This page is devoted to fighting the Adventure Pass in Southern California, and the Northwest Forest Pass in Oregon. These programs are only one portion of the national USFS Recreation Fee Demonstration Program which in turn is only one portion of the federal Recreational Fee Demonstration Program (Fee Demo) which applies to Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service lands. Free Our Forests is specifically opposed to the Adventure Pass and the Northwest Forest Pass, since they exist within the regions of FOF's chapters, but also opposes the entire Recreational Fee Demonstration Program nationally.

The Forest Service provides a list of current fee projects on National Forest lands, though this list does not provide the common names that the programs use. For example, within the Forest Service the Adventure Pass is known as the Enterprise Forest project and the Northwest Forest Pass is known as the Trail Park Pass.

• The Passes

• What You Can Do
  

• Contact Congress

• The Failure of the Program
  

• General Accounting Office Slams Fee Demo

• Public Lands Agencies' Reports to Congress

• Scientific Studies of Fee Demo
  

• Forest Service Gags Its Own Researcher

• Legal Concerns
  

• Fixing a Notice of Noncompliance
  
• Citations Versus Notices of Noncompliance
  
• Fee Demo Court Cases

THE ADVENTURE PASS

The Forest Service's Adventure Pass, implemented in 1997, is a fee for parking your vehicle on any road for any amount of time anywhere within the boundaries of the four National Forests in Southern California. These include the Los Padres, San Bernardino, Angeles and Cleveland National Forests. The Adventure Pass costs $5.00 per day, or $30.00 per year.

THE NORTHWEST FOREST PASS

The Forest Service's Northwest Forest Pass, implemented in 2000, is a fee for parking, trail usage, and facility usage of twenty National Forests in Oregon and Washington and in the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. Several pre-existing Fee Demo projects were consolidated to create the Northwest Forest Pass. The pass costs $5.00 per day, or $30.00 per year.

The Adventure Pass and the Northwest Forest Pass are part of the USFS Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. Other Forest Service fee projects exist in other regions of the country with varying fees and under different names. The parent program, the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program is not limited to the Forest Service. The Department of the Interior has also been authorized to implement this program on Park Service, BLM, and Fish and Wildlife lands.

There is a maximum $100.00 fine that can be assessed if you are caught in violation of the Adventure Pass, the Northwest Forest Pass, or any other project of Fee Demo! This fine makes the reference to the program as a "demonstration" seem ridiculous.

The Forest Service tells us that Fee Demo is the result of Congressional Budget cuts, and that it was created to deal with the backlog of work on National Forest lands. This is, however, only a smoke screen for what is actually happening behind the scenes in Washington, D.C. The budgets of public lands agencies have been systematically cut by members of Congress and created maintenance crises. Some of these very same members of Congress have been working to dismantle and privatize agencies such as the Forest Service.

Aside from allowing the charging of fees, Fee Demo allows private entities to enter into public/private "partnerships" with the Forest Service and other agencies to "enhance the delivery of quality customer services and resource enhancement." At the start of Fee Demo, the Forest Service entered into a contract called a Cost-Share Agreement with the American Recreation Coalition (ARC), which allowed them to develop fee projects in partnership with the Forest Service. The ARC represents the interests of more than 100 recreation industry organizations, including ski area associations, sporting equipment manufacturers, petroleum companies, tour associations, dozens of motorboat, jet-ski, motorcycle, snowmobile, RV, and ORV manufacturers, and the Walt Disney Company - to name a few. As a result, Disney, REI, and other companies assisted in the design and implementation of the Adventure Pass.

The eventual outcome of this insidious partnership with the Forest Service is an easy one to see: Entrance fees, sales and rentals. This is the "Disneyfication" of the American wilderness - YOUR land!

What rangers aren't telling you is that the Forest Service has begun to look at recreation as a business. We are the "customers", and our public land is the latest "Amusement Park." Welcome to Industrial Strength Recreation!

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO STOP FEE DEMO

#1. DO NOT BUY A PASS OR PAY THE FEES! This is a test program to get the public used to paying the fees. The Forest Service is judging the success of the program on compliance and revenue generated!

#2. Most important, call, write, and/or e-mail your Congressional Representative and Senators. Demand that they work on getting the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program cancelled immediately. It is also equally important to ask that Congress restore adequate funding to public lands. Hand written letters are encouraged and evoke a better response from legislators.

The Adventure Pass and Northwest Forest Pass are local examples of the nationwide US Forest Service Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. Therefore, no matter where you live in the United States, you can demand with proper authority that the federal government end any and all projects of the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program.

Don't know who represents you in Congress? Don't know the addresses? Check the government pages of your local telephone book, or...

find out who your Representative is and find his or her address by checking the website of the House of Representatives.

find out who your Senators are and find their addresses by checking the website of the Senate.

Are you curious how Congress stands on this issue? Have a look at FOF's list of Fee Demo supporters and opponents in Congress.

#3. Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers.

In general, you should keep a letter down to 250 words and include your home address, name, and phone number. Some papers will take letters of up to 400 words. Check the website of theses papers, or contact them for further information about their policies.

For addresses of editors of papers across the country, check Editor & Publisher's website.

Here are e-mail addresses for the editors of some of the papers serving Southern California and Southern Oregon:

Oregon

Southern Oregon

California

Los Angeles Area

Ventura Area

Santa Barbara Area

San Bernardino and Riverside Area

Bakersfield Area

San Luis Obispo Area

San Diego Area

#4. Call or write the Forest Service district offices and demand that they document your protest!

FOF has gathered the addresses of the four Southern California National Forest Supervisors. To get the contact information for Supervisors in other regions with other Recreation Fee Demonstration Program projects, search the Forest Service's website.

Los Padres National Forest:

Jeanine Derby, Supervisor
phone: (805) 681-2783
address: Los Padres National Forest, 6144 Calle Real, Goleta, CA 93117
e-mail: jderby@fs.fed.us

Angeles National Forest:

Jody Cook, Supervisor
phone: (626) 574-1613
address: Angeles National Forest, 701 N. Santa Anita, Arcadia, CA 91006

San Bernardino National Forest:

Gene Zimmerman, Supervisor
phone: (909) 620-6208
address: San Bernardino National Forest, 1824 S. Commerce Center Circle, San Bernardino, CA 92408-3430

Cleveland National Forest:

Anne Fege, Supervisor
phone: (619) 673-6180
address: Cleveland National Forest, 10845 Rancho Bernardo Rd. #200, San Diego, CA 93117

#5. Call, write, or make a personal visit to the businesses that sell the passes and tell them that you will no longer patronize their store as long as they continue to support the fee program. But also indicate that you will return trade to their store after they've stopped selling the passes.

#6. GET INVOLVED!! Support and participate in Free Our Forest's efforts to oppose the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program.

REMEMBER, ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FOREST FEES

CAN'T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE FEES

THE ADVENTURE PASS FAILS TO MAKE THE PROMISED 80% RETURN TO LOCAL FORESTS

Fiscal Year 1997

The following is abridged information taken from the Keep the Sespe Wild Committee's website and KSWC's newsletter. KSWC's website has more detailed information on FY 1997 Adventure Pass funds as ascertained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The Forest Service has ignored the $1 million in "seed money" used to start this program. Even so, they are not able to produce the results they claim. Far less than half of the money collected has been put back into the forest - the majority of the money has been spent on forest serivce personnel! Only 12% of fee revenues went back to the Los Padres Forest in the summer of 1997 with 68% going to staffing costs. In the same season, all four southern California Forests as a whole had 34.5% returned locally.

The FS promised "at least 80% of the funds collected will be returned to the local Forest, to be invested in maintaining and improving recreation sites and facilities, and in protecting the Forest resource and habitat." Not only is this their promise, but it is required within the language of the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program law.

Fiscal Year 1998

Keep the Sespe Wild Committee has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for each year of the Adventure Pass Program's existence.

For Fiscal Year 1998, KSWC found a total of $1,886,000 spent from Adventure Pass revenues for all four of the affected Southern California National Forests. In the Los Padres National Forest (KSWC's backyard, and the most cash-strapped of the four National Forests with the Adventure Pass), $170,500 of fee revenues were spent on program staffing, and $69,200 went to Forest Service recreation facility materials. Additionally, not a cent of the $64,000 salary of the Los Padres National Forest Recreation Officer came from Adventure Pass revenues.

The program was set up from the start to address the overwhelming backlog of maintenance on public lands; the above expenditures clearly show, that for at least the Los Padres National Forest, much greater portions of revenues are being spent on staffing than on backlogged maintenance.

Fiscal Year 1999

Things don't seem to have gotten much better in terms of the financial success of the Adventure Pass program in the first three years of its existence.

Through a Freedom of Information Act Request, KSWC found the Adventure Pass program to have spent $2,147,000; most of these expenditures were on salaries. $419,800 was spent at the Adventure Pass headquarters in the San Bernardino National Forest; this translates to 20% of the total Adventure Pass expenditures for 1999. $540,000, or 25% of total expenditures went to the cost of collection of the fees. In contrast, $138,000 was spent on forest facility enhancement, and $641,000 was spent on maintenance and repairs; this translates to 6.4% and 30% of total expenditures, respectively.

The worst picture for the Adventure Pass comes again from the Los Padres National Forest. Of $245,000 spent in the Los Padres NF, $192,000, or 78% of total expenditures, went to employee salaries.

Clearly the overhead for the Adventure Pass makes it so top-heavy, that claiming the program is a good remedy for the backlog of maintenance is a huge stretch, if not a flagrant falsification of the facts.

Fiscal Year 2000-2002

This information has not been fully assembled from KSWC's FOIA requests, but each year shows a similar set of problems as in the previous years.

THE ROGUE RIVER RECREATION FEE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT FAILS TO RETURN 80% LOCALLY, AND LACKS ACCOUNTABLE OVERSIGHT

The Adventure Pass program is not the only Recreation Fee Demonstration Program project that has misled the public about fulfilling the 80% local return required by law. An audit of the Rogue River project conducted by two activist groups found a number of flagrant stretches and abuses of the local return requirement.

GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE SLAMS FEE DEMO

A General Accounting Office (GAO) 40-page report titled "Information on Forest Service Management of Revenue from the Fee Demonstration Program" (2001), requested by Rep. Scott McInnis (R, Western Colorado) and released May 19, 2003, reveals a deep-seated culture of deception and a total lack of accountability within the US Forest Service's Recreation Fee Demonstration Program (Fee Demo).

Congressman McInnis, who is not philosophically opposed to the fees, requested the GAO audit to look into concerns raised by the Colorado-based Western Slope No-Fee Coalition and his constituents regarding the program.

Highlights of the report can be found on the GAO's website at www.gao.gov.

Roughly put, this report showed that in a culture of deception, the Forest Service spent $15 million to net $15 million from Fee Demo. Of the $15 million spent, $10 million was taken from the general treasury, not from Fee Demo receipts. Read a more detailed account on the News page.

Recreational Fee Demonstration Program Reports to Congress

The Department of the Interior (Park Service, BLM, and Fish & Wildlife) and the Department of Agriculture (Forest Service) report to Congress every year on the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program. The most recent report is the 2003 report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2002. After September 11th, 2001 many government webpages were removed from the Internet due to new rules from the president's office. The Fee Demo reports were unavailable online. Since that removal, some have become available again. Links for these reports will be provided in the future.

Of note in the reports from each year are the constant claims of the growing acceptance of the program. This flies in the face of the growing opposition to the program from counties, cities, and activist groups. Nowhere in the report is there mention of this opposition. It also ignores the conclusions of a number of scientific studies of the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program which have numerous findings of low public acceptance.

The reports also consitently claim that visitation has not been affected by the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program. However, some of the independent scientific studies mentioned above found marked decreases in visitation to sites affected by the program. The reports themselves even show small decreases in visitation to sites affected by the program, with equivalent increases in sites where there are no fees.

Scientific Studies of Fee Demo

A number of studies on Fee Demo have been published in academic journals on recreation policy. These studies, published in 1999 had findings that contradict the Forest Service's claims about the program. In particular, the studies found widespread oppositon to the program and decreased visitation to sites where Fee Demo has been implemented.

The forest service has also commissioned a study on the Adventure Pass program in Southern California. The research was conducted by Dr. Jerrel Richer of the Economics Department at California State University, San Bernardino. Much of the Forest Service's claims regarding the Adventure Pass program have been taken from this study. A methodological issue should be noted with this study where the respondents to Dr. Richer's survey were only people found by volunteers at trail heads around Southern California. This study thus does not include the opinions of individuals who have chosen not to visit their local National Forests since the program went into effect.

Forest Service Gags Its Own Researcher

Thomas More, a researcher with the U.S. Forest Service Northeastern Forest Experimental Station in Burlington, published the first scientific survey of the White Mountains National Forest Recreational Fee Demonstration Program project in conjunction with Thomas Stevens, a professor from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

More and Stevens surveyed households in Vermont and New Hampshire and found that one in four lower income families visited National Forests less often in order to avoid fees. This evidence suggests a discriminatory impact of the fee on low income citizens. It is also at odds with Forest Service's claims of overwhelming popular support for recreation fees.

After the paper was published, the Forest Service barred More from talking to the press regarding his research. The Forest Service also issued "talking points" to its spokespeople around the country dismissing the findings of More and Stevens as "statistically insignificant."

Other researchers who reviewed the More and Stevens paper say that Forest Service's claim is false. "The Forest Service is very sensitive about this," Stevens said. "They have staked their future on this fee program. They do not welcome information that raises questions about it."

Legal Concerns Involving Fee Demo

The following information should not be considered legal advice, however, it has been compiled from careful consideration of a number of court cases and related legal instances over the course of the existence of Fee Demo. To get sound legal advice, consult a lawyer.

Acceptance Is Measured by Compliance

A pass is not required to enter a National Forest. Most existing pass programs require display of a pass in a vehicle. It is, in fact, voluntary to buy and carry one.

The Forest Service is measuring public acceptance of the fee program is being measured on compliance. Although this is not the Forest Service's official statement on how the program's feasibility is being tested, so far it has solely measured success on compliance.

Additionally, largely, only the opinions of those who buy passes are being surveyed by the Forest Service. These surveys are administered at the end of a pamphlet explaining why the fees are necessary, thereby biasing the responses of the survey's subjects. Outside of this survey of people who buy passes, the Forest Service cites the compliance rate when measuring the success of the program.

Thus, buying a pass is a vote "yes" for Fee Demo. Furthermore, voting "yes" on the Adventure Pass, Northwest Forest Pass, or any other Fee Demo project means you are voting "yes" on the nationwide USFS Recreation Fee Demonstration Program.

Thus, all fees for passes sold are counted as "yes" votes from the public in favor of the fee program. Also, if you receive a Notice of Noncompliance (NON) for not having a pass, correcting the problem (of your "no" vote) by sending money to the USFS is also considered a "yes" vote.

Noncompliance Equals Non-acceptance

Not buying a pass is a vote "no" for the program. However, the Forest Service cannot measure the number of people who choose to not go into a National Forest instead of buying a pass. The NON issued to people not complying with Fee Demo is, in fact, the measurable "no" vote. Hence, a notice is simply a notice that you voted "no" against the Fee Demo, and a good way to voice your "no" vote against Fee Demo.

An Option to Fixing a Notice of Noncompliance

If you receive a NON, you have an opportunity to vote "no" against the program in earnest! Simply send the notice to your Congressional District Representative with a letter stating your problem with your NON. Do not send money to the Forest Service.

In short: send the Forest Service money to vote "yes," or send your Congressman the Notice of Noncompliance along with a complaint to vote "no.". For more information or requests for assitance, send the basic information of how you got your notice to Free Our Forests.

Citations Versus Notices of Noncompliance

A NON is not a citation. If you do get a citation for failing to comply with a Fee Demo project (i.e. Adventure Pass), you should not ignore it as you can be held in contempt of court. Either pay the fine or send in your request for a court date. A Fee Demo citation is considered an infraction - less than a misdemeanor. You cannot be jailed, you are entitled to a court hearing with a judge, and you can appeal the fine.

The maximum fine allowed in the law authorizing Fee Demo is $100. In the court cases that FOF is aware of, no person has been fined more than $75, including those who fought their citation in court and lost.

Court Cases

The following cases involve alleged violations of the Forest Service's Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. Since this program is the parent of the Adventure Pass and the Northwest Forest Pass programs, these cases directly affect the enforcement of these passes.

One common issue that can be summarized about these court cases is that the Forest Service has problems with enforcement when violations go to court. Since most often the occupant of a vehicle is not present at the time of the issuance of a NON, the Forest Service has had a number of cases thrown out of court by judges throughout the country.

There have been only a few cases known to Free Our Forests of an Adventure Pass violator in court in Southern California, but in other states, the Forest Service has brought many cases to court. No one has been fined for an Adventure Pass violation, but fines have been issued for failure to comply with other Fee Demo projects around the country. Often, though, judges toss out the charges or prosecutors drop the charges. Most dismissals of cases are due, again, to the fact that occupants are often away from their vehicle. The burden of proof is on the issuing officer, and unless that officer sees you recreating, or you testify in your own defense (allowing the prosecutor to ask if you recreated), the citation will likely be dismissed. This basic constitutional right was backed up in an August, 2001 ruling from a federal magistrate in Arizona who ruled that the Forest Service could not issue a citation to an unattended vehicle. In another April, 2003 ruling, however, a Washington magistrate ignored arguments that a citation could not be issued to a vehicle.

In one court case involving an Adventure Pass violation - in which the charges were dismissed - a U.S. Magistrate stated that the program was "discretionary." The violator did not have an Adventure Pass, but he was not given a NON. Instead, he was cited with a parking ticket and a violation for disobeying a posted sign. (Read the transcript.) The sign that the violator did not obey, interestingly enough, stated that an Adventure Pass is required to park in the Angeles National Forest.

Another problem that the Forest Service has in enforcement is that the Code of Federal Regulations (36 CFR 261.15) that is used to prosecute violations says nothing about requiring a pass or decal to be displayed on a vehicle. A technicality, but some judges toss cases out on this problem alone.

• Two Oregon Fee Demo Violators Exonerated in Court - November 1997

• California Fee Demo Protester's Charges Dismissed in Court - December 1998

• Forest Service Drops Charges Against Two California Fee Demo Violators - January 1999

• Charges Dropped Against Idaho Fee Demo Violator - January 2000

• Charges Dropped Against 15 Idaho Fee Demo Violators - January 2000

• U.S. Attorney in Idaho Freezes Fee Demo Prosecutions - January 2000

• New Hampshire Fee Demo Violator Found Guilty - January 2000

• New Mexico Fee Demo Violator Found Guilty - January 2000

• Maine Fee Demo Violator's Charges Dismissed in Court - January 2000

• Prosecutor Drops Charges Against Two New Hampshire Fee Demo Violators - February 2000

• Court Hearing for California Fee Demo Violator - April 2000

• Four Arizona Fee Demo Violators' Charges Dismissed in Court - September 2000

• California Fee Demo Protester Found Guilty - February 2001

• New Mexico Fee Demo Violator Found Guilty - February 2001

• Arizona Fee Demo Violator's Charges Dismissed in Court - March 2001

• Arizona Magistrate Rules Forest Service Cannot Issue Citations to Unattended Vehicles - August 2001

• Two Arizona Fee Demo Violators' Charges Dismissed - September 2001

• Oregon Magistrate Rules Fee Demo Illegally Implemented - December 2001

• 26 Colorado Fee Demo Protesters Found Guilty - May 2002

• California Fee Demo Protester's Conviction Upheld on Appeal - October 2002

• Two California Fee Demo Protesters' Charges Dismissed - January 2003

• Washington Fee Demo Violator Found Guilty - April 2003

• California Fee Demo Protester Found Guilty - February 2004

• Oregon Fee Demo Conviction Overturned on Appeal - February 2004

• Washington Fee Demo Conviction Overturned on Appeal - May 2004

Conflict with State Authority

The legitimacy of being given a notice of noncompliance for parking on a state or county road has been questioned. The office of the Legislative Counsel of California gave an opinion to a question asked by California State Assemblyman Brett Granlund (Highways: San Bernardino National Forest - #16919):

QUESTION

May the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture issue a citation for a violation of the fee provisions of the federal Recreational Fee Demonstration Program for a vehicle that is parked on the right-of-way of a portion of State Highway Route 38 within the San Bernardino National Forest without displaying a National Forest Adventure Pass?

OPINION

The Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture may not issue a citation for a ciolation of the fee provisions of the federal Recreational Fee Demonstration Program for a vehicle that is parked on the right-of-way of a portion of State Highway Route 38 within the San Bernardino National Forest without displaying a National Forest Adventure Pass, unless there are additional facts indicating that a recreational use of the forest has occurred.

Forest Service Authority

You should know that under federal law, government personnel cannot engage in activity with the public with political motivation. Yet the Forest Service is often precariously over that line, hard selling the Adventure Pass and other forms of the Fee Demo with tax-paid advertisement and strong arm enforcement.

As some elements of the Forest Service continue to violate the American public's constitutionally protected First Amendment rights to protest the Fee Demo, it is extremely important for individuals to record in writing each incident of abuse on the part of the Forest Service and send it to their Senators and Representative.

FOF is also collecting data on enforcement abuses of Fee Demo. We want your stories. If you feel that you have been bullied or in any way misled by a public servant, be sure to get location, time, date, and, most important, the name of the officer. Send it to us and help us document the case against the unlawful use of your taxes to sell this experiment!

The American Civil Liberties Union can also assist an indivudal with an incident of enforcement abuse. The ACLU can be contacted at:

American Civil Liberties Union
Legal Intake
1616 West Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
phone: (213) 977-9500
FAX: (213) 250-3980

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