toes into a creek and watch the sunset.”

About 24 people turned out for Saturday’s two-hour protest at the district ranger station for Los Padres National Forest. It was part of a nationwide campaign to end fees at forests throughout the country, said Alasdair Coyne, conservation director of Keep Sespe Wild Committee, a Ventura County-based watershed conservation group. More than 60 such protests were scheduled throughout the country, Coyne said.

The groups are hoping to pressure legislators to abolish the fee when Congress reviews the program next year. The fees were started to help the Forest Service pay for maintenance costs in the face of continuing budget cuts.

But fee opponents say citizens are already paying for forest upkeep through taxes, and to be charged when entering the forest for a hike or a swim is a form of double taxation.

“We can’t allow the government to mismanage our funds,” said Ojai resident David Stevens. “I’d like to see our forests well managed, but not like this.”

“We used to say the best things in life are free,” added John Frazee of Ojai. “I guess that’s not true anymore.”