The following editorial appeared in the Idaho Mountain Express on August 4, 1999.
American Recreation Coalition president Derrick Crandall says the fact that Sawtooth National Recreation Area users don't like the fees they're being forced to pay is the fault of local forest officials. He says the forest folks didn't communicate well.
In fact, the opposite is true.
Forest officials explained the forest was being loved to death and that fees are necessary because the federal government just can't afford to do the job. Recreation has to pay its way, they said.
Unlike timber and mining, of course
After all, Congress and the Forest Service had to swear off the big money they had spent subsidizing roads, timber cuts and mines for nearly a century. They couldn't be expected to fork over to clear trails and install log bridges to make it easier for legions of Vibram soles to tromp around the landscape.
Forest officials outlined how fees would be collected and spent. They outlined how fee fugitives would be apprehended.
Yet users rejected fees and didn't pay them because they are unfair, unwarranted and poorly conceived. Payments increased only when the Forest Service began to play the heavy — issuing tickets with fines to people without passes.
Saturday is a national day of protest. Sign a petition or write a letter to a congressman or senator. Tell them how you feel about the fees. Tell them to quit believing their own PR and Crandall's silly excuses, and to start listening.