WHERE IS THE HOUSE BILL?
Congress Needs to Walk the Talk on Recreation Fees
On June 18, finally, Congress started seriously looking into the runaway recreational fee charging policy of federal agencies, primarily the U.S. Forest Service (FS), but it's still just talk. We've had enough of that, so let's just spike this pay-for-play policy, which is at best an extreme stretch of the legal authority given agencies by Congress--"given," sort of, I should say, since our elected leaders never even debated it or voted on it.
Even though it's moving at glacier speed, we at least have the Baucus-Crapo Bill, S. 2438, introduced in the Senate to spike the Recreation Access Tax. This is clearly a bipartisan issue, ripe for election-year politics. Now, we need a sponsor for a similar bill in the House.
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Still waters and blue sky in the Northwest. Photographed by NewWest.Net/ColumbiaGorge featured artist Vlado Sklenar
WE WON'T CHANGE UNTIL WE HAVE TO
$5 Gas: The Pain Before the Gain
We're all feeling Pump Pain, and who among us doesn't think that $5 gas is around the corner? I'm writing as fast as I can, in fact, so I can get this column posted before I have to fill up my pickup truck again, if I can afford it.
And thinking that perhaps $5 gas is just what we need.
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WYOMING ELK FEEDLOTS THE REAL PROBLEM
Debunking Brucellosis Myths
Montana just lost its brucellosis-free status, just as Idaho and Wyoming have in recent years. Whenever this happens, stockgrowers and politicians rush to blame the bison and elk herds living in Yellowstone National Park and the government for not doing enough to eradicate the disease.
When they should be blaming themselves.
Ranchers, especially in Wyoming but not only in Wyoming, have done more than anybody, even the federal government, to keep the brucellosis threat alive. And you could even argue that they want to keep it alive.
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u.s. HOUSE WANTS YOUR OPINION ON RECREATION FEES
Congress Looks at Recreation Access Tax
The U.S. House of Representatives has decided to take a serious look at the much-criticized implementation, if not over-implementation, of the Federal Lands Recreational Enhancement Act (FLREA), This is the law that has saddled us the pandemic of new and ever-increasing recreation fees to enter and use our public lands, which is why it's called RAT, for Recreation Access Tax, by its distracters.
Those who pay the RAT to use their own land don't get many chances to voice their opinions, but now, our elected officials want to hear what you think.
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MAXIMIZING BENEFITS, NOT DOLLARS
Use Stillwater Forest to Mold New Model for State Lands
Last week, I wrote about the dilemma facing the Montana Land Board and other state land boards--what to do with extremely valuable state land near rapidly growing municipalities. A small section of the Stillwater State Forest on the outskirts of Whitefish, Montana, is an excellent choice for establishing a new policy where managing for outdoor recreation, watershed, wildlife habitat and open space trumps timbering and/or subdivision.
The rub is, such non-commercial uses might be illegal even if everybody agrees this option would benefit the most people for the longest time.
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2008 COMMENTS WORTH REPEATING IV
More Red Meat for the Overwolfed
There's one thing--and probably the only thing-- about the wolf on which everybody can agree. Every time the word is published or spoken, disagreement follows--and sometimes, that controversy gets amazingly passionate.
Over the past few months, I've written about wolves, the historic reintroduction, wolf management and the delisting controversy, and here are a few snippets of the hundreds of comments that followed.
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SHARE THE ROAD, NOT THE LANE, WITH CYCLISTS
How to Drive a Motor Vehicle
A couple of weeks ago, I was riding my bike up MacDonald Pass, on four-lane U.S Highway 12, on the shoulder. It was a mid-day, low-traffic time, and even though the left lane was available, a driver purposely hazed me by speeding by with his right wheel on the fog line going at least 80 mph. His mirror missed my helmet by about six inches. One minor correction to miss a rough spot on the road, and I wouldn't be writing this.
Besides wondering if this reckless driver realizes how close he came to killing somebody, the incident reminded me of one of the first commentaries I wrote for NewWest.Net when I started the Wild Bill column three years ago called I Can Feel the Scorn. I'm sorry to say that I can still feel it.
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LET'S GET OUR WORDS STRAIGHT
Wilderness is Multiple Use
Have you ever heard somebody say they prefer "multiple use" over Wilderness? I have what seems like a thousand times, and every time I hear it, I say to myself, wrong!
So, it seems like a good time to say it out loud because the words, "multiple use" have been lost in the Wilderness.
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CLASS ACTION SUITS TO BE FILED TUESDAY IN ARIZONA, COLORADO
Public Land Owners Taking RAT, Forest Service to Civil Court
Enough is enough, say the owners of our national forests. And they may have finally found a way to spike the Recreation Access Tax or RAT.
After years of working through cumbersome administrative channels and several rounds in criminal court, people interested in reasonable and free access to their public land have dragged the Forest Service (FS) into civil court. In addition to asking for injunctions against collecting "illegal" fees while the case is being litigated and if successful the fee program terminated, the plaintiffs in the class action complaints--to be filed tomorrow morning in Arizona and Colorado--want all fee collection signs removed and all fees collected through the years under the program returned to the people who shouldn't have had to pay them.
Suffice to say, it's panic time in the FS offices back in Washington, D.C.
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2008 COMMENTS WORTH REPEATING III
The Wilderness Drought and How the Green Group Feud Keeps it Alive
Over the past two years, I've been periodically posting selections of my favorite comments from readers of my columns and articles. I plan to continue doing this, but differently. Instead of listing comments chronologically, I've edited them into general subject areas. In this case, here are a few insightful comments that came in over the past few months on several articles on the wilderness drought and the green group feud that keeps it alive and if not endless. Enjoy.
Editor's Note: For a complete list of Comments Worth Repeating, click here.
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