Recreation tax not likely to hit locally
New fees not expected on San Juan National Forest

A half-buried San Juan National Forest sign welcomes visitors to the entrance of La Plata Canyon on Monday. Despite passage of a new bill nicknamed the Recreation Access Tax, or RAT, by opponents, local public land managers say no new fees are expected on national forest and Bureau of Land Management lands surrounding Durango./Photo by Todd Newcomer.

by Will Sands

It's gone by many names - the Recreation Access Tax (RAT), the Public Lands Passport and its proper title, the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, among others. Whatever the label, the recently enacted recreation tax has drawn strong opposition throughout the country, and La Plata County has been no exception. However, the strong local reaction may have been partly unfounded. Area and regional land managers counter that La Plata County and the San Juan National Forest are unlikely to feel any impact from the recreation legislation.

The new legislation, which permanently implements public-lands access fees, was pushed through Congress early last December despite a last-minute flood of public opposition. The recreation fee bill was buried inside the 3,000 page Omnibus Appropriations Bill, and as a result, it was never passed by the House of Representatives and never introduced, given a hearing or voted on in the Senate. The absence of public oversight has been a key criticism from opponents of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act.

The intent of the act has also been widely criticized. Key provisions of the bill include permanent recreation fee authority for public lands throughout the nation. Failure to pay the fees would result in a fine of up to $100 for first-time offenses with a second offense carrying up to $100,000 in fines and a year in jail as punishment.

However, local residents may not even have the opportunity to incur these penalties. In fact, local and regional land managers don't expect much to change in the San Juan National Forest or even in the Rocky Mountain Region.

Pam Devore is the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program administrator for the Rocky Mountain Region of the Forest Service. She charges that the issue has been repeatedly miscast beginning with its name. "There is no Recreational Access Tax or RAT," Devore said. "That name was invented by the opposition. It's called the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, and it's very clear in the act that there will be no new fees to access public lands."

Devore commented that the predictions of fee boxes popping up at trailheads and rangers stopping bikers, skiers and hikers and checking them for public lands passports were also contrived.

"It's totally untrue," she said. "If you read the act, it's very clear that the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management cannot charge an entry fee to enter public lands. That's against the law."

On the contrary, the new fees will be centered around things like new facilities and capital improvements, according to Devore, and the San Juan National Forest will likely be untouched.

"Looking at the San Juan National Forest, I can't think of any areas other than the campgrounds that would even meet the requirements of the legislation," she said. "In fact, the campgrounds don't even meet it because they're almost all operated by concessionaires."

Devore noted that the act's key element makes the Recreation Fee Demonstration program permanent, and there is only one Fee Demo site in the San Juan National Forest, the Anasazi National Heritage Center outside Dolores, which charges a $3 admission price.

"It will affect a lot of the areas where we're already collecting fees and change how that money is managed," Devore said. "A lot of the sites we had under Fee Demo will become permanent. Probably the biggest thing that's changing is that we now have the authority to retain recreation outfitter fees at the local level."

The change in the management of the fees could actually be a boon to the local forest, according to Richard Speegle, recreation project leader. Rather than being shipped off to Washington, D.C., a large percentage of the fees from special events and outfitter permits would be retained locally.

Despite concerns of opponents of the "RAT," local land managers say hikers, skiers and cyclists will not be subject to new fees on area Forest Service and BLM trails, such as the always busy Colorado Trail./Photo by Todd Newcomer.

The change in the management of the fees could actually be a boon to the local forest, according to Richard Speegle, recreation project leader. Rather than being shipped off to Washington, D.C., a large percentage of the fees from special events and outfitter permits would be retained locally.

"That would be a positive thing for our district," Speegle said. "It would be really nice if their fees were helping us administer their permits."

One area that could eventually trigger fees on the local forest is the highly trafficked Weminuche Wilderness area, according to Devore and Speegle. The heavy concentration of fourteeners has drawn increasing levels of traffic, particularly in Chicago Basin.

"One area that could possibly change is the wilderness areas down there because they're already so highly used," Devore said. "If it's deemed appropriate, a permitting process could be set up and new fees could be charged as a result."

However, Speegle noted that a permitting process will probably not be deemed appropriate for many years.

"There's always been talk about permits in wilderness," he said. "In our wilderness plan, we have trigger points where, when 'x' number of people pass a trailhead, we'll start requiring permits. But the bottom line is that we're not proposing permits or fees at this time."

The Western Slope No-Fee Coalition takes a different view of the act and a different view of the future of fees on the San Juan National Forest. Robert Funkhouser, president of the group, commented, "The RAT fundamentally changes the way our public lands are funded and managed. This new tax will have a disproportionate impact on rural communities and rural Americans and will mean that all Americans will be treated as customers of the land management agencies instead of as the owners of the land."

Kitty Benzar, a co-founder of the coalition and a Durango resident, said that locals should not expect the San Juan National Forest to be fee-free for long. She said that the legislation creates a strong incentive for public lands agencies to undertake capital improvements and then pay for them with new fees.

"The language of the bill creates a very strong incentive for all public lands agencies to build facilities so they can charge for them," she said. "On the San Juan National Forest, there is no existing fee site, but they won't be able to stay fee-free forever."

Despite what Devore said, Benzar said that local residents can expect to see fee boxes popping up in unusual places. "Most likely, you're going to see more day-use areas, trailheads and scenic byways that charge a fee," she said.

However, Benzar added that the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition is doing its best to prevent that from happening. The group is currently creating momentum that it hopes will lead to the repeal of the recreation legislation. So far, the coalition has gotten resolutions opposing the act in La Plata, Montrose, San Juan, Ouray, Hinsdale and San Miguel counties. The group also has helped introduce a resolution into the Montana State Legislature and is hoping to do the same in coming weeks in the Colorado State Legislature.

"We would eventually like to see a bill introduced that would repeal the RAT, if for no other reason than it was passed through an illegitimate public process," Benzar said in closing.