fleblebleb Posted June 15, 2002 Share Posted June 15, 2002 This just posted to the UW climbers club mailing list. ----- Final call. National Fee Demo day of protest is tomorrow in Seattle at REI at 11:00. A good editorial ran in the P-I today about it: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/74540_feedemo14.shtml My research (and a new letter) is at: http://eve.speakeasy.org/~dittrich/nwba/end-the-fdp.html (I wish I could be there, but I have to fly out of town early tomorrow morning. I hope the turnout is high, as Congress just introduced fast-track legislation to make fees permanent. Call or write today, and show up for the protest, or fees may become permanent in a couple of weeks!) -- Dave Dittrich dittrich@speakeasy.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleblebleb Posted June 15, 2002 Author Share Posted June 15, 2002 And this... ----- The legislation I just mentioned... -- Dave Dittrich dittrich@speakeasy.net ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 09:19:43 -0700 From: Scott Silver To: Scott Silver Subject: Permanent Recreation Fee Legislation Introduced The second, of several recreation-fee and recreation-infrastructure pieces of legislation was introduced in the Senate on Tuesday of this week. The bill can be read at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:S2607: It should some as NO SURPRISE that this legislation was introduced during the American Recreation Coalition's "Great Outdoors Week" (www.funoutdoors.com). I only wish I or some member of the general public could have been inside the meetings ARC must have had with the sponsor of this legislation, Senator Bingaman (D-NM). This bill appears to be on an extreme fast tract. A Senate hearing has already been set for next week, (June 19, 2002 at 9:30 AM) http://energy.senate.gov/cfdocs/e_witnesslist.cfm?id=288 Needless to say ... this is "crunch time" for everyone who has been working so hard to end forest fees!! With the national Day of Action to end forest fees coming up on Saturday, I wish to say "Good Luck" and offer a sincere "THANK YOU" to everyone who will be participating. Thirty Demonstrations are scheduled in nine States, thanks to the help and efforts of so many of you copied on this message. When we all shout in unison on Saturday it will be our voice that is heard above the voice of the recreation special-interests for whom the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program has been created. Day of Action details can be viewed at: http://www.wildwilderness.org/docs/2002doa.htm Scott PS... The first bill in the current series of recreation-fee-related bills applies only to the National Parks. That bill can be read at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:S2473 and it was introduced by Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY). ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 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 June 15, 2002 is National Day of Action to PROTEST FOREST FEES. For additional information contact us or see: http://www.wildwilderness.org/docs/2002doa.htm ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
not_a_climber Posted June 15, 2002 Share Posted June 15, 2002 I think the protest went well today. It was a good chance to make your vote visible and also compare notes with others about backcountry trips. Just say no to fee demo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slothrop Posted June 16, 2002 Share Posted June 16, 2002 My girlfriend was at REI yesterday and said she saw maybe 5 or 6 protesters. Doesn't sound very successful to me. Too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted June 16, 2002 Share Posted June 16, 2002 I didn't make it to a protest in town, but I was duly ticketed at one of the trailheads into the Menagerie Wilderness yesterday. They were even kind enough to leave me a trail map! I was on a training mission, not recreation! The funny thing was our rescue truck was not ticketed, because it has a big fat "Sheriff" sticker on the back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
not_a_climber Posted June 16, 2002 Share Posted June 16, 2002 I'd say there were about 20 protesters. Hopefully more if they have another one. Be there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapertimmy Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 at least down here in deschutes co, fathers day was a "free" day for forest users! isn't that thoughtful? i'm batting 0'fer this year so far, haven't gotten a "request for compliance" or a ticket yet. Thats pretty dope you got a trail map! my protest involved getting some no trail fee stickers and putting them on my truck.. i'm a BAD BOY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg_W Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Thwarted Larry the Tool this weekend. Parked in Snow Creek Parking Lot at 7am on Saturday (with no pass), returned Sunday at about 7pm on Sunday - NO TICKET BABY!!!!! Ray pulled some funky army recon and we blitzed to the truck before Larry could spring from the bushes and bust our asses. Oh yeah, prusiked up the Monument too!! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry_the_Tool Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Damn you bunch of commie anarchists! I'll get you yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 I went to the protest to paticipate in the American tradition of civil disobedience. Handed out flyers and such. In general, people were pretty friendly. Some didn't want to hear from us, while others were excited that we were out there. Slothrop, maybe your girlfriend came by after 1? Anyway, If I were her I wouldn't admit to going to REI on a sunny Saturday only to shop. Why didn't she join us? Hey trask, aka Larry the Tool, I think your avatar sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 quote: Originally posted by gapertimmy: Thats pretty dope you got a trail map! It really is an incredible service they provide. The map was provided courtesy of the Sweet Home Ranger District. It'll only cost me $50 and a court appearance. Charming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pindude Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 quote: Originally posted by gapertimmy: my protest involved getting some no trail fee stickers and putting them on my truck.. i'm a BAD BOY Now THIS might be a sticker I would put on my rig...where'd ya get 'em timmy? --pindude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slothrop Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Matt: Slothrop, maybe your girlfriend came by after 1? Anyway, If I were her I wouldn't admit to going to REI on a sunny Saturday only to shop. Why didn't she join us? Dude, I know. Shame. But she was shopping for Father's Day for her fisherman Dad later in the afternoon. She had to work that day, and I was busy with other commitments... I wish I could have been there. My girlfriend did manage to chat with a bunch of people about the protests, she said several REI employees had no clue what was going on. Also, they didn't know what the protest was about. Ha, see, that was a little joke. Oh nevermind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 The appended article from Saturday's Spokesman Review (Spokane Washington) was one of the few Day of Action articles to quote Derrick Crandall, President of the American Recreation Coalition. Crandall's comments are important, and so I encourage everyone to read what he has to say. I'd also like to specifically respond to the following most-important point and invite you to respond to is as well. Quoting from the article: "Crandall said his group proposes giving free permits to anyone who can prove a financial need or is willing to volunteer for trail maintenance work." Recreation fees are discriminatory and exclusionary. These are undisputed facts emphasized by each and every one of the 30 groups of protestors who participated in Saturday's National Day of Action. Crandall and the USFS have, in effect, acknowledged that these fees are discriminatory when they propose creating "second-class citizens passes" and when they suggest that poor people should be allowed to earn passes by working at sub-minimum, virtually-slave, wages. IF there is a proven need for going to a recreation fee system (which there is not!) then the fees should be voluntary such that no one must suffer the stigma of having to prove themselves to be poor. And if volunteer passes are to be earned, then I hope Mr. Crandall will support compensating all volunteers with a "living wage" of at least $15 per hour in exchange for their labor. I find it extraordinary that the USFS and Mr. Crandall believe that the current USFS practice of offering a scant handful of "free days" a year is anything less than grossly elitist -- if not outright racist. I also find the current USFS practice of compensating "volunteers" at less than minimum wages as detestable. Creating user-fees which serve as an artificial barrier to poor persons and then using these fees as a mechanism for recruiting virtual slave-labor from these same excluded-persons, is reprehensible. I advise everyone reading this message to be on the sharp lookout for additional "Volunteer"-related legislation from ARC and the Bush Administration. 'Volunteerism,' as the concept is being abused by these people, is NOT to the supported. And one last point upon which I'd like to draw attention: --- What does Mr. Crandall mean when he says that his coalition is helping the agencies work out the challenges in collecting and distributing money? Who empowered ARC to be engaged in this role ---- and what ever happened to Democracy in this country? "Fee-Demo is Un-Democratic" THAT was the theme for this year's Day of Action. Mr. Crandall, Ms Cleeland and Mr. Bingaman --- on behalf of everyone who protested on Saturday, I challenge you to try and prove us wrong. I challenge you to explain how these "free days" and "volunteer passes" are solutions worthy of a Democratic society. Scott PS... This message has been copied to ARC, to Senator Bingaman and to the head of the USFS Fee-Demonstration program. Please feel free to respond to any or all of them. ----------- begin quoted --------- http://www.spokesmanreview.com/pf.asp?date=061502&ID=s1167700 Saturday, June 15, 2002 U.S. recreation fees could be permanent Dan Hansen - Staff writer Congress is set to decide whether the public should pay extra to enjoy lands where access traditionally has been free. Opponents, who plan low-key protests across the nation today, say they fear recreation fees are a step toward commercializing recreation on federal forests and locking out the poor. The fees were first imposed as a test in 1997; President Bush and some members of Congress propose making them permanent. "We think that taxes should pay for care and maintenance of recreational forest lands," said Randy Barcus, Spokane member of Washington Backcountry Horsemen. "We don't feel that we should have to pay twice." But fee supporters say those who use the most popular trailheads, boat launches and picnic areas should shoulder the burden for maintaining them. "It's very logical to recover more of the expenses from an individual who is enjoying special services than from the taxpaying public at large," said Derrick Crandall, president of the American Recreation Coalition, an industry group. Almost since the beginning of the National Park Service, visitors to places like Yellowstone and Mount Rainier have paid entrance fees. A generation of campers have paid to pitch a tent or park a camper at many Forest Service campgrounds. But only since 1997 have visitors paid to park at the popular trailheads, or use some boat launches, picnic areas and visitor centers on federal land outside national parks. Forests use the money for things like trail maintenance, restroom upkeep and visitor centers. In Washington and Oregon, for instance, visitors must have a $30 Northwest Forest Pass to park at hundreds of trailheads, including four in the Colville National Forest and 25 in the Umatilla National Forest. The annual pass -- or a $5 daily pass -- also is required at some picnic areas and boat launches. Such fees were authorized by Congress when it passed the National Recreation Fee Demonstration Program in 1996. The program allows the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to collect the fees, with 80 percent of the money going back to the forests where it is gathered. Some forests -- those in North Idaho and northwestern Montana among them -- have opted not to impose new fees on visitors. But the program has allowed them to keep the money they already were collecting at campgrounds, cabins and other sites. The same is true at most national parks. The four agencies collected $600million under the program between 1997 and 2001. The Forest Service alone has collected more than $123 million. Congress has extended the temporary program twice, most recently in November. It is now set to expire in 2004. Senate Bill 2607, which Sen. Jeff Bingaman introduced this week, would make the program permanent. Bingaman, D-N.M., chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which plans a hearing on the matter Wednesday. Opponents expect introduction of a similar House bill this summer. "If the folks who are championing this legislation get their way, this will be made permanent by the end of this year," said Scott Silver, a Bend, Ore., biochemist and outdoorsman who leads national opposition to the fees. Silver said he first became suspicious of the fees when he learned that the American Recreation Coalition supports them. The coalition represents sporting goods retailers, amusement parks, campground chains, snowmobile manufacturers and other segments of the recreation industry. It signed a 1996 agreement to help promote and explain the fees for the Forest Service. That connection, plus various federal documents predicting that traditionally Spartan public campgrounds eventually will have to provide more modern amenities, has fee opponents warning that federal forests eventually could become more like amusement parks than the back woods -- places where major corporations can make a profit. They warn of the "Disneyfication of the wild," noting that Walt Disney Co. is a coalition member. Coalition president Crandall calls such statements "intentionally misleading." In fact, he said, the coalition doesn't support the Bingaman bill. "Does that mean we think the fees should be removed? No," he said. But before the fees are made permanent, the agencies must work out challenges in collecting the money and distributing the money, Crandall said. His coalition is helping with that. "We think the agencies have done a pretty good job," Crandall said. "We'd give them a B-minus." Forest visitors who don't have passes face $50 tickets. Perhaps no one in the nation has been ticketed more often than the Rev. Jeffrey Barker of Seattle. He's never been forced to pay. Barker, a United Church of Christ pastor, spends most Saturday mornings hiking the popular Snow Lake trail at Snoqualmie Pass, partly to settle his mind for the next day's sermon. His routine in recent years has included passing out protest literature to fellow hikers. Barker said that he returns all of his tickets to the Forest Service, with a note saying the fees violate his First Amendment rights of worship. "I really believe that we citizens have a right to commune with God in the forest without paying another fee," Barker said. Barker will protest today in Seattle, as part of a "National Day of Action" called by fee opponents. About 30 such events are scheduled nationwide, according to Silver. In Spokane, activists will spend the morning urging Riverfront Park visitors to oppose the fees, said Paul Schenkenberger, event organizer. Opponents in Moscow, Idaho, will ask people at the farmers market to sign a letter to Congress, said Larry McLaud of the environmental group Friends of the Clearwater. Among the Northwest's congressional delegation, Rep. Peter DeFazio has been the most outspoken opponent of the fees. The Oregon Democrat co-sponsored a bill last year to end the fees. Rep. George Nethercutt "is generally supportive" of the fees, said April Gentry, a spokeswoman for the Spokane Republican. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which will host next week's hearing. She hasn't taken a stand, but is concerned about burdening the poor with another fee, said her spokeswoman, Jennifer Crider. Forest Service officials note that the agency waives the fee for several days each summer -- including this Sunday, in honor of Father's Day. And Crandall said his group proposes giving free permits to anyone who can prove a financial need or is willing to volunteer for trail maintenance work. "We believe that this nation needs more people with an intimate connection to the great outdoors than ever before," he said. .Dan Hansen can be reached at (509) 459-3938 or by e-mail at danh@spokesman.com ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 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 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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