USFS: Hikers Must Pay Fines or Purchase Forest Pass

Recently the United States Forest Service initiated a policy to charge fines to hikers and vehicular owners found on the premises of national forests and parks without a Northwest Forest Pass. The pass, which costs $5 a day and $30 a year, is mandatory for vehicles at most trails and facilities in Siskiyou National Forest as well as for a good portion of the Rogue River National Forest. Similar fees for visitor passes have been in effect for a few years now at many national parks throughout the United States.

In the Pacific Northwest, the requirement has existed since 1998, and has been enforced at the Spalding Pond picnic area in the Siskiyou, at Hart-Tish Park at Applegate lake, at the Sam Brown and Briggs Camp campgrounds and at Big Pine. According to USFS officials, compliance in the last few years has been around 20 percent, and previous nonpayers were only encouraged to pay. The Forest Service is now taking the issue seriously and therefore is imposing fines on vehicles as well as nonpaying hikers.

In the past only hikers on U.S. National Forest trails around the Northwest were charged a fee. But now the USFS is mailing out notices of violation consisting of the original cost of the pass only if the amount is paid within a certain amount of time. If the fee isn’t paid within this time (14 days), a second notice is sent out. After another 14 days and the fee is still unpaid, a $50 fine is added to the original fee by the USFS. This is all possible because Forest Service law enforcement officers are recording the license plate numbers of park visitors and, with the aid of the state DMV, are keeping track of violators as well as repeat offenders.

The fine, which affects a rather large number of tourists, residents and frequent visitors in Southern Oregon, comes after mounting opposition in the last three years from both local governments and environmental groups who believe the fee constitutes a hidden tax and that national areas should be open to the public free of charge.

One determined opponent to the pass is Democratic Congressman Peter DeFazio who considers President Bush’s efforts to cut taxes to help middle-income citizens is ignorant or unconcerned of the hidden taxes that the forest pass constitutes, which “…falls heavily on people in rural areas of the Western U.S…”

In Josephine County in Southern Oregon, where the pass and fines will affect most directly, county commissions recently signed a resolution stating the pass amounts to double taxation and limits public access. They have asked for the pass to be eliminated and declare they would oppose any regulation or law that restricts access to public lands in Josephine County. In fact, State Representative Tim Knopp, R-Bend, has offered a resolution to Congress that would abolish the forest pass altogether.

On the other end of the spectrum, proponents–who also represent a number of local environmental groups and other individuals–believe the pass is a good thing and will continue to bring in needed revenues to renovate and improve facilities in both national and state forests throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Including the $12 fee to raft the Wild Section of the Rogue River, the trail pass and Rogue River float permit collected $207,400 in fiscal year 2000 for the Siskiyou and Rogue River forests. These funds helped to complete a project at Foster Bar on the Lower Rogue and build restroom facilities and a waste management unit for Rogue River employees who had to previously carry out all human waste.

In addition, the fees also paid for reconstruction of the Lower Rogue River Trail, snow removal from various locations and provided other trailhead improvements. With the added revenue from imposing fines on forest and park visitors, it is anticipated that many more improvements and new construction will be possible, and without the need of government funds siphoned locally or from agencies in Washington, D.C.

Still, a great majority of Pacific Northwest residents, visitors, and government and environmental agencies remain dead-set against the Northwest Forest Pass and the recent imposing of fines. They feel strongly if the new administration is truly committed to cutting taxes and easing the tax burden of middle and lower income citizens, that returning the national forests and parks to their pre-1998 “free access, cost nothing” status will soon be a reality again.

It remains to be seen if President Bush, who so far has apparently devoted little time to environmental issues, will become interested, especially in light of the 2001 WTC tragedy, the Iraqi conflict and the ongoing war against global terrorism.