---- CONGRESS EXTENDS FEE-DEMO THROUGH 2005 ----
The Interior Appropriators have done it again. They have extended the highly
controversial Recreation Fee Demonstration Program one more time.
Originally authorized as a rider attached to the 1996 Interior
Appropriations Bill, fee-demo was to have been a three-year experiment. If
fee-demo proved itself, Congress would almost certainly grant it permanent
authorization. But because fee-demo, especially as practiced by the USFS,
BLM and FWS, has been a flop and has become a political hot-potato, all
that the proponents of fee-demo can manage is to keep the program on
life-support by attaching extensions to annual appropriations bills. They do
not have the votes to make it permanent and certainly do not have the
public's support.
So while opponents of fee-demo had hoped that Congress would allow the
program to die peacefully, we are thankful that Congress did not grant the
full two-year extension Mr. Bush had requested. We expect that this latest
15 month extension will be the LAST extension fee-demo will ever get. We
expect that the fate of fee-demo will be resolved in 2004 and are optimistic
that this program will be terminated, at least for the USFS, BLM and FWS.
Pasted below are the TWO references to fee-demo contained within the
Interior Appropriations Bill that recently passed out of Conference
Committee. One reference extends the program. The other stipulates that
fee-demo revenues may not be used to displace private / commercial
recreation-provides now operating on public lands. This second reference is
of critical importance.
The USFS has long denied the claims of fee-demo opponents who say fee-demo
was created by the recreation industry explicitly to commercialize and
privatize recreational opportunities upon public lands. USFS spokespersons
have said fee-demo would allow federal agencies to regain control of
campgrounds and other facilities that had previously been given to the
private sector to operate because fee-demo would all the USFS to keep the
fees collected. They said fee-demo would help reverse the growing trend
toward commercialization and privation of the Great Outdoors. They were
wrong.
Scott
PS... The most valuable action you could take today to end fee-demo would be
to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Ask your friends,
neighbors and community to become active participants in the Democratic
progress and have them communicate their concerns directly to their elected
representatives.
------ begin quoted -------
http://frwebgate3.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=45319927752+
1+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
[Congressional Record: October 28, 2003 (House)]
[Page H9898-H9959]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr28oc03-101]
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2691, DEPARTMENT OF THE
INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004
<snip>
-----
Sec. 319. A project undertaken by the Forest Service under
the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program as authorized by
section 315 of the Department of the Interior and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1996, as amended,
shall not result in--
(1) displacement of the holder of an authorization to
provide commercial recreation services on Federal lands.
Prior to initiating any project, the Secretary shall consult
with potentially affected holders to determine what impacts
the project may have on the holders. Any modifications to the
authorization shall be made within the terms and conditions
of the authorization and authorities of the impacted agency;
(2) the return of a commercial recreation service to the
Secretary for operation when such services have been provided
in the past by a private sector provider, except when--
(A) the private sector provider fails to bid on such
opportunities;
(B) the private sector provider terminates its relationship
with the agency; or
© the agency revokes the permit for non-compliance with
the terms and conditions of the authorization.
In such cases, the agency may use the Recreation Fee
Demonstration Program to provide for operations until a
subsequent operator can be found through the offering of a
new prospectus.
<snip>
Section 332--The conference agreement modifies House
section 332 to extend the Recreation Fee Demonstration
Program for 15 months instead of a two-year extension as
proposed by the House.
---------
PS... For the past 11 years, the Congressional champion of fee-demo has been
Ohio Congressman Ralph Regula. Mr. Regula introduced the first attempt at
stand-alone fee-demo legislation (HR 4690, 102nd Congress). Mr. Regula
inserted the current fee-demo language into the 1996 Interior Appropriations
Bill. Mr. Regula inserted extension language in subsequent bills and Mr.
Regula is the primary sponsor of legislation recently introduced to
permanently authorize recreation user fees (HR 3283). Why is a Congressmen
from a state with so few federally-managed public lands working so hard to
on this issue. Whose interests is he representing? If you'd like those
answers and more, please call me at 541-385-5261
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Scott Silver
Wild Wilderness
248 NW Wilmington Ave.
Bend, OR 97701
phone: 541-385-5261
e-mail: ssilver@wildwilderness.org
Internet: http://www.wildwilderness.org
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
