The following editorial appeared in the Press-Enterprise on February 15, 2000.
Riverside County supervisors last week added their collective voice to those already opposing the National Forest Service's Adventure Pass fees. Thus, in a sense, they seconded the motion of Rep. Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs, who has introduced a bill to abolish the fees. They join in protest with the State Legislature, forest-area merchants and outdoor recreationists of every stripe - hunters, fishing enthusiasts, hikers, bird-watchers, picnickers, you name it. They all oppose the fees, and for the same good reason: This is the equivalent of taxing people twice for even the most casual use of the public lands.
The come-hither name for these fees is a poor disguise. Visitors are charged $5 a day or $30 a year for passes. In Southern California, the fees are assessed in the San Bernardino, Cleveland, Angeles and Los Padres forests - that is to say, in all the major Inland units; their specter is pretty much inescapable.
If a visitor is caught using forest facilities without a pass, and if a ticket is issued, the result is a $100-fine.
Eighty percent of the fees themselves are supposed to go to the forest units where they're collected, for trails and facilities maintenance and the like. The argument for creating the fees rests here. Most of this work was neglected for a long time. It's much-needed and backlogged. But there's the rub.
In 1995, when the prospect of these fees first appeared on the national radar screen, the federal government was running annual deficits of $165 billion and the Forest Service was crying poor. Five years later, we've turned it around: The federal government ran a surplus of $122 billion last year, and we're still being double-billed to use these recreational public lands.
That burns going down, it doesn't set well; it never has, and it's not going to. In this long-running public protest, Congress ought to recognize that, and end these fees.