---- CONGRESS EXTENDS FEE-DEMO THROUGH 2005 ----

[jon]

---- 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

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

 

 

[ChrisT]

nice shokka shred