The $85 Pass is Here, Be Afraid, Be VERY AFRAID!

[lummox]

[steepconcrete]

i am jumping in way late..but..

 

my problem with fee-demo is we are forced to pay to play as corperations, ski areas, and guiding outfits are making money off the same land.

[Rodchester]

STeepC:

 

Those Corps are paying a pretty penney to guide and use the land. You'd be surprised how much guide servcies pay for the users days.

[cj001f]

Those Corps are paying a pretty penney to guide and use the land. You'd be surprised how much guide servcies pay for the users days.

Guide Services may - but ski corporations (as one example) pay a tiny fee to use NF land.

[steepconcrete]

yea they pay, but they still makeing money. why do i have to pay while they profit? it just dosent feel right.

[Rodchester]

Oh, I agree that we shouldn't have to pay...and that the guide companies should. I do agree with that.

[dtw]

Before you run out and spend your $85... read the fine print.

 

This pass is NOT valid at 100 of the 126 WA state parks... only the 26 listed!

 

I just called to verify because I could not believe they could come up with something so stupid. Create a new pass to simplify the fee parking mess, then actually make it MORE complicated.

 

I don't mind paying a couple extra bucks to play... what I really don't want to do is spend hours of my life trying to figure out whether one of my FIVE different parking passes is going to work.

 

Oh, and don't forget your $11 WADFW sticker to park at Vantage.

[ken4ord]

Oh, and don't forget your $11 WADFW sticker to park at Vantage.

 

Pssst, why?

[joker]

I'm OK with buying a pass, but agree with those saying they want to see accountability for where the pass $ go. Parts of this thread remind me of the "let's cut taxes, and who are they to close state parks and cut back bus routes!? why can't they just cut all that pork I know must be there!?" level of public discourse. I agree there's a real issue with inhibiting the casual new user but don't agree with folks saying "I'm paying twice for the same thing!!" Look carefully into the money flow, as folks like the WTA have done, before taking such a stand.

 

Speaking of the WTA, if taxes get you roiled then check out http://www.wta.org/~wta/cgi-bin/wtaweb.pl?2+av+issue+NOVA_FAQ to see why you should put some of this energy into calling your state rep and senator to redirect some of your gas tax $ away from dirt bike trails and into stuff you actually use.

Edited March 22, 2004 by joker

[Cpt.Caveman]

A dynamic blob of misleadingdisinformational forest service and govt bullshit is all this pass is.

 

Later

[erik]

mark

 

maintaing access to public for recreation is only one faucet of the f.s./b.l.m and whatever other managing agencies that are out there...they are also to manage the lands for mining/timber and things like the lab in the icicle. all these other things are a potential gold mine for the managing agencies, yet they subsidizng the industries. in theory i believe that is managed properly the commercial aspect(mining/logging/grazing) can cover the operating cost of the f.s. and b.l.m.

 

the fee demo programs are an attempt to ready the public for the continued commercialization of the recreation aspect of the outdoors.

 

companies like rei, coleman, polaris and the like are backing these fee demo programs as they see a point of increased profit. they belong to o.r.c.a which is a lobbying group that writes these bills.

 

also machine guns and suvs seem kinda ass backwards for protecting the enviroment.

[joker]

Intriguing. So where's the profit to REI, Coleman, and Polaris in the fees? You lost me there.

 

The closest link I can imagine is that they want to ensure that we don't start losing recreational access opportunities (and they may see the fees as a way to ensure $ to maintain access, a dynamic others have noted on this thread) as that would indeed cut into their business.