Man Who Would Not Pay Forest Use Fee Is Found Guilty in Closely Watched Case

In a victory for the U.S. Forest Service, a federal judge has ruled that a mountain biker was guilty of a misdemeanor for not paying a controversial fee to use Southern California forests, rejecting arguments that the fee was unconstitutional.

The case against 58-year-old Terry Dahl of Santa Barbara was the first legal test of the Adventure Pass program, which charges recreational users $5 a day or $30 a year to park at the Angeles, Los Padres, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests.

“People who would ignore paying the Adventure Pass fee should take note of the court’s ruling,” said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

The decision was released Tuesday and dealt a significant setback to a band of protesters and critics, including the Sierra Club, who say the government has no right to charge people to use unimproved public land. Some had been hoping to test the law in court since it was first passed by Congress in 1996 and have refused to pay for the passes.

“This is a huge blow to our case,” said Dahl, who is the vice president of a small medical company. “What the Forest Service wanted out of this was a conviction that they could say: ‘You do have to buy this, and if you don’t, look what happens to you.’ ”

Dahl could face a fine of up to $5,000 and six months in jail. But Mrozek said prosecutors will only ask for the $5 fee the defendant owed. Dahl said he will appeal the ruling.

Over several years, Dahl racked up 11 warnings on his car window in the Los Padres National Forest for not displaying the Adventure Pass, which is technically a parking pass for recreational users.

At his one-day trial Jan. 9, Dahl’s attorneys argued that he was not a recreational user but an active member of a protest group called Free Our Forests. He handed out fliers and urged others to reject the fee.

Because he was exercising his free speech rights, he did not need to pay the fee, Dahl’s attorneys argued. Indeed, Forest Service officials say they do not require the passes for protesters.

But on the day in question, Oct. 24, 1999, Dahl was riding a mountain bike and wearing biking clothes. Dahl said he was merely using the bike to cover more ground protesting, while federal officials said he was no different from other bikers and hikers in the mountains above Santa Barbara.

In her eight-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder found that Dahl was an “avid mountain biker” and that the “undisputed evidence is that the defendant rides the bike trails of the national forest without paying the required fees because he believes the government does not have the right to charge such fees.”

Snyder rejected one by one Dahl’s accusations that the fee program was unconstitutional. She wrote that the law was neither too vague, nor did it infringe on free speech rights.

Said Mrozek: “Terry Dahl attempted to hide behind the 1st Amendment, but the court determined that, in fact, he was just a scofflaw.”

The Forest Service has been watching the case closely. A ruling for Dahl could have jeopardized the agency’s ability to enforce the program.

Local forest officials say the program is necessary to maintain campgrounds, restrooms and trails, as well as to provide educational programs and law enforcement. They say it has brought more than $8 million to the four forests since 1997.

“This ruling reaffirms what we’ve been telling people all along,” said Randi Jorgensen, spokeswoman for the Angeles National Forest. “They need to buy the pass.”

Bob Barscht, a Pasadena retiree and head of the Los Angeles chapter of Free Our Forests, said the ruling will hinder his ability to urge visitors to reject the Adventure Pass fee. “Nobody had ever been found guilty of not complying with the program,” he said. “Now, I can’t guarantee a person will not be penalized.”

But Barscht adds that the issue is larger: “Your children and you are going to lose a very important freedom if we have to buy a permit to leave the city.”