The following editorial appeared in the Twin Falls, Idaho Times-News on April 26, 2002.
Leave it to government to make a bad idea even worse. That's what the Forest Service will be doing if it expands regional trailhead passes to a national program.
That's right. The nightmare that trail and forest users have long abhorred, watching their beloved public lands become "Disney-fied" with entrance fees and "pay to play" permits, is another step closer to reality.
The Forest Service says the proposal for a national pass that combines access to national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and federal rangelands is only in the first stages of discussion. But given the government's determined enthusiasm for this idea in the past, it's practically on its way to permanence.
Charging forest users -- who already pay for public lands through their federal taxes -- a second tax through an access fee is an affront to the ideals of public land ownership. Surely John Muir and Gifford Pinchot (the fathers of forest conservation) never envisioned that your children would need a ticket to smell a blue spruce.
By creating this kind of national pass, officials say outdoor enthusiasts will have a "seamless" way to gain access to many public lands. Yet even their own research surveys show only a small segment of the public would use such a pass. Most people stay close to home for their outdoor activities.
Perhaps the idea to broaden forest access fees is really an attempt to get the nation accustomed to this kind of double taxation. And not only is it double taxation, it's also a one-two combination that strikes a blow against public access.
Remember, when the fee was introduced back in 1996, its aim was to help restore revenue lost to logging reductions. Thus, one blow against multiple use of public lands became justification for another barrier to public use. Ouch.
The irony of the new access fee expansion is how the Forest Service cites rising participation by users. In fact, those who comply with the trailhead fees mostly do so for fear of Smokey Bear's growling edict.
The $35.3 million raised last year from fees, including those collected in the Sawtooth National Forest, encouraged Congress to renew the program -- which is a sad reflection on the Republican-controlled House.
We warned readers from the start that compliance with the local program would encourage more user fees. And sure enough, that's about to happen. Freedom is taken away one whimper at a time.
As we have said before, charging users a fee when they use a special facility on public lands -- such as a boat ramp or a trailer hook-up -- is legitimate. But it's wrong to charge an access fee for a hike, a swim, or a stroll through the trees.
But the question is no longer whether forest users will pay a trailhead fee. The question is how much more they will pay.
The obvious answer is that taxpayers have already paid enough. It's too bad the government isn't listening.