Public land recreation fees are a complicated issue... for more info on why these fees are so insidious and dangerous see this page: http://www.wildsonora.com/FeeDemoOverview.html
Read the Bill here (PDF)
Senator Baucus is currently circulating a letter to his Senate colleagues seeking co-sponsors for S2438. YOU need to contact each of YOUR Senators and ask them to agree to be a co-sponsor. You can do this by email, phone, or fax. At the Senate website, www.senate.gov you can pull down a list of Senators. Find yours (you have two of them) and you can then click to open their individual websites. There you will find contact information. If you live near one of the Senator's local offices, a hand-delivered letter would be very effective. If you prefer to phone, we suggest you use the Washington DC phone number. Another option is to use the email form provided at each website. And you can still write a good old-fashioned letter, although we suggest you fax it rather than mailing it due to security delays on mailed items. A fax number is listed at each website.
Keep your communication short and to the point: Just ask politely that he or she agree to co-sponsor S2438, the Fee Repeal and Expanded Access Act.
The text of S2438 can be read at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.02438: The repeal of Forest Service and BLM access fees is contained in Section 3(b)(1) which re-instates the language from the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act that governed such fees for over 30 years. That language reads in part:
(b) RECREATION USE FEES.—Each Federal agency developing, administering, providing or furnishing at Federal expense, specialized outdoor recreation sites, facilities, equipment, or services shall, in accordance with this subsection and subsection (d) of this section, provide for the collection of daily recreation use fees at the place of use or any reasonably convenient location: Provided, That in no event shall there be a charge by any such agency for the use, either singly or in any combination, of drinking water, wayside exhibits, roads, overlook sites, visitors' centers, scenic drives, or toilet facilities, nor shall there be any such charge solely for the use of picnic tables: Provided, That in no event shall there be a charge for the use of any campground not having a majority of the following: tent or trailer spaces, picnic tables, drinking water, access road, refuse containers, toilet facilities, personal collection of the fee by an employee or agent of the Federal agency operating the facility, reasonable visitor protection, and simple devices for containing a campfire (where campfires are permitted).
