Page 9 - the NOISE July 2013

munities.” Ms. Benzar urged Congress not to simply renew FLREA but to replace it with a better law written “with such clarity that its intent cannot be misconstrued.”
After all witness statements were complet- ed, Chairman Bishop opened the floor for questions from attending committee mem- bers. Mr. Tipton directed the first question to Ms. Benzar.
Mr. Tipton asked Ms. Benzar how much of collected revenue is eaten up by over- head costs of administering recreation fee programs. Indicating the witnesses from the Interior and USFS, she replied “they can tell you what is in the triennial reports that they’ve submitted to Congress. I can tell you that many of the actual overhead expenses of the fee programs don’t go into what they consider overhead when they report that. For example — sales commissions to ven- dors are typically not included as an over- head cost. We have a case in AZ where that averages 22% of gross revenue.” That per- centage sounds like the Red Rock Pass (RRP) in Sedona where the USFS does not sell the RRP directly but only through vendors who receive a 10% commission on each pass sale. The law limits overhead expenses to 15% of program revenue. But, as Ms. Benzar further related, “some of these expenses are very high but not reported as part of their overhead because of the way they do their accounting.”
Further, Mr. Tipton made note of the pho- to of the overgrown picnic table in Ms. Ben- zar’s written statement. He asked whether it would be appropriate for the USFS to reex- amine its placement of amenities simply to justify fees but still provide services where needed. Ms. Benzar replied that “the picnic table is there because, without it, that site would not have qualified for a Standard Amenity Fee. It’s a classic case of the ‘build it and they will pay’ syndrome. The law is writ- ten in such a way as to incentivize agencies to unneeded, unnecessary, inappropriate facilities and amenities in places where the public has no use for them. And then they turn around and charge the public for ... ac- cess to the backcountry. That site is solely a trailhead.”
Mr. Tipton asked Ms. Weldon to com- ment on the idea that the USFS might be able to reduce overhead costs and use the money they have more efficiently. Ms. Wel- don responded that “over the years with our implementation, that’s something we’ve paid close attention to. We’ve made good progress in getting additional consistency at the forest level and even across forests at the national level to ensure we are very con- sistent in meeting the intent of the law but also looking for those places where we can gain additional flexibility and be responsive to what citizens want to see to improve their rec experience.”
Mr. Tipton continued to question not only the use of appropriated funds but even how Congress has responded to budget requests from the USFS for other areas such as land acquisition when there are obvious needs in recreation. “I remember a time growing up in Colorado when you were just able to go on to the Forest Service land. When you were able to just pitch a tent and enjoy those public lands with no fees being associated with it. But we continue to grow and expand those public lands when there simply aren’t going to be enough dollars to manage it. Maybe we need to bring those pots together to be able to prioritize better.”
Ms. Shea-Porter addressed the inequities that fee programs can create amongst visi- tors and questioned the wisdom of viewing
federal lands as a commodity. “It’s interest- ing to hear some people call for selling the product because it’s on public land. We are always willing to give oil leases subsidized on public land but we want to charge peo- ple for something I believe they already paid for. Isn’t federal land paid for by the people of America and the federal taxpayers? So I just think it’s astonishing to be listening to this ‘sell off the services at the price the mar- ket will bear’ idea. I think the whole point of these parks was to make it a place for all to enjoy. So we obviously have challenges here but we must all agree that this land cannot be sullied. That it has to be open to people of all economic levels to enjoy.”
Directing her question to Ms. Weldon, Ms. Shea-Porter asked, “Since we started impos- ing these fees, who have we lost? Have there been any studies to determine that those who are doing financially well have been able to continue using this and have we lost a certain segment of the population? Have we lost families with small children who now can’t afford to take this walk? Have we lost older people since we rearranged our fee schedule? Are we paying attention to that?”
Ms. Weldon indicated that the USFS does not have statistics for those who do not use forest lands, only for those who do visit. “But,” she explained, “the fee program is directed at certain sites. Of the 23,000 recreation sites that we have across the country only 4000 of those are subject to or being utilized within the fee revenue program right now. What I would emphasize is that 95% of the areas across the national forests and grasslands don’t require any fees to access. So as far as the open and availability for citizens every- where, no one is prevented from joining.”
Obviously concerned that there may be no way to know who is being excluded from public lands use by recreation fees, Ms. Shea- Porter asked for comments from other wit- nesses. Mr. Benzar related the case of a fee increase proposal presented by the USFS for Green Mountain Reservoir in Colorado. She said, “They identified people who were com- ing to this particular lake as working class. In this plan to raise the fee to use the area, there was a sentence that I remember that said that many of those people would be dis- placed if this proposal goes forward but they will be replaced with others who will comply.”
Mr. DeFazio asked Mr. Stahl to comment on Mr. O’Toole’s remarks about charging fair market value for all forms of recreation on public lands. “Give me your perspective,” he said.
Mr. Stahl replied, “If we think of public lands much like public libraries we don’t even ask the question of what is the fair mar- ket value of checking out a book for a kid to read. When we charge people to read books we call them bookstores. Well, our public lands are not bookstores. They’re more like libraries. They’re the place that we all share in common. We’ve decided as a society that we are better off when these resources are held in common and shared among all of us as well as the costs. So that’s my answer, this isn’t about a market.”
| Cindy Cole is a writer, photographer, and mother who often hikes the trails of sedona. cindycole@live.com
her new book chronocling the Red Rock pass can be found at: tinyurl.com/buyredrockripoff
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