RESPECT FOR THOSE WHO SERVED OR TOKENISM?

Agencies Offer Free Access to Public Lands on Veterans Day, But Oppose Discounts for Vets

By Bill Schneider, 11-10-06

Personally, I think every day should be Veterans Day, but like so many things it seems, the federal government disagrees with me. They say those who have served our country can only have one day.

Unknown to many of us, including many vets, the federal land managing agencies have given a free pass into national parks and forests on Veterans Day, November 11, but the National Park Service opposes efforts to offer year-long discounted fees to veterans.

This story circles back to what might be, for some of my readers at least, starting to sound like the “F” word, FLREA, or Federal Lands Recreation “Enhancement” Act. (I added the quote marks because it seems lawmakers took great liberties in misnaming the Act. It discourages, not enhances, recreation by overcharging for what was formerly free or had a nominal fee.)

The NPS, like all federal agencies except Defense, is starved for money and has what the agency calls “a large backlog of deferred maintenance,” which means all sorts of stuff going undone because of budget shortfalls. Then along came the “F” law. The NPS was already charging entrance fees in most parks, but the new law, which the Bush Administration slipped through without hearings or a vote of Congress as an earmark on a spending bill, gave the NPS the right to keep most fee income in the park where it was assessed instead of it going back to the national treasury, where it disappears or goes to buy more Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

FLREA gives discounts to senior citizens and blind or disabled Americans, but veterans pay the full price. Then came a chance for the NPS brass to pay their respects for vets and offer discounted fees when Congressman Thomas Reynolds (R-NY) introduced H.R. 5452 into the U.S. House of Representatives to give vets discounts on fees, all year in all national parks, national forests and other public lands managed by the federal government.

On September 7, 2006, at a hearing on H.R. 5452, NPS spokesman John Wessels, who has sort of a scary title of Acting Assistant Director, Business Services, testified against Reynolds’s efforts to honor those who have served our country. He said recreation and “amenity fees” (I hadn’t heard that one yet, but it scares me) are “a critical source of supplemental funding” and the bill “could reduce the funds available significantly.”

Wessels pointed out that official memorials like the Vietnam War Memorial on the National Mall are free, and in response to Reynolds’s efforts, the Department of the Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture had decided to throw vets a bone by waiving fees one day per year -- except camping fees, cabin rentals, interpretive tour fees and “other permits.” And, of course, no relief from the omnipresent fees charged by concessionaires under contract with these same agencies.

In the end, that’s what happened. H.R. 5452 didn’t pass, and the agencies decided administratively to give U.S. veterans, members of the U.S. armed forces and their families one free day per year in the national parks and forests, Veterans Day, always on November 11.

There have been a few news articles about the free day for vets, but not many. I found a few and grabbed a couple of quotes from them.

My favorite is: "Encouraging our veterans to visit their public lands not only honors those who have served their country," said USDA Forest Service Fee Coordinator Jocelyn Biro, "it helps connect them with the national treasures that are so much a part of America."

My second favorite is: "We hope spending the time in this country's great outdoors will be an enjoyable, priceless experience that will add even more meaning to the sacrifices these men and women made and are making," said Larry Luckett, Recreation Staff Officer on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest.

Anything is always better than nothing, I suppose, but to me this whole affair shows us how dangerous and pervasive the fee-charging mentality has already taken root in the federal bureaucracy. When will it stop growing?

Footnote: If interested, here are two related articles recently posted earlier on NewWest.net: An Open Letter to the New, Blue Congress and Repeal the RAT Before It’s Too Late. You can also find more detailed criticism of our token approach to honoring vets on www.wildwilderness.org.

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