Instructors: Chuck Raddon, National Forest Service
Marge Fuller, National Park Service
Jim Buck, Army Corps of Engineers
Laverne Gusson, Bureau of Land Management

Marge Fuller has been 19 years in the NPS, and is now in the administration in Seattle, in the fees division. And yes, they are going up. Sometime in the next several years, we may expect increases: Entrance Fees may climb from per vehicle to a fee per each person in your vehicle. Use Fees will also increase to cover specific activities. Camping, boating, cave tours, park and trail fees are also being considered.

The funds collected, for the large part, will stay in the area. The Park Service hopes to be able to maintain existing resources, lengthen seasons, reopen closed campgrounds, and make some improvements, including ranger patrols and programs.

The Passport program is also slated for increases. The cost for a Golden Eagle, now $25, will probably be raised. There is a "rumor" afoot that Golden Age may be discontinued. Watch papers and magazines, and contact our Congressman!

Jim Buck offered some history of the Army Corps of Engineers . Long involved in water resources, and building dams, the Corps became involved in recreation in the 1970s. It is the leading agency in water based recreation, and the second largest federal agency, after the Forest Service, in providing recreational facilities. 30% of the vacationers use Corps managed areas. These areas, on only 2% of the land, are intensely used. 80% of Corps lakes are located within one hour of urban areas.

Half of the campgrounds are operated by non-Corps personnel. States and private individuals manage Corps land, and this trend should increase. In some areas, the only way to recognize that you are in a Corps campground will be the small Corps castle found on the entrance sign. At an average cost of $8.50 per night, depending on development, the Corps must compare its operations yearly with state parks and private campgrounds and be in line with their rates.

Budget considerations are important. Unfortunately, they expect to operate with less money than in previous years. This means that the care and maintenance of a dam will have a higher priority than care and maintenance of a campground. User fees will be increased and expanded. In the past the Corps was required to provide a free campground for every fee campground. But no longer. They expect to lease more grounds to other agencies, and re-assess the level of services needed by the public.

The Bureau of Land Management operates mostly undeveloped campgrounds -- termed "dispersed recreation" by Laverne Gusson. The BLM land totals 270 million acres all located in the 11 Western states and Alaska. There are approximately 1,000 developed campgrounds, most located on back country byways. There are generally no fees, and this should remain the same. No services are provided. BLM fees, when collected, are used to support BLM activities in the local area.

Their concession policy is such that the concessionaire pays BLM for the privilege of operating BLM campgrounds and boat launches. BLM will expand its use of concessionaires to develop campgrounds on BLM lands.

Quartzsite AZ will see some changes. The BLM currently has long term visitor areas there. Currently there are some limited sanitation and water facilities. Last year the camping fee for the 3 month season was $50. Now the fees will go up to $100, (still for the whole season), and the surrounding camping areas will carry a 14 day limit. There will be no camping allowed in the rest of the area. It appears that the 350,000 campers who "inhabited" Quartzsite last year did some significant desert damage.

Fees will go up. There is a possibility that there will be additional fees to enter visitor centers. The BLM is even considering charging entrance fees to public lands, though this would be extremely difficult to enforce.

The Recreation Specialist for the Clearwater Forest, Chuck Raddon, gave us a bit of Forest Service history. In 1905, the largest chunks of forest area were first set aside and the Forest Service was "born". 1910 was a "year of fire". At this time the Service was specially funded or ire fighting and many small fire trails were built. Logging in the 1950s expanded these trails to roads.The largest wilderness areas outside Alaska are here (Northern Idaho and Montana).

If you visit the Forest Lands, how do you find anything? Is it just a huge, unmapped, unroaded wilderness? Visit Visitor Centers, get NFS publications, and the forest maps which are sold there. For $3 -$4, these maps really show you whats where. They are color coded by use; city, farm, wilderness, or railroad land grants. They show campgrounds. And a ranger at any center can tell you what size RV these will accommodate and what the access roads to the campgrounds are like.

Why come to public lands? For the history, for white water rafting, kayaking, wildlife and back country hiking (1600 miles in the Clearwater NF, and 2500 miles in the adjoining Nez Perce NF). Come to see the beautiful, unspoiled country.