By LANCE ROBERTSON
The Register Guard
Now the pilot program is coming under attack, not just by outdoor enthusiasts but in court and Congress.
Rep. Peter Defazio, D-Ore., introduced a bill Wednesday to eliminate the three-year "fee demonstration" program.
His plan would raise money by charging mining companies a royalty on the value of gold and other metals they extract from public lands.
"It's outrageous that the federal government charges tax-paying citizens a fee to take a hike on a forest trail or walk on a beach," DeFazio said, when mining companies "extract millions of dollars in gold from our public lands for free."
Royalties would generate about $51 million a year for recreation programs run by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and other natural-resource agencies.
Meanwhile, lawyers for two surfers will ask a federal court in Eugene today to strike down the fees on the grounds they illegally restrict access to public lands.
The Eugene-area surfers, 21-year-old Robert Maris and 36-year-old Alan Smith, were ticketed for failing to pay the $3 daily fee at the South Jetty entrance to the dunes near Florence.
Congress last year authorized the Forest Service to launch up to 100 fee demonstration projects to test the idea of charging people for access to national forests.
Like many local, state and federal agencies, the Forest Service found itself without enough money to maintain trails, parks and other recreational areas.
The Forest Service has been hit particularly hard by budget cuts -- up to 40 percent on some forests in Oregon and Washington. Agency officials say they have a $644 million backlog of needed maintenance and repairs nationwide, and that 59,000 of the agencies 108,000 miles of trails need repair.
In all, 47 fee projects were launched, including an $8-per-car entrance fee to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and a $3 daily fee for the Oregon Dunes. Another 32 projects may be launched next summer.
The Forest Service said it expected to generate about $1.7 million in revenues a year from fees collected in the eight Northwest forests.
And unlike most other agency programs, in which revenues go to the U.S. Treasury or the agency's general budget, each forest gets to keep all the revenues from recreation fees.
The Siuslaw National Forest, for example, will get to keep $273,000 in Oregon Dunes access fees collected this summer.
The National Park Service has charged access fees for years, but the notion of paying for access to national forests was new to both the agency and the public.
Initial reaction was mixed. But when the Forest Service also said it would charge people $3 a day to park at hiking trailheads, resentment and opposition began to build.
Letters to the editor started appearing in newspapers. DeFazio's office has received more than 80 complaints about the fees in just the past three months.
A Bend man, Scott Silver, set up a page on the World Wide Web to rally opposition to the fees.
"This is gaining a lot of momentum," Silver said.
Forest Service officials acknowledge the opposition but say support is strong, too. "We have had some negative reaction to the fee demo program," said Thelma Strong, a legislative affairs officer for the Forest Service in Washington, D.C. "Basically, we're hearing mainly that they don't like to pay to walk on the trails."
Forest Service surveys indicate that people are generally split on the idea of access fees, with those in favor holding a slight edge.
Surveys collected this summer at trailheads and access sites in the Siuslaw National Forest, which manages the dunes, show 30 percent strongly support the fees and 26 percent strongly oppose them.
Julie Cox, spokeswoman in Corvallis for the Siuslaw forest, said the division indicates "there are some issues out there that need to be addressed." But she said gauging public sentiment is hard because "people who are opposed to the fees tend to be more vocal."
Forest Service officials from national and regional headquarters are touring the fee-demo sites. They plan to tour the Oregon Dunes today and then meet with representatives of various interest groups at the Siuslaw Public Library in Florence.
Strong said the programs need more time. "We only have one year under our belt," she said. "If some things aren't working right, we can make some tweaks in the program."