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[pct-l] Re: Gripes about user fees

In a message dated 97-06-06 00:54:21 EDT, Joe writes:

<< 
 After you read the article, PLEASE, Email or write your Congressman and
 Senator and express your opion.  To me this is just a way for the Forest
 Service to get more money to buy new trucks for them to ride around in, =
 and
 enjoy the benefits of the Forest.
 
 I personally have not seen to many "Forest Service Employees" out doing
 manual labor on the trails, but have seen many stopped at various
 Campground Hosts drinking coffee for extended periods of times.
  >>

As a Forest Service seasonal trail worker, I must take real exception to this
post.  I have no problem if you are opposed to the Demonstration Fee Program,
but please don't make broad characterizations about Forest Service employees.
 

First of all, it is the responsiblity of certain employees on every district
to "ride around" in trucks.  It's called patrol, much like the police do.  It
is intended to present a law enforcement and fire prevention presence,
because unfortunately many forest users break the law or do stupid thinks
like start wildfires.  We have 3 or 4 people on our district who are
responsible for collecting campsite fees (which all go back to the U.S.
treasury, by the way), preventing firewood, game and other resource poaching,
and generally keeping yahoos from doing doughnuts in their 4-wheel drives in
the middle of campgrounds or driving their motorbikes (or snowmobiles) in the
wilderness.

Second, may campground hosts are volunteers and I think it is an appropriate
function of certain Forest Service employees to nurture those volunteers.  If
that means having coffee with them every so often, I don't think it's a
problem.

Third, the reason you haven't seen many of us out doing manual labor on
trails is because there are so few of us and so many trails.  (While you're
writing your congressman to complain about the fee demo program, maybe you
could ask them to restore our budget to levels adequate to do the job in the
first place.)  In my district we have 350 miles of trail and 5 seasonal trail
crew workers.  On a really good day, my crew, which busts butt all day long,
can clear and lop 4 miles of trail, but more often, especially in heavy
blow-down years, we do 2-3 miles a day.  Oh yeah, and on the 200+ miles of
wilderness trail, we clear all the logs with a two-person cross-cut saw.  (I
dare say, Joe, you wouldn't be able to keep up.)   And then there are the
special projects we have to do, like re-routing trails washed out by floods,
landslides, and avalanches, or rebuilding bridges collapsed by heavy snow
loads, or packing out illegal hunter camps left in place from the previous
fall.  Do the math and you'll see two things:  one, we don't have the
resources to do our job, and two, the odds of your running into us out
working are pretty low.  However, even if you don't see us, if you're walking
down a trail that's been maintained, then by definition, someone must have
done it.  In my district, 98% of the time, that someone is a forest service
employee.  

Finally, Joe, 80% of the fees from selling parking permits will be used on
the district where the permit is sold to improve recreational opportunities,
i.e., campgrounds and trails.  The remaining 20% of the fees will go into a
regional pool for the same 
purpose.  I'd be really surprised if any trucks get bought with that money.

Many of us in the recreation side of the Forest Service are lukewarm about
the fee demo program, because we don't want to alienate our users.  There is
already enough controversy surrounding the proper management of our public
lands without this program thrown in.  Plus, we suspect that Congress will
gut our remaining recreation budgets if this program is made permanent.  But
Congress has apparently decided that with the vast bulk of taxes you and I
pay going to fund the Pentagon and entitlements, it's time for forest users
to start to pay-as-you-go.  Perhaps if the Forest Service didn't have to
provide corporate welfare to timber companies, mining companies and ranchers
in the form of subsidized timber, minerals and range, we'd have an adequate
budget to preserve, protect and improve our recreational facilities and
trails.  Someday, perhaps, people will realize there is a lot more economic
value in having beautiful forests for people to visit and recreate in than
there is in all the resources that have historically been extracted from our
national forests.

And as for Forest Service employees:  most of them I work with (not all, of
course) are dedicated, extremely hard-working people who give the American
taxpayer a lot of value for their tax dollars.  We work for low pay, often in
difficult conditions, for a demanding public and Congress, with little
praise, and wouldn't give it up for anything.  Our firefighters risk their
lives each summer to protect resources, property and lives, and unfortunately
sometimes give their lives in the process.  Our scientists are top-notch and
have to, unfortunately, work in an environment that is more political than it
should be.  As a group, we work our way through cumbersome regulations and
policies, trying not to alienate either side of environmental debates,
subject to intense public scrutiny and occassionally threats to our personal
safety.  Most seasonals and year-round term employees work without job
security or health insurance and few of us can expect to ever get permanent
jobs due to hiring freezes and cut-backs.  But we take our jobs as public
servants and stewards of the land seriously and despite the draw-backs enjoy
our work.

If you are frustrated with the politicians in Washington, Joe, in the future
don't take it out on us in the field.  Your remarks are unfounded,
inappropriate and do a real disservice to the majority of  Forest Service
employees.

To list subscribers:  I'm sorry if you feel this is an inappropriate post to
this list, but I felt a response was necessary.
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