County turns thumbs down on public-lands fees

County turns thumbs down on public-lands fees

January 15, 2002

By Gail Binkly
Journal Managing Editor

"To charge the casual user I think is absurd."

-Commissioner Gene Story

The Montezuma County commissioners passed a resolution stating that "we prefer full federal funding for public lands, but would not rule out the possibility of fees if we felt it was the only way to protect public lands in San Juan County", McKay said..

Montezuma County became the eighth county in Colorado to adopt such a resolution, according to representatives of the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition, who took their case to the board Monday.

The fee-demo program, which was recently extended until 2004, made major changes in fee policies on public lands, the representatives explained. It allowed four agencies — the U.S. Forest Service, BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service — to choose 100 sites apiece at which they would implement the program.

The individual sites were then allowed to keep most or all of the fees they collected rather than throwing them back into the general fund. That way, the monies could be used directly to benefit each area by funding such items as road improvements, refurbished facilities and interpretive sites.

As a result, fees were raised sharply at many areas that were already charging them, such as national parks. That has proven less controversial than the implementation of new fees at other areas where entrance had always been free, such as BLM and national-forest sites.

"To charge the casual user I think is absurd," said Commissioner Gene Story. "When the Forest Service needs more money, the Congress has the obligation to provide it. The small amount of money they’re going to collect in fees is not going to make a bit of difference."

But Commissioner Kelly Wilson, who cast the dissenting vote, said such fees are needed. "With the political situation and the lack of funds, my inclination is that users should pay. I’m not sure how the Anasazi Heritage Center would stay open if there weren’t fees."

The Heritage Center is one of two fee-demo sites in Montezuma County right now, according to coalition representative Kitty Benzar of Durango. The center used to be free; now it charges $3 for admission except during winter months, when it is still free.

The other site is Mesa Verde, which joined the program so it could retain the fee monies. It has since raised its admission price and added some new fees for tours, Benzar said.

Hovenweep National Monument, just across the Utah border, is also part of the program and has gone from being free to charging $6 for entry.

Another formerly free site in the fee-demo program is Yankee Boy Basin, a high-elevation area near Ouray. The Forest Service has implemented differing admission fees for vehicles, mountain bikes, motorcycles and ATVs, but has met with considerable resistance, Benzar said. Estimates of compliance with the fees range from 25 to 60 percent, she said.

The national parks, and museums such as the Heritage Center, aren’t the coalition’s main concern, she said. Rather, the group is worried that more and more fees will be charged on BLM and Forest Service land — particularly since Congress has lifted the cap on the number of fee-demo sites.

"We’re not storming the doors of the museum and demanding free entry," she said.

"Museums have traditionally charged fees. But what’s going to happen next is the Forest Service is going to start charging to park at a trailhead and hike in the forest, or the BLM will charge you to hike into Sand Canyon, just to do any of these non-consumptive activities on land that we the people own."

Rudy Ortiz of Cortez, another member of the coalition, said such fees would hurt visitation. "This county can’t afford to lose tourist money by this kind of an action."

Another coalition member, Jan Holt of Durango, said her concern was that "people who are low-income can’t do the most basic things, like go to a trailhead and walk with their kid. To not be able to access their public lands at all is a shame."

Benzar said the San Juan National Forest has been loath to adopt such fees but will now face increasing pressure to do so. "It will be helpful to them if they know how the counties feel," she said.

She said state Rep. Mark Larson (R-Cortez) opposes the fee-demo program. The county commissions in Gunnison, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan and San Miguel counties in Colorado have adopted resolutions opposing it, as have the town councils of Creede, Ophir and Silverton.

Colorado has more counties and cities that have passed an anti-fee resolution than any other state, she said, but some other states’ legislatures have gone on record against the program while Colorado’s has not.

Because it was begun as a demonstration project rather than a permanent one, Congress has never held hearings on the topic, Benzar said. "Now it’s been extended to 2004 and there’s still no real evaluation and no real end in sight."

She said, as the program grows, Congress’ allocations to public-lands agencies shrink accordingly. "For every dollar of fees they collect, they cut a dollar from the budget," she charged.

Don Foth of Cortez, a retired Forest Service employee in the audience, agreed, saying public lands "should be funded for the basics through the national system."

Wilson said he was concerned that, as remote areas are publicized and see increasing numbers of visitors, they will need more money. He cited Sand Canyon, part of the new Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, as an example. "What a total disaster since so many people started using it," he said. "There used to be one partial trail there — now it’s five or six."

But Story and Commissioner Kent Lindsay said they were tired of public-lands agencies improving sites and then complaining that they didn’t have money to operate them.

"When you build monumental parking lots and entrances, you’re saying, ‘Here we are! Come visit!’" said Story. "Then they say, ‘Wait a minute, how are we going to take care of this?’"

Lindsay agreed. "They go by the theory: ‘If we build it, they will come and we can charge them for it’," he said.

Benzar said the commissioners, at a meeting in September, had said the fee program was no different than the county charging to use the fairgrounds. But there is a difference, she said.

"When someone pays a fee to use a campground, they’re getting exclusive use of it," she said. "When someone pays to use the fairgrounds for a special event, they’re getting exclusive use. That’s not what fee demo is about. It’s more like if you wanted to take your kid to the fairgrounds one day and play catch, you would have to pay a fee.

"Fee demo charges to use picnic tables, to drive on scenic roads, to go and hike. It’s a very insidious program and it’s becoming more and more entrenched."