Page 10 - The NOISE December 2015

usfs red rOck pass Open hOuse leaves QuestiOns unanswered...
sTORY & PHOTO BY
cindy cOle
On november 9, the Red Rock Ranger District of the Coconino national Forest held an “Open House” at the sedona elks Lodge to present the community with its proposed changes to the current Red Rock Pass recreation fee system. The new plan would remove the two fee corridors along Highway 89A in Oak Creek Canyon to sedona’s north and along High- way 179 through the Village of Oak Creek south of sedona. Two new fee sites would be added at the newly “improved” parking areas at Dry Creek Trailhead and Fay Canyon Trailhead.
The Ranger District intends to seek approval from the Recreation Resource Advisory Com- mittee (RecRAC) at its spring 2016 meeting. According to the Federal Lands Recreation En- hancement Act, the law that governs the fee authority of federal lands agencies, any changes to fees on forest lands must be reviewed by this citizen advisory group before going into effect. This includes the removal of existing fees as well as site additions and changes to fee dollar amounts.
Jennifer Burns, the Red Rock Ranger District Recreation staff Officer was in attendance along with several other UsFs employees. However, District Ranger Nicole Branton was nota- bly absent. Also present were Kitty Benzar of the Western Slope No Fee Coalition (wsnFC) and Jim Smith, the sedona resident who challenged the United States Forest Service in 2009 and won in the landmark USFS v. Smith decision. Other attendees included local sedona activ- ist Warren Woodward, sedona City Councilmember Angela LeFevre and Coconino County sheriff William Pribil.
Ms. LeFevre identified herself as the City Council liaison with the UsFs as well as a concerned citizen with personal interest in the proposed Red Rock Pass changes. A handful of other peo- ple rounded out the sparsely attended meeting.
while no formal presentations or speeches were scheduled for the “Open House” formatted meeting, Ms. Burns did eventually speak to the group about the district’s reasons for creating the proposed changes and opened up the floor to questions. Prior to her talk, attendees were permitted to mingle around the room where placards touting the benefits of the recreation fee system and the needs of the district were displayed.
Problems presented by the proposed changes to the Red Rock Pass system include the fact the district continues to challenge the Mt. Lemmon decision, which determined that even when amenities are present, visitors do not owe a fee to the UsFs unless they actually use the provided amenities. In addition, the district is attempting to use renaming of trailheads to include words like “picnic site” and “scenic vista” to wash the fact most are still just parking areas for accessing public trails. The new “Dry Creek Vista Picnic site” and “Fay Canyon Vista & Trailhead” are prime examples of this altered categorization.
The “Dry Creek Vista Picnic site” had 40 paved parking spaces available for visitors. The UsFs has installed restrooms and trash facilities as well as interpretive signs. However, the “picnic site” has a sum total of three picnic tables. At the “Fay Canyon Vista and Trailhead,” similar amenities have been added at that location. That site has 42 paved parking spaces but only a single pic- nic table that has been installed directly on the pavement between vehicle parking slots. Ms. Benzar posed a question regarding the appropriateness of calling these areas fee-worthy day use sites: “If there are 40 or more cars parked at these sites and only a few picnic tables, what are the rest of the visitors to that location doing? The answer? Parking to go hiking ― an activity for which the UsFs is prohibited from charging a fee under FLReA as upheld in federal court.”
Ms. Burns responded only to say that there are many free sites available to area visitors.
Discussion on this problem continued during the session. Ms. Benzar noted that “when the RecRAC was here in 2012, they agreed to give you sites like Boynton Canyon Trailhead and Jim Thompson Trailhead that contain amenities but are used primarily as access to hiking trails. But they made a strong recommendation that you come up with a way to identify people who were not using amenities and come up with a way to provide fee-free access to those visi- tors. You have not done that at those sites or at the new sites you are proposing. will you be
10 • december 2015 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
responding to that request?”
Ms. Burns reiterated that there are plenty of free sites that visitors can choose to go to instead. Ms. Benzar responded: “That argument has failed in every legal case that has successfully
challenged fees.” In the court cases that have been brought by those who have questioned fee requirements, no judge has viewed the “other free sites” argument as pertinent.
“so what if someone drops me off at a site?” Ms. Benzar asked. “If I don’t have a car, there is no fee?” Ms. Burns agreed that would be the case. Ms. Benzar then asked “How do you square that with the argument that the fee is for the amenities?” In the example posed, a visitor who gets dropped off at a trailhead and does not park a car could then use the available amenities without paying a fee.
Continuing the discussion along the same lines, the question was asked about an area at the Dry Creek site marked “Transit stop.” while there is currently no system in place to take people to trailheads by mass transit, Ms. Burns indicated that the UsFs wanted to build that access into the site for future consideration and planning. “so, again,” Ms. Benzar posed, “if the fee is for use of amenities as you have argued, will people arriving by bus be required to pay a fee?” Ms. Burns said that she did not have an immediate answer to that question. However, in areas that already have access for buses, like sites along Highway 179, passengers are permitted to access trailheads and provided amenities without individually paying a fee for use. In the past, the UsFs at a national level has expressed that they have no desire to get into the “pay toilet business.”
Prior to the public Q&A period, Ms. Benzar asked Ms. Burns if the forest was issuing Violation Notices at trailhead parking areas. “we are giving Violation notices. we have found that [fee] compliance is around 70 percent.”
Ms. Benzar asked if the Red Rock Ranger District was first giving a Notice of Required Fee before a Violation notice is issued. A nRF is an unenforceable warning that encourages a forest visitor to immediately pay an ignored fee.
A nRF reads:
“A valid recreation pass must be displayed on your vehicle at this site. Failure to pay the
required fee may subject you to criminal enforcement under 16 UsC 6811 and 36 CFR 261.17. To remedy this notice, enclose a personal check or money order for the $5 recreation use fee payable to the UsDA Forest service in the attached envelope.”
On the other hand, a Violation notice is an enforceable ticket that subjects the recipient to criminal charges for failing to pay a fee. This also means that a ticketed visitor can challenge the fee requirement before a judge, as Mr. smith did in 2009. In 2012, an internal UsFs directive advised districts with fees in contention — due to decisions such as the Smith and Mt. Lemmon cases — to exercise “restraint” in hastily issuing Violation notices until their fee programs had been reviewed and, when necessary, revised. As a consequence, there have been fewer op- portunities for citizens to have fee concerns addressed before a judge.
Ms. Burns attested she was unfamiliar with nRFs but reiterated the Ranger District is issuing Violation notices. Mr. smith asked how many Violation notices have been issued at trailheads since 2012 but Ms. Burns said she did not know the answer to his question.
One of the UsFs’ arguments that fees are necessary for sedona’s forests is “95% of the col- lected fees remain in the local area to directly address its needs.” However, past investigations have shown this at best is an exaggerated figure.
Recreation passes cannot be purchased directly from the UsFs. All Red Rock Passes must be purchased through a vendor including those bought at the UsFs Visitor Contact Center on Highway 179. even though the pass is purchased inside a UsFs facility, it is actually sold by the Arizona Natural History Association. Accordingly, each vendor receives what amounts to a
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