Adventure Pass - some things to consider... Date: March 22, 2000 at 15:16:12 From: Tom KenneyHere are a few more points to consider when deciding if Fee Demo is a good thing or not: 1) The process by which the Fee Demo program came into being was almost entirely non-Democratic...in fact, I'll go so far as to say it was anti-Democratic in that the subversion of the public comment process, the voting process, the and legislative review process have been nearly complete. The appropriations rider that authorizes the program was tacked onto a must-pass budget in a secret, "behind closed doors" meeting of rogue congresscritters. A public comment period is currently open, but ends April 6, 2000. This comment period started YEARS after the initial trial fees were levied. The USFS has been declinig to prosecute fee 'offenders' in an attempt to stave off any damaging judicial precedents.
2) The constructors of the program have sought to shift public perception of National Forests. They do not want the public to view a National Forest as a functioning ecosystem that gives life to animals and plants far outside the National Forest boundaries. Rather, they desire the public to view the National Forests as amusement parks, where 'customer' service is the top priority, conservation be damned. 3) My favorite 'use' of the National Forest is backpacking. When practiced responsibly, backpacking has almost no impact whatsoever. Most often I hike cross-country, avoiding trails and populated campgrounds. I leave less trace of my passage than do the numerous deer and other large game animals I frequently see. I usually park at an obscure 'trailhead' with few or no iimprovements; this often means parking at a turn-out along a state-maintained highway - no bathrooms, no cute little signs, no picnic tables. 4) Extractive industries are still ripping our precious wilderness to shreds and being paid to do it! No matter how much you hear anyone trumpet that "recent falls in timber harvest have caused big dents in the budget" it's all a bunch of crap. Cows are still destroying my favorite Sierra Nevada meadows for the paltry cost of $1.85 (approx) per month. The Union Carbide Mine is still digging tungsten from the walls of Pine Creek Canyon, and I can still hear them blasting as I try to sleep late miles away in the Humphreys Basin. Just 2 years ago, the Forest Service tried to hold a 'helicopter sale' of trees south of Lake Isabella, this because the Kern Plateau area is visibly tapped out (clear cut). 5) If each of the four major military services grounded ONE aircraft for ONE YEAR, the money saved could easily fund the Forest Service at the appropriate levels. 6) No matter what anyone tells you, Fee Demo is failing to live up to it's billing. A visitor center near Mt. St. Helens was nearly closed for the entire year, and this being the 20th aniversary of the Big Bang. Fee Demo did not produce enough revenue to keep the place open, but when congresscritters lambasted the Forest Service for the 'mismanagement' the Super (M. Dombeck) said he'd "find the money" to keep it open. This is just the biggest, most visible wound caused by Fee Demo. In my region (Los Angeles) the Angeles NF is only maintaining high-use campgrounds while small back-woods sites are still deteriorating. New trails are being built where they don't make sense, and are being constructed to meed the needs of equestrians and OHV users. Rediculous signs have sprouted up everywhere, actually spoiling many of the good views the signs are lauding. The Forest Service had a nice, brand-new fleet of GMC trucks 10 years ago. Why did they recently begin replacing these with the newer, trendy Dodge trucks when the money would have been better spent overhauling and maintaining the 'old' fleet? They seem to be scrambling to give the appearance of improvement while the understructure is still decaying - like a dry-rotted house with new aluminum siding. Concerns over fairness and double-taxation aside, Fee Demo is an environmental time-bomb, and the forces assembled behind it are eating away at the very concept of "America!"
Tom Kenney tomk@bearcomp.com tom@fluxtech.com
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