Fall 2003 AZ NO FEE NEWS

Ken Anderson is right. Palatki Ruins might be closed next year if Fee Demo (Red Rock Pass) is cancelled. But it won't be the fault of the Arizona NoFee Coalition, as Ken suggested in the recent Daily Sun article "Red Rock Fees on the Ropes" 9/28/2003, or the hundreds of thousands of citizens who have spoken out against the fees.

We were told in 1996 when the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program was first introduced, it was being done to raise much-needed funds for public lands. It has failed. Miserably.

According to a recent Government Accounting Office report and statements by Congressman Scott McInnis (R-CO) chair of the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, the Forest Service spent between 15 and 20 million dollars of the $36 million they collected through Fee Demo to keep the program going. In addition $4.6 million of the $36 million actually came from Land and Water Conservation Funds, not Fee Demo. We are left than, with approximately $13 million in net revenue for 2001 (latest figures available). You don't need to be a business major to see this as a failure for our public lands.

At the very least however, if we are going to get rid of Fee Demo, then we should find a way to replace the $13 million that was coming in from Fee Demo. You might be surprised to find that the money is there to do so. Unfortunately it is currently being "redirected." The Forest Service (FS) is redirecting tens of millions of dollars out of recreation budgets (recreation budgets are what Fee Demo is supposed to be supporting) into other projects. Here are some examples: McInnis has stated that $40 million of recreation budgets are being redirected this year into the Healthy Forest Initiative, which hasn't yet been passed. Studies conducted by the National Federation of Federal Employees and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility found that between $70-100 million, a large part of which comes from recreation budgets, is being redirected to study the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of outsourcing (putting government jobs up for bid to private industry). And last year nearly $35 million of recreation budgets was redirected to fight fires. The debate here is not about whether or not these other projects are worth funding. But why are they being funded out of recreation budgets? If the administration wants to study outsourcing and implement a "Healthy Forest Initiative," then they should fund it adequately, not take the money from recreation budgets and then come after us, the citizens, to make up for it. The truth is however, that high-ranking FS officials and other elected officials are intentionally starving the recreation budgets to justify charging you and me to go for a walk in the woods.

Now why would they be doing that and why are we fighting over a measly 13 million bucks? And most importantly, why are we the citizens being blamed and forced to pay for the mistakes of the people we hire and elect to run this country?

The truth is, this program has nothing to do with raising much needed funds for public lands and everything to with getting us used to paying for something we already own, with the end result of privatization. Yes privatization. Derrick Crandall, President of the American Recreation Coalition, a consortium of national and international business interests, including Disney and the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, claims "the National Recreation Fee Demonstration Program is the direct result of our efforts." ARC, formed in 1979, is one of DC's most powerful forces and you can be assured they are not there to help manage public lands for the good of the people and preservation of the land. In fact, in 1998 Crandall was happy to announce that "We have arranged for top marketing and communications executives from Disney, REI and other companies to work with the Enterprise Forest fee team in the design and implementation of that project..."

The bottom line is that Fee Demo is not the savior some would have you believe it is. In fact it's nothing more than a horribly inefficient double tax on American Citizens with an insidious agenda for privatization. And if Palatki Ruins is closed next year, it won't be the fault of AZ NoFee or the citizens speaking out against Fee Demo. It will be the fault of poor accounting on the part of high-ranking officials in the Forest Service, Congressional representatives, and back room deals being made with private industry.

It is our opinion that if Ken Anderson wants to keep Palatki ruins open and his job from being privatized, he should start working with groups like the Arizona NoFee Coalition and the citizens that pay his salary.

Indeed, just where will my Golden Passport money go? Will my hard-earned user fees be spent as I wish? A disturbing fact comes out in an airing of the Department of Interior's 2002 report to Congress on the Recreational Fee Demo Program. The gang of federal land management agencies used a sleight of hand in which Golden Eagle, Golden Age, and National Parks (you didn't know about this one?) Pass revenues were counted as Fee Demo receipts (even though these passes were not valid at most Fee Demo sites), thus cooking the books to make Fee Demo appear to return the claimed 80 to 95% locally. Hmmm... methinks that I, as a loyal Golden Eagle card carrying citizen since the 1980's, have been had! I have opposed Fee Demo for its entire misbegotten life, and now I find my hard-earned dollars are being counted as part of the program's revenues!

I also question the motives of the recent 'expansion' of privileges afforded to Golden Passport cardholders. Could it be that federal agencies are attempting to institutionalize pay-to-play schemes that incidentally benefit private corporate interests? As more and more town, county, and state governing bodies pass resolutions opposing the 'experimental' Fee Demo idea, I suspect an end-run to extend user fees at public land recreation sites past the program's current expiration of September 2004.

I will also be judging candidates for my vote in 2004 by their records on the issue of public lands funding and pay-to-play fee schemes. I encourage you to do the same.

Web Based:
Head to our website- www. aznofee.org, to find out the latest and get signed up on our email list to get action alerts and info.

Phone:
If you haven’t joined the dotcom era yet or you just like vocal communication better, we will gladly give you action alerts via the phone. Just give us a call- 928-213-9507.

• S1107, Sen. Thomas (R-WY)- would make Fee Demo permanent in the National Parks but allow it to die everywhere else. We have our reservations but overall a victory. It will go to mark-up soon.
• Key Senate appropriators oppose extension of any kind.
• Growing support in House and Senate
• The Facts: Study proves Fee Demo economic failure, see pg. 1.

Those that would sell our public lands to the highest bidder (probably becuase they’ve been bought by the highest bidder) have a few cards on the table:
- A two year extension has been passed by House Appropriations. This can not move forward without Senate appropriations support. Therefore a joint committee will make the final decision late this month.
- HR 3283. see Just In pg. 3. We do not see this as a major threat but it will surely be used as leverage to incourage compromises.

Action Alert
During a Sept. 9th hearing in DC to discuss S1107, a bill that would allow Fee Demo to die in the FS, BLM and Fish and Wildlife Service, Sen. Bingaman (D-NM) ranking member of Energy and Natural Resources Committee stated he supports Fee Demo permancy in all four agencies. He has positioned himself as a major hurdle to passing S1107. Please let him know what you think.
Phone: 505-346-6601
Fax: 202-224-2852
Email: senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov

• Caught without a pass and you’ll face upto 6 months in jail or a $5,000 fine.
• States that Secretaries may jointly enter into cooperative agreements with governmental and non governmental entities. Translation: Privatization.
• No more Golden Age Pass or lifetime passes.
• The pass would be named America the Beautiful

The good thing is this bill has virtually no chance of moving forward. The bad thing is, the precedence has been set and we can expect Regula to try and push elements of his bill into must pass bills. Please Keep Posted!!!