POLICY SUMMARY:
recreational facilities, fees and regulations
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Marble Canyon, British Columbia
FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS
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Campgrounds on public lands should be managed by administering agencies and not be privatized by having commercial interests manage them. [Res. 3, 1998] Professional public employees should continue to serve the public in maintaining campgrounds. [Res. 18, 2005]
Small, dispersed campgrounds should continue to be maintained on public lands, rather camping being concentrated in a few large campgrounds. These smaller campgrounds put users in closer touch with nature and have a more natural, less urban feeling. [Res. 18, 2005]
Fees should not be levied on hikers to gain permission to enter or use wilderness areas because such fees are regressive and would undermine the goals of getting the public back to nature so as to improve its physical and mental health. [Res. 6, 1990] The Fee Demonstration Program that applies to four federal land management agencies (operating now on a trial basis) should not be extended but allowed to lapse, with suitable recreation supported instead by regular appropriations. [Res. 13, 2000; [Res. 17, 2004] Congress should not make the fee demonstration program permanent. Taxpayers should not be assessed a fee to use trails on their own public lands, particularly when the fees for commercial uses on public lands are so low (e.g., with regard to mineral extraction and grazing fees). [Res. 31, 2001]
However, modest fees on recreational equipment (e.g., binoculars, camping equipment, etc.) are acceptable if used for the purpose of funding the conservation, outdoor recreational, and environmental education needs of every state, as well as protecting habitat for non-game wildlife (aka the "Teaming for Wildlife" initiative). [Res. 15, 1995]
It is inappropriate for land management agencies (e.g., Forest Service, National Park Service) to require that outdoor clubs obtain commercial, special-use permits to hike, climb, camp and run rivers on the lands they administer. Such permits could call into question their status with the IRS as non-profits; mislead participants into thinking that a level of service would be provided comparable to that provided to pay-for-hire clients; and create additional legal liabilities. Instead, the agencies should welcome a relationship along the lines of a cooperative partnership. [Res. 19, 1995]
Efforts should be made to promote understanding that wilderness areas provide opportunities for inexpensive and enjoyable family trips, which are a low impact kind of group travel. [Res. 11, 1998]
Massive commercial development, including downhill skiing, should not occur in the Cooper Spur Ski area on the east side of Mt. Hood in Oregon. The wilderness area would be adversely affected, as well as the Tilly Jane Trail and the Cloud Cap Inn. Wildlife habitat would be impaired and backcountry skiing opportunity too. No further development should occur in the Cooper Spur area and the Crystal Springs watershed. The land exchange affected in the area should be reversed -- if possible. [Res. 14, 2002] Even though there was a subsequent promise to keep the development within the 160-acre Dillard property, the size and type of the development remains the same. The developers are also still pursuing the land exchange--so that they may expand the development in the future. The proposal is still objectionable. [Res. 22, 2003]
A 777 acre privately-owned tract at Incline Lake, just east of Lake Tahoe, should be acquired by the federal government and combined with other areas in the Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest to provide an outstanding area for non-motorized winter use, as well as hiking and camping in the summer. [Res. 4, 2006]
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