PUBLIC LANDS: House panel to explore reauthorization of recreation fees
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Published: Monday, March 31, 2014
House lawmakers Friday will consider ways to reauthorize the law that allows the Interior Department and the Forest Service to charge user fees for properties with restrooms, picnic tables or other facilities.
The fees -- which in fiscal 2011 brought in $260.6 million to the Forest Service and four Interior agencies -- helped improve recreation facilities and maintenance, the Obama administration has said.
The Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation will discuss a draft bill by panel Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah), as well as two other measures.
"In one way or another, it has to be reauthorized," Bishop said last summer of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, which was extended for one year as part of the bill that ended last fall's government shutdown (E&E Daily, June 19, 2013).
An Interior official last year warned that a lapse in the program would affect the agencies' ability to fund projects that improve visitor safety and experiences.
"The agencies will be faced with challenging decisions as we try to anticipate the future of the program and make decisions about ongoing operations such as the issuance of an annual pass," said Pamela Haze, Interior's deputy assistant secretary for budget, finance performance and acquisition.
The panel will hear from a critic of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, Kitty Benzar, who leads the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition from Durango, Colo. Benzar last summer suggested adding provisions to the law that are not open to interpretation, limiting entrance fees to national parks and wildlife refuges, and making sure financial accountability is established.
"Powerful interests, bent on developing, commercializing and privatizing our public lands, are trying to steer this legislation in their direction," Benzar's group wrote on its website.
Members will also hear from an official of the American Recreation Coalition, which advocates for the commercial recreation industry.
The other bills to be heard are:
H.R. 2743, by Rep. Rich Nugent (R-Fla.), to make the federal recreation passes available at a discount to certain veterans.
H.R. 3976, by Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), to offer lifetime national recreational passes for any veteran with a service-connected disability.
Schedule: The hearing is Friday, April 4, at 9 a.m. in 1324 Longworth.
Witnesses: Aaron Bannon, environmental stewardship and sustainability director, National Outdoor Leadership School; Kitty Benzar, Western Slope No-Fee Coalition; David Brown, executive director, America Outdoors Association; Derrick Crandall, president, American Recreation Coalition; Brian Merrill, Western River Expeditions and Moab Adventure Center; Elizabeth Pemmerl, general manager, NIC Inc.; Todd Davidson, CEO, Travel Oregon; Jack Terrell, senior project manager, National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council; and Garett Reppenhagen, coordinator, Rocky Mountain West Vet Voice Foundation.
