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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Dec 18, 2014 - 04:22pm PT
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HOUSE BILL THAT WOULD HAVE ALLOWED FEES FOR ALL PUBLIC LANDS ACCESS HAS BEEN STOPPED
IMMEDIATE RISK HAS BEEN AVERTED
Recreation Fee Policy Changes Must Start Over
Sometimes the best you can do in politics is to dance with the devil you know.
That's the takeaway from the US House's (for now) failed attempt to pass legislation that could have conferred nearly unlimited authority on federal land management agencies to require that visitors pay a fee to be anywhere, or do anything, on our National Forests, BLM, and other federal public lands.
Instead, the funding bill that passed just as this session of Congress came to an end extends the current law - the devil we know - through September 30, 2016.
That law is The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, or FLREA. It is a deeply flawed statute. But it does contain some important provisions, which have been upheld in several federal court cases, that protect citizens from over-reach by fee-hungry agency bureaucrats.
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs194/1103044050286/archive/1119492497082.html
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Dec 18, 2014 - 04:31pm PT
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So has anyone tried to leave a copy of FLREA on the dashboard of their car parked along Angeles Crest Highway, instead of an Adventure Pass?
Or at least this part of it:
"The Secretary shall not charge any standard amenity recreation fee or expanded amenity recreation fee for Federal recreational lands and waters administered by the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, or the Bureau of Reclamation under this Act for any of the following:
(A) Solely for parking, undesignated parking, or picnicking along roads or trailsides.
(B) For general access unless specifically authorized under this section.
(C) For dispersed areas with low or no investment unless specifically authorized under this section.
(D) For persons who are driving through, walking through, boating through, horseback riding through, or hiking through Federal recreational lands and waters without using the facilities and services.
(E) For camping at undeveloped sites that do not provide a minimum number of facilities and services as described in subsection (g)(2)(A).
(F) For use of overlooks or scenic pullouts."
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Dec 18, 2014 - 05:04pm PT
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So we can tell 'em to shove it at Red Rocks too?
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Dec 18, 2014 - 05:11pm PT
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Nope...it ain't over till it's over. FLREA, as flawed as it might be, stays in place until March 2016, when Congress will have to decide what to do with it again. This latest action only bought some time, by removing a desperately flawed policy from the recent omnibus spending bill. RR policies are likely to be status quo (whatever they currently are).
No doubt that some other Congressperson(s) will try this again, &/or land managers will change their approach.
Never, ever, ever, ever, ever give up (your vigilance).
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