******IMMEDIATE FEE-DEMO ACTION REQUIRED*******

[jon]

******IMMEDIATE FEE-DEMO ACTION REQUIRED*******

Please call your Representative and ask him/her to support the

DeFazio Fee Demo Amendment to the House Interior Appropriations

Bill. The Amendment, sponsored by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) would

limit the Fee Demonstration Program to a one-year extension and

keep the caps on the number of sites to which it applies. The

vote will take place within the next 72 hours, so this is an

urgent request.

(Dial 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected with your

representative. Tell the person who answers that you

live in their district, you oppose fee-demo and wish your

Congressman to support the DeFazio Fee-Demo Amendment

to the House Interior Appropriations Bill).

Currently the Interior bill allows for a four-year extension of

the program, which essentially makes it permanent, and lifts the

cap on the number of places where the agencies can charge fees so

that the agencies can impose fees at as many sites as they wish.

Specific Reasons to support the DeFazio amendment include:

1) The General Accounting Office (GAO) is studying the

administration, management, revenue distribution from the

Recreational Fee Demonstration Program. This report, requested

by Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY), will be ready in September. It is

premature to lock this program in for 4 more years before the GAO

report is available.

2) The Recreational Fee Demonstration Program has met with

considerable opposition from conservation and community groups

across the nation -- over 200 organizations oppose the program to

date.

3) A recent Forest Service Study indicates that the Recreational

Fee Demonstration Program is having a "significant exclusionary

impact" on poor people who live near National Forests where the

program is active, and that they are staying away from these lands

because of it.

4) .... any personal reasons you would like to add.

 

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

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

[Tod]

Just to keep this string hot and at the top of the list....

Thanks for posting this...

Tod