Lodwig

Officials debate single forest pass

Demo program already in effect in Northwest

N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Saturday, April 13, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Hikers heading into the national forests of the Olympic Peninsula or into the high country of Mount Rainier National Park might someday be able to do so with a single public land recreation pass.

Today, a hiker doing both would need a $5 Northwest Forest Pass to park at most trailheads in the Olympic National Forest and a $10 entrance fee for Mount Rainier National Park.

Managers of a controversial recreation fee demonstration program on federal lands across the country are meeting in Portland next week to discuss the program.

The multiple fees required to enter federal lands in South Sound have sparked complaints from outdoor recreation users, who complain they're being nickeled and dimed to death.

"If there was just one pass!" Doris Lodwig said recently.

Lodwig is an avid hiker and hike leader with the Olympia Mountaineers.

Rob Plan-kers of Olympia doesn't mind paying, but he objects to the number of passes and fees required -- entrance fees, wilderness permits and overnight camping permits, trailhead parking fees, and separate permits and fees for each mountain he wants to climb.

The agenda at next week's meeting includes development of a single recreation pass for all federal lands, consistency among federal agencies participating in the program, and legislation to make the program permanent.

Pass idea not new

Work on a single national federal lands recreation pass is not new, said Jocelyn Biro, fee demo coordinator for the Pacific Northwest Region of the Forest Service. Officials have been discussing such a pass for a couple of years.

The recreation fee demo program -- proposed by recreation industry executives and passed by Congress in 1996 -- went into effect for three years in 1997.

It was later extended, most recently through September 2004. Federal officials want to make the program permanent as soon as next year.

The Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service participate in the temporary program.

Some critics say the program should be scrapped because it turns a nature outing into a commercial transaction, hurts low-income families and unfairly charges the public to use public land.

Federal land managers like the program because it brings money to help with overdue repairs and improvements.

Biro questioned how many people would really use such a multi-agency pass.

Unlike Puget Sound residents, most people use recreational areas close to home and don't live close to both national forests and national parks.

A single pass is one of a number of options.

"I don't think it's just all or nothing," she said.

Trying to make things simpler can be a complex task for agencies administering the program, such as when trying to figure out how to distribute the money.

The whole idea of the program was that most of the money would stay in the area where it was collected.

With the Northwest Forest Pass, however, the Forest Service already has begun to inch away from that premise, as money paid for the pass is shared among several regional forests.

Agencies are reluctant to make any commitments to change until or unless a program becomes permanent, Biro said.

"We're a long way from any legislation," she said.

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445 and at nnokkent@olympia.gannett.com.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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