Trial Underway for Protester of Forest Use Fee

Since the U.S. Forest Service established a recreational fee in Southern California forests, Terry Dahl has been one of the program’s most outspoken critics.

“I’m against charging the public for use of its own land,” said the father of two from Santa Barbara.

As part of a protest started by like-minded forest users, Dahl routinely refused to buy the $5 Adventure Pass and received 11 warnings on his car in the Los Padres National Forest.

Now, the U.S. attorney’s office is prosecuting Dahl, 58, in what officials say is the first case to test the controversial Adventure Pass program.

“It is a violation of the law to recreate without paying this fee,” said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.

Mrozek said protesters who disagree with the law should lobby Congress, which created the program in 1996. “We’re charged with enforcing the laws of the United States,” he said.

The Adventure Pass, which costs $5 per day or $30 a year, is supposed to be displayed on cars parked in the forests.

Dahl and others testified at his one-day trial in federal court in Los Angeles last Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder asked for briefs from both sides on the legality of the Adventure Pass.

The defendant, along with protesters throughout the region, say they have been hoping to test the law in court since the program was started in the Angeles, Los Padres, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests.

Forest officials would not say the case would test their ability to enforce the program but said they were watching it very carefully.

If found guilty of the misdemeanor crime, Dahl faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Dahl, a vice president of a small medical product company, said he would appeal such a ruling.

His attorney said the fee amounted to double taxation and was intended as a test program that should be discontinued because it is unpopular. Dahl contended that he was not subject to the fee because he was in the forest to protest, not for fun, on the day in 1999 for which he later received a summons to appear in court.

As a member of Free Our Forests, Dahl passes out literature and advises other hikers and visitors not to pay the fee as a gesture of disapproval over the program. “The problem is, if people buy these passes, they’re essentially voting for the program,” he said.

Dahl said that on the day for which he is now in court, he was simply using his bike to cover more ground as part of his protest. Rangers contend he was out on his bike having fun.

There is an exemption for protesters, but officials say demonstrators still need to acquire an administrative pass before parking in the forest.

Bob Bartsch, a Pasadena retiree who leads anti-pass rallies in the Angeles National Forest, was cited for noncompliance in 1998 and went to federal court to fight the permit. But the U.S. attorney dropped the charges when Bartsch told the prosecutor he was protesting, officials said.

The Forest Service has found that 53% of visitors comply with the Adventure Pass program in the four national forests, up from 41% when it started in 1997.

Dahl’s is the first case to go to trial. Mrozek, of the U.S. attorney’s office, said it is a matter of priorities.

“The person who goes up there one time, forgets the Adventure Pass, parks and never goes to the forest again . . . we’re not going to prosecute,” said Mrozek.

But across the country, other forest users have gone before judges for refusing to pay similar recreation fees. In Tucson in September, a federal judge threw out charges against four motorists who refused to buy a pass at Mount Lemmon. The judge said that because the ranger left the citations on the windshields, it was not clear whether the defendants were the ones who had driven the car, according to news reports.

The judge said the Forest Service would have to do more investigation to track down the actual violators.

In Southern California, the Adventure Pass program was implemented as a means to generate money for maintenance of campgrounds, trails, restrooms and other facilities. The passes are available at 7-Elevens, Sports Chalets and liquor stores at the base of the mountain or at kiosks in the forests.

Since its inception, the program has brought in $9 million, which has gone to refurbish 41 restrooms, help remove 2,150 cubic yards of trash, buy 47 bear-proof trash cans and help maintain 476 miles of trail, among other improvements, said Randi Jorgensen, spokeswoman for the Angeles National Forest.

Forest Service officials say they need the extra money because their budget is dwindling.

Many mountain enthusiasts have accepted the fee as a slight inconvenience that was necessary to sustain the forests. But others complain that it keeps poor people out and is an unconstitutional barrier for people who practice their spirituality in the forest.

The Sierra Club is among those against the fee. Bill Corcoran, conservation coordinator for the Angeles chapter, said the Forest Service should instead look at how it loses money by offering below-cost leases for grazing, timber and mining. “The federal government needs to stop subsidizing corporate use of our public lands before they start nickel-and-diming public citizens,” he said.

Bartsch points to a broader theme that bothers him. “We are not customers of public land,” said Bartsch. “We are owners of public land.”