Washington – The Forest Service is eliminating $5 and $10 recreation fees it charges at about 500 picnic areas and trailheads after outdoor enthusiasts and Western lawmakers complained.
Two sites in Colorado will be affected: Granby Lake Overlook in Arapaho National Forest and Black Tail Picnic Ground in Routt National Forest. Also affected are the nearby Pike Pole and Pickeroon Campgrounds in Wyoming’s Medicine Bow National Forest.
The fees also could disappear at other recreation areas but will remain at those with parking lots, restrooms and other amenities under a law Congress passed last year.
Nationwide, 61 percent of more than 16,000 sites operated by the Forest Service will be free of charge, officials said. That is an increase from 58 percent that already are free.
A law pushed by the Bush administration and signed by the president in December granted long-term authority for the once- temporary fees at recreation sites but set standards under which they could be collected, immediately setting off a storm of protest.
The fees generate about $170 million a year for the Forest Service and three Interior Department agencies: the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
Officials use the money to maintain rest rooms, collect trash and provide other amenities.
The most dramatic change in the initial round of fee cuts made this week is in the Pacific Northwest, especially in Oregon and Washington.
In Oregon’s popular Willamette National Forest, 43 day-use sites will charge fees, down from 69 last year. In some remote forests, such as the Umatilla National Forest in eastern Oregon and Washington, fees at all 20 day-use sites are being dropped.
Activists hailed the return to free access at more recreation areas but said the new law still gives federal managers too much leeway to determine what sites are eligible for fees. For instance, in some cases old and poorly maintained portable toilets are considered permanent, they said.
The Forest Service is the first agency to eliminate some recreation fees. Price policies at national parks, wildlife refuges and other recreation areas are also being reviewed, but no decisions have been made, said Interior Department spokesman Dan DuBray.
