The following editorial appeared in the Ventura County Star on June 23, 1999.
ROADS: Ending logging subsidy could make Adventure Pass unnecessary
Since it took effect in 1995, the U.S. Forest Service's Adventure Pass program has been anything but popular.
The pass was authorized under a pilot fee program adopted by Congress to supplement the inadequate operations and maintenance budgets at 400 national parks and other federal recreation sites. It requires visitors to four Southern California forests to pay $5 a day or $30 a year to park on public land.
Most of the revenue generated by the Adventure Pass, like that from increased entrance and other recreational fees at parks, monuments and historical sites, stays at the place it was collected. According to Los Padres National Forest managers, the program produced $288,376 locally in its first 12 months. That was enough to finance the hiring of two field rangers, as well as a laundry list of repairs to campgrounds, parking areas, restrooms and trails.
Locally, the fee has been paid grudgingly by some and fought vigorously by others, including such organizations as Keep The Sespe Wild and the Environmental Defense Center. Opponents have mustered several arguments, some of them well-reasoned and others more passionate than practical.
As she has in the past, Rep. Lois Capps of Santa Barbara plans to heed her constituents' complaints and will try again this year to abolish the fee. This time, she is linking her proposal to abolition of a hefty federal logging subsidy for timber companies that do business in national forests. Her effort deserves support, for it would go a long way toward reforming an unjustifiable imbalance in the way the federal government treats its forests.