Environmentalists Assail Park Fees
The decision by Congress to continue the Forest Adventure Pass through September 2002 got a thumbs down from local environmentalists, who say charging a fee limits access to national parks.
Thursday, the Senate and House Appropriations conference committee extended the program, which affects projects in national forests and parks across the country.
Known as the Recreation Fee Demo Program, it began in 1996 and has been extended twice.
“We’re disappointed because we know that many thousands of people across the nation have written in against this,” said Alasdair Coyne, conservation director of Keep Sespe Wild Committee in Ojai. “We’re losing our public lands to the funding crisis.”
National park officials were unavailable for comment Friday but in the past have said the fees pay for trail and site maintenance. Even so, Coyne and members of other environmental groups argue the fees have reduced public interest in visiting national parks and are just another form of taxation.
“Every citizen still pays money to sustain public lands, and now you have to pay a fee. It’s double taxation,” said Michael Zierhunt, secretary of the Ojai chapter of Free Our Forests.
“If you’re a fisherman it’s triple. If you’re a hunter it’s triple. If you’re a hunter and a fisherman, it’s quadruple,” he said.
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