Page 9 - the NOISE APril 2013

rection. Things got a little ugly when a few people requested that the specific clauses of FLREA governing where fees are and are not permitted on USFS land be read aloud and were adamantly denied by for- est officials. Heated outbursts began and one public member simply stood up and started to read the requested legal lan- guage. Facilitators rushed in to bring the
“meeting” back to order and alienate the dissenters from the rest of the crowd. After that meeting, the RRRD changed to hold- ing only “open houses.” This format does not allow any group presentation of oppo- sition or discussion of ideas and criticisms and helps to keep things neat and orderly for the USFS.
In an apparent effort to avoid any real in- teraction with members of the public that oppose fees on forest lands or disagree with their implementation on TNF, only
“open house” formatted meetings have been held in the Tonto’s public outreach efforts.
Flrea sUnsets in 2014 – What’s next?
All of the fee revision meetings and plans in the world may have little to no meaning at all by the end of 2014. Even annual passes for forest lands that are pur- chased after December 8, 2013 may not be valid for a full year. FLREA, the law that governs the USFS’ fee authority, will expire (or sunset) on December 8, 2014. So what happens next?
There are essentially three possible sce- narios that can occur over the next year or so that will impact the recreational fee au- thority of the USFS and other public land agencies. FLREA could simply be renewed, it could be revised and amended or re- placed by a new law, or Congress could do nothing and FLREA would just sunset out of existence. Each scenario has its own is- sues and/or benefits but the first and last would be the most problematic.
It is unlikely that FLREA will be renewed as is. Since 2010, the legal challenges and rulings against the USFS have shown that the current law is not working. There are clearly inconsistencies in the way the law is being interpreted and applied by the USFS. And, in spite of the judicial rulings, the USFS has refused to adjust recreation fees to bring them into full compliance with the law. The only resolution has been for additional lawsuits to be filed challenging the fee implementation in each location where they have been applied. Continu- ing FLREA as is will likely result in more le- gal wrangling over the USFS’ fee authority. The fee system has failed and, unless the federal government wants to spend more and more time in the courts fighting forest users, things need to change.
Letting FLREA sunset seems like a good idea at first but may lead to differences of opinion about what law would apply once it’s gone. Those opposed to fees on USFS land hold that, once FLREA sunsets, the law governing recreation fees would return to its predecessor, the land and Water conservation Fund act of 1965. As summarized by the congressional research service in a 2006 report, LWCF was “enacted to help preserve, develop, and assure access to outdoor recreation facilities to strengthen the health of US citizens.” This law prohibited the USFS from charging fees for general use and ac- cess to forest lands except for those with facilities which limited fees to developed
campgrounds and swimming areas and specialized boat launches.
However, fee opponents are concerned that the USFS may see things differently. There is some indication that forest offi- cials may see the sunsetting of FLREA as their opportunity to return to the days of Fee Demo, an act that was explicitly re- pealed and replaced by FLREA. Fee Demo gave the USFS unfettered authority to charge fees whenever and wherever they wanted. Recreation fee programs like the Red Rock Pass were created under the Fee Demo Act. FLREA was enacted specifically to reel in the rapid expansion of use fees on forest lands and require more explicit conditions to qualify a site for fees. Until 2012, there were no changes made to the RRP program between Fee Demo and FL- REA even though the rules defining a site’s eligibility for fees had changed. A return to Fee Demo days could mean going back to more extensive fee “areas” without any requirements regarding facility devel- opment, access to wilderness areas and undeveloped camping, or just “passing through” forest regions.
It seems that the only solution that will guarantee fee free access to public lands in a way that also supports the proper fund- ing for preservation of those lands will be a new law regarding recreation fees. It could come in the form of thorough amend- ment and revision of FLREA or it could be a new and separate act for the purpose of defining when and where agencies like the USFS can charge fees and when and where they cannot. Legislation to repeal FLREA has been introduced in Congress as recently as 2009 but, so far, has failed to move forward.
In 2002, the City of Sedona approved a resolution in opposition to the Fee Demo program and the first version of the Red Rock Pass that states that “paying for non- specialized uses of public lands is contrary to the principle that public lands belong to the American people and should always be accessible, a principle that should re- main in place.”
In 2011, the Sedona City Council ap- proved a letter that essentially praised whatever the USFS decided to do with the RRP even before any changes had been proposed. The only dissenting vote was from a council member who was a retired attorney who voiced his concerns that any new fee propositions would still violate federal law. The rest of the council ig- nored his concerns, insisting that the USFS needed to be supported in whatever they decided to do in order to keep the forest lands around Sedona clean and accessible.
Let’s hope the deceptive shine of rec- reation fee revenues doesn’t continue to blind our council members, residents, Members of Congress, and Senators any- more.
If you are interested in voicing your opin- ion about changes to the recreation fee programs and development on the Tonto National Forest – please visit my.usgs.gov/ ppgis/studio/launch/4574 and enter a comment.
| Cindy Cole is a photogra- pher, writer, and mother who makes Sedona her home. cindycole@live.com
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