The Corporate Takeover of Nature

[Guest KTMrad]

> This column was published in the "Glendale News-Press" today , > Thursday May 20, 2004.>>> The Corporate Takeover of Nature>>> In the mid 90's the U. S. Forest Service discovered that they had a > problem. Not enough funding from Congress to pay for both their > bloated bureaucracy AND maintain the forest's facilities. Rather than > reduce administrative expenses they chose enter into an alliance with > corporate America and change our forests into a commercial "pay to > play" enterprise.>> The American Recreation Coalition was formed, a group consisting of > Disney, KOA, REI, and the Coleman Corporation among others. ARC and > its members -- real estate and resort developers, motorized equipment > manufacturers, public lands concessionaires, theme park operators, > hotel and motel associations and other commercial interests all jumped > on the bandwagon. The Demonstration Recreation Fee Program, a Federal > program applying to the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and > our National Parks was born. On the Angeles National Forest it's > called the "Adventure Pass".>> Fee-Demo's stated purpose was to raise funds for trail and campground > maintenance. Up to 80% of the fees collected were to be spent within > the area where they were collected. It was not an entrance fee but a > user fee for simply walking, hiking, biking, or in the case of our > Angeles National Forest, for parking anywhere in the forest. Parking > at an overlook, parking at a trailhead, parking in a turnout, it > doesn't matter.>> But the hidden motive is the corporate takeover of nature. The > government - and its corporate cronies - want to turn recreation into > a "product" so they can put a price tag on it. They want to turn our > National Forests into an enormous country club, where only those who > are able to pay the fees will be allowed entrance. The public's right > to access to the forest will be perverted into a privilege for those > with money. The poor will be locked out of the great outdoors.>> The Forest Service administrators, despite describing the program as a > "demonstration" to test public support, have done their best to coerce > public participation. They do so by citing and hauling into court > those who dare park without purchasing an Adventure Pass. They count > everyone who is forced to buy a pass as willing participants and > counted them as supporters of the program.>> What did they do with the fees collected? The private vendors selling > the Adventure Pass take 20% right off the top. Of the balance 53% is > spent on overhead, implementation and enforcement of the Fee-Demo > program itself.> What little is left disappears into the Forest Service's bureaucratic > maw as steam disappears into the atmosphere without any real > improvements in forest facilities.>>>> Meanwhile, public opposition to the fee program is growing. In > Colorado the U.S. Forest Service spent $1.6 million building an > outhouse near the Maroon Bells campground, then whined it didn't have > money for toilet paper and cleaning supplies. Now it charges citizens > a fee just to look at the famous peaks surrounding the area. The > paradox is just one example of why the federal> recreation fee demonstration program is a bust.>> The State Legislatures of California, Colorado, Oregon, and New > Hampshire have passed No-Fee Resolutions. Newspapers throughout the > West have editorialized against it. The Sierra Club and other > environmental organizations have come out against it. Even our Los > Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution against it.>> The Fee Demo Program, paying to hike in the woods on public lands or > park alongside the highway was a bad idea when it began. It is still a > bad idea, one that needs to be scrapped. Last week, the Senate's > 23-member Energy and Resources Committee passed Senate Bill1107 > unanimously. This bill ends the Fee Demo for all except the National > Park Service. It must still go to the full Senate for vote and then to > the House.>> In the meanwhile the American Recreation Coalition and their > government buddies, led by U. S. Rep. Ralph Regula (an Ohio Republican > without a single national forest in his district) wants to make > recreation fees permanent. If Regula and his corporate pals push > through their agenda, the Woody Guthrie song will have to be > re-written in the past tense: "This land was your land, this land was > my land … ."