Oregon Public Broadcasting

Federal Land managers are waiving recreation fees today (Tuesday) in honor of Veterans' Day. But  it may not be much of bargain since many sites stopped charging fees last month. And still other sites now require a separate state Sno-Park permit. Pete Springer explains.

Congress gave temporary authority to the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to charge recreation fees on public lands in the 1990’s.  And ever since, there's a lot of confusion about what fee to pay at different places.

For example, the Deschutes National Forest lists eleven different passes accepted at recreation sites.  Just northeast of the Deschutes, on the Ochoco National Forest, no passes are required. 

The Mt. Hood National Forest accepts nine different passes.

Biro: “We have the federal interagency passes, the annual pass, a senior pass, and an access pass.”

Jocelyn Biro is a recreation fee coordinator for the Forest Service.

But since fees are being waived today, you can forget all about which pass you need and take a hike for free, right?

Sort of.  The B-L-M says its fees are only waived today for military veterans. The Forest Service says its waiving fees for everyone.

The irony is that many sites stopped charging recreation fees altogether last month. 

Take the Mt. Hood National Forest.  Thirty of their thirty-four fee sites don’t require federal recreation passes from October 1st until mid-May.

Again, Jocelyn Biro with the Forest Service.

Biro: “I know what you’re saying, you know, why advertise a free day when some of the sites are free, but from a regional perspective, we’re just saying that it’s a free day where there’s typically a fee charged.”

But that free day only applies to federal fees.  It doesn’t cover state Sno-Park fees.

In other words, at half a dozen sites on the Mt. Hood National Forest, you’ll be paying a state fee to park today.

Money collected from these different fees is used in different ways.  Sno-Park permits help pay for plowing snow from parking areas--while Biro says federal fees are used to provide toilets, trash collection, and picnic tables.

Biro: “Most of our recreation opportunities have costs associated with them and we’re living in more of a user pay society now, where people who enjoy the benefits of these recreation sites do have to pay a small price to use them.”

Not everyone agrees with this assessment, though.  Scott Silver is the executive director of Wild Wilderness in Bend.

Silver: “Basically recreation that once was managed as a public good, something we were all privileged to enjoy by virtue of our citizenship is now just one more product that will be sold to us.”

Silver says recreation fees on public lands amount to renting out trees by the hour to the public.  He wants to see the federal land agencies treat the public as the owners of the land, not as customers.

Silver: “This entire concept of recreation is now a product that must be sold at market prices is a new concept and it’s totally and radically changing the way we interact with our public lands.”

Jocelyn Biro with the Forest Service disagrees.

Biro: “Well, they’re actually not paying for access to public lands, they’re paying a user fee to use the facilities and amenities at that specific recreation site.”

Federal land agencies hope to set aside this debate, and help connect people with their public lands by waiving recreation fees--at least for today.