Hey, folks, just a little light reading, here, but really, really, really worth paying some attention to, as it affects ALL of our favorite places to play:

WESTERN SLOPE NO FEE COALITION

P.O. BOX 135 DURANGO CO 81301 970/259-4616

www.westernslopenofee.org <http://www.westernslopenofee.org>

wsnfc@earthlink.net <wsnfc@earthlink.net>

January 15, 2007

ACTION ALERT

HELP TURN THE TIDE in Washington on the issue of public lands access
fees AND CLOSURES!

CONTACT YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES TODAY.

Skyrocketing entrance fees in National Parks, widespread recreation site
closures by the Forest Service AND WIDESPREAD IMPLEMENTATION OF FEES are
attracting bipartisan opposition in Congress. The change from Republican
to Democratic control and the subsequent shakeup of Committees and their
Chairmen has opened a window of opportunity for a top-to-bottom review
of national recreation policy. It's up to us, the American People, to
take advantage of that opportunity and ACT NOW to persuade Congress to
put the "public" back in public lands.

Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) has taken a strong stand against the Forest
Service's "Recreation Site Facility Master Planning" policy that is
already resulting in new fees, increased fees, site closures, and other
changes to recreation programs on National Forests.

According to Senator Baucus's spokesperson "the Senator vows that the
increased fees will never come to fruition" and "this proposal, at first
glance, is ludicrous, because Max doesn't think that the Forest Service
should balance its budget on the backs of Montanans who take their kids
hunting, fishing and camping on our public lands."

[ http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/01/05/helena/000forest... ]

/Nor, we would add, on the backs of public lands users in any other state!/

Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY), outgoing Chair of the Senate's National
Parks Subcommittee, is criticizing the new $80 "America the Beautiful"
pass that is pricing Americans out of their National Parks and other
federally managed public lands.

According to Thomas, "An $80 fee is certainly higher than what folks
should have to pay to recreate on federal lands," He went on to say he
opposes expanding the recreation fee beyond the National Parks to other
federal land management agencies, which will result in higher fees with
no guarantee of improving the impacted recreation sites. "If there's a
budget problem in our land management agencies, let's get to the root of
it, address it head-on, and not put budget shortfalls on the back of
recreational visitors."

[http://thomas.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease
_id=645&Month=12&Year=2006&Type=PressRelease
<http://thomas.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease
_id=645&Month=12&Year=2006&Type=PressRelease>]

/We couldn't agree more!/

Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) recently sent an open letter to
Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne urging him to veto the planned
entrance fee increases at Crater Lake National Park and Lava Beds
National Monument. "It doesn't make sense to increase park fees while
national parks are struggling to attract visitors," DeFazio said. "I am
concerned that the increase in fees at Crater Lake will discourage
regular visits by Oregon families. . . I agree that the national park
system is in need of additional funding, but raising fees for park
visitors will only drive visitors away."

[ http://www.defazio.house.gov/index.php?option=content&ta...
<http://www.defazio.house.gov/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=227> ]

/NOW IS THE TIME to urge your Representative and Senators to weigh in
and protect the public's interest in public lands./

Congress needs to take a long, hard look at where these "Full Cost
Recovery" recreation policies are heading. Individuals, organizations,
and local governments must contact their Congressional representatives
and ask them to hold oversight hearings and take legislative action to:

- Roll back the Recreation Site Facility Master Planning (RSFMP) process
in the Forest Service. This program will eliminate thousands of
recreation sites, reduce operating seasons, increase fees, create new
fee sites and turn hundreds more sites over to concessionaires. The
RSFMP turns the Forest Service recreation programs into a taxpayer
funded "For-Profit" venture that forces Americans away from the forests
and damages local economies.

[Read our report on RSFMP at
http://www.westernslopenofee.org/NoFee/RSFMP.pdf ]

- Repeal the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) for the
Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish &
Wildlife Service and National Park Service, including the /_new $80
"America The Beautiful Pass" which is pricing the public out of visiting
our Parks and other public lands._/ Fee policy remains extremely
contentious, yet the agencies continue to charge the public fees that
are well outside of the authority of the FLREA. Incentives created by
the FLREA are the driving force behind policies such as the RSFMP.

[For more on BLM and Forest Service FLREA Implementation go to:
http://www.westernslopenofee.org/NoFee/WSNFC_Survey_Report.p... ]

- Limit the cost of National Park entrance fees. Park visitation is down
across the board since the late 1990s when Fee Demo caused a round of
substantial entrance fee increases, yet under FLREA the NPS is raising
fees yet again, by 100% in many cases.

- Audit the agencies' budgets and mandate that 75% of Congressionally
appropriated recreation funding gets to the ground. The Forest Service,
for instance, has had its national recreation funding increased by 22%
over the last decade while, according to local FS managers, local
funding has decreased by as much as 50%. The WSNFC currently estimates
that, at best, as little as 18% of Congressionally appropriated funding
for Forest Service recreation actually gets to the ground.

/It’s been two years since the FLREA was attached as a rider on a
spending bill./ All the public has to show for it is agency policies
that are pricing the public out of THEIR public lands, policies that
replace appropriated funding with fees at the local level, agencies that
think they are above the law in charging fees outside the FLREA's
authority, and the decommissioning of thousands of campgrounds, picnic
areas and trails.

We applaud Senators Baucus and Thomas, Representative Defazio, and
others in Congress for their stand on THESE IMPORTANT ISSUES. For those
of you in Montana, Wyoming and Oregon please contact them and voice your
support. For those that live elsewhere, please contact YOUR elected
officials. Ask them to oversee these out-of-control federal agencies and
restore the PUBLIC in public land.

Robert Funkhouser, President

Western Slope No-Fee Coalition

In addition to your own Congressional delegation, please contact the new
Democratic Chairs of the key Committees that now oversee recreation
policy on public lands.

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO CALL AND FAX YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND THESE
COMMITTEE CHAIRS WITH YOUR CONCERNS.

CONTACT THE CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD AT 202-224-3121 TO BE CONNECTED TO YOUR
ELECTED SENATOR'S OR REPRESENTATIVE'S STAFF.

HOUSE AND SENATE CONTACT INFO:

Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM) – Chairman Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee

Phone: 202-224-5521

Fax: 202-224-2852

Senator Ron Wyden (OR) – Chairman Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee

Phone: 202-224-5244

Fax: 202-228-2717

Senator Daniel Akaka (HI) – Chairman National Park Subcommittee

Phone: 202-224-6361

Fax: 202-224-2126

Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) – Chairman Interior Appropriations
Subcommittee

Phone: 202-224-3841

Fax: 202-228-3954

Rep. Nick Rahall (WV) – Chairman House Natural Resources Committee

Phone: 202-225-3452

Fax: 202-225-9061

Rep. Norman Dicks (WA) – Chairman House Interior Appropriations Committee

Phone: 202-225-5916

Fax: 202-226-1176

Sample Letter:

Please select comments from the sample letter below and - important! -
spend a few minutes putting them in your OWN words. Add your own
comments, too. Please sign your name and address VERY CLEARLY.

Please CALL AND FAX YOUR LETTERS to as many committee chairs as you can,
plus your own legislators in DC. Thank you! Your CALLS AND FAXES will
have an impact.

Dear . . . ,

Please repeal the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. The US
Forest Service and the BLM are still charging fees for access to
undeveloped public lands, which the FLREA prohibits. The FLREA is
keeping the public away from its own public lands.

Please hold public hearings on the implementation of the FLREA, and on
the Forest Service's Recreation Site Facility Master Planning, where the
Forest Service is closing thousands of recreation sites around the
nation because they will not bring in enough income. The public has had
very little opportunity to comment on the RSFMP.

Please also stop the National Park Service from raising entrance fees,
which already keep many Americans away.

Public lands agencies budgets have been increasing, while funds that
reach the ground have been rapidly diminishing. Please mandate that 75%
of Congressionally appropriated recreation funding for public lands
reaches the ground.

Thank you,

Yours sincerely,

(NAME and ADDRESS CLEARLY)