RE: [pct-l] Fees

["Reynolds, Tom" <reynolds@ilan.com>]

There is a huge difference between advocating NO USER FEES and objecting to
MIS-APPLICABLE and/or MIS-APPROPRIATED USER FEES.

I am in favor of APPROPRIATE USER FEES. There is NO SUCH THING as free.
Someone pays for the maintenance of public land. Obviously this should be
the users not the poor taxpayer. 

In general user fees are directed at day users and car campers. In general
these two groups are a tremendous load on Forest and Park facilities. One
large campground near Los Angeles closed because, even at $10 per day, it
was impossible to cost-effectively clean  up the mess. What would they have
to pay you to collect dirty diapers from the woods?

In one case a user fee was successful. In the Los Padres National Forest
above Los Angeles the USFS instituted a $30 per year user fee. I have never
seen the mountains so clean. The fee kept out the rift-raft and provided
more dollars for forest maintenance. 

On the other hand, at Yosemite they have raised the fee to $20 and directed
the receipts to the parks. This is a huge influx new of money but all I saw
was closed campgrounds and trails and a zillion new bear boxes at
trailheads. [The old boxes at the closed campsites were still in place doing
nothing] Still, protecting unsophisticated users from nature and protecting
nature from them is not cheap.

* From the Pacific Crest Trail Email List |  http://www.backcountry.net   *

==============================================================================