Just where does this program
come from anyway?

The Recreation Fee Demonstration Program (Fee Demo) is not a government program designed to aid our beloved public landscapes. It is a program that has been created, lobbied for and promoted by a consortium of transnational business interests. Indeed, "Recreation fees on public lands were one of the issues which prompted the creation of the American Recreation Coalition in 1979" (Derrick Crandall, President, ARC).

A related organization, the Recreation Roundtable is "very pleased [with] the National Recreation Fee Demonstration Program, which is the direct result of our efforts" (Recreation Roundtable document, emphasis added).

The two have "invested heavily in staff and member time in helping the federal agencies covered by the fee demonstration program" (Derrick Crandall).

ARC represents interests such as the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds, the International Snowmobile Manufacturers' Association, Exxon, Chevron, and Walt Disney (to name but a few). These organizations are hoping to play an ever larger role in the management of and access to our remaining natural landscapes. To do so, they must first get the public to accept that our natural heritage is public in name only.

Once this transition has been made, and our public land agencies are addicted to user fees, then the "need" for ever greater infrastructure, to lure ever more visitors to generate the funds needed to care for the mess left by last year's visitors, will be exploited by these industrial strength recreation business interests. By relying on the source of the problem to fix the problem, these businesses have created both a limitless business opportunity as well as a bureaucratic wet-dream.

Regrettably, our public land agencies have proven to be a more than willing accomplices in this transformation. The Forest Service in particular has shown that they will get in bed with any industrial strength business, be it mining, logging, grazing or recreation.

To quote Francis Pandolfi, retired Chief Operating Officer, USFS: "Have we fully explored our goldmine of recreation opportunities in this country and managed them as if it were consumer product brands? As [we make this transition], we can expect to see many changes in the way we operate. Selling a product, even to an eager customer, is very different from giving it away."

Jim Lyons, retired Undersecretary of Agriculture, made it crystal clear in 1998, stating: "We developed a marketing strategy and an icon that we hope will become to outdoor recreation what the Nike swoosh is to sporting goods…. We're looking … for an expanded partnership with those who realize an economic benefit from recreation on public lands…. We've got a great product to sell."

And as the lure of recreation-based income comes to dominate our public agencies management decisions for public lands, undeveloped (meaning less profitable) recreation could fall by the wayside. Developed recreation, which would require a "major investment in construction of many resorts, marinas, ski areas, RV campgrounds, motor-cross centers and other equipment intensive attractions capable of generating significant revenue generation" (Sierra Club, March 1999) could become the norm.

Our nation's "free" and wilder landscapes could disappear forever.

The Recreation Fee Demonstration Program must be stopped. The health of our remaining wilder places depends upon this, as does the integrity of our relationship to those landscapes. Economic justice demands the same, as do the precepts of democracy. Currently Fee Demo is opposed by over 230 organizations and political bodies across the nation. Check out www.freeourforests.org for the list.