San Bernardino National Forest  

How will Benefits & Investments Change?

How will Benefits & Investments in Amenities Change with FLREA?

The strategies and priorities for investing fee revenues may be changing with the passage of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (REA) on 12/8/2004. The information and explanations below may help with understanding how revenues were invested during the Recreation Fee Demonstration (RFD), and how they will be invested under the new authority provided by REA. The explanations are lengthy, but illustrate how fee revenues are converted to public benefits.

Some visitors take for granted the many benefits provided by the Recreation Fee program here in the national forests of Coastal and southern California. Many of the general forest areas in these national forests are actually High Impact Recreation Areas, requiring on-going clean up and service. For details of accomplishments made with revenues from recreation fees, visit the Your Fees at Work section.

Examples of benefits provided by the Recreation Fee program:

• Our forests are cleaner!
• Basic support facilities added — better maintained.
• Reducing the Maintenance Backlog
• Forest hiking trails and OHV routes are maintained.
• Forest visitors are generally safer!
• Smaller, more remote recreation sites received regular maintenance and service.
• The Field Ranger program partially restored and redesigned!
• Taxpayer liabilities reduced!

Our forests are cleaner!
This is the investment benefit most often recognized by attentive forest visitors. The incidence of graffiti, litter, abandoned automobiles and vandalism has been reduced. Adventure Pass revenues have funded thousands of clean-up projects on these forests over the past 7 years. Sometimes it’s what you don’t see that improves the beauty of our forests! Prompt clean-up of these incidents deters additional abuse. Prior to the Recreation Fee program, graffiti, abandon autos and dumps often littered the landscape for years before being removed by volunteers during mass clean-up events.

What will change? During the Fee Demonstration the Forest Service was able to direct the Adventure Pass portion of revenues to the most critical work, wherever that work was located on the forest. That will change somewhat because under REA the majority of forest acreage no longer requires a fee. Now the revenues available from the Adventure Pass will be focused in the High Impact Recreation Areas and developed sites where the fee is still required. The public can expect to begin noticing some changes out in the forest in areas where fee revenues are no longer available to keep pace with the abuses (litter, graffiti, abandon vehicles, dumps, etc).

How much is a clean view of the forest worth?

Basic support facilities have been added and are better maintained.
Several hundred portable toilets have been added to these High Impact Recreation Areas (HIRA). Though there will never be a toilet in every location of potential need, these public health and convenience facilities are now sited in the most popular and highly used general forest areas. Think of it this way – these new restroom additions must be pumped and serviced regularly, most of them several times per week. Where was all that “stuff” going before the fee program provided these services? Behind rocks and trees, often within just few feet of our mountain streams! Also, the cleaning and servicing of existing permanent restroom facilities (the Forest Service manages nearly 1000 in southern California) has been increased at least 4-fold by funding from recreation fees. Prior to the Adventure Pass program those facilities were cleaned on average once every two-weeks. They were most often a disgusting unsanitary mess – Yuck! That situation has been improved.

What will change? Some of the support facilities added during the Fee Demonstration will no longer be within the boundaries of a HIRA or developed recreation site where fees are charged. For the most part, these are seasonal or temporary facility additions, many provided by Adventure Pass revenues. Some of those facilities will be removed simply because neither fee revenues nor appropriated funds will be available to support the maintenance and servicing.

Reducing the Maintenance Backlog - More than one-thousand (1000) permanent restroom repair projects* have been accomplished in developed recreation sites like campgrounds, picnic areas and trail heads. Fifty (50) buildings have received upgrades to accommodate persons with disabilities. More than four hundred (400) animal proof trash containers have replaced inadequate trash cans and open barrels. More than 1500 picnic tables have been replaced or repaired. Over 2000 camp and picnic sites have been refurbished. These are all examples of reducing maintenance backlog that Congress has set as an important goal for use of recreation fee revenues.

What will change? Generally, the public will not see much of a change in these circumstances because most of these facility amenities are located in HIRAs or developed sites where the fees are still required.

*Note: Each repair project is reported separately. Some restroom buildings have been repaired multiple times.

Forest hiking trails and OHV routes are better maintained.
About 2,700 miles of trail routes have been maintained from 1997 through 2006. Much of this additional work would not have been accomplished without the Adventure Pass program. Trail maintenance and repairs are additional examples of reducing the maintenance backlog and leveraging fee revenues by working with volunteers and partners.

What will change? The impacts here might be more dramatic. For trails where the trailhead requires a fee, revenues can still be expended for maintenance on portions of the connecting route(s). For other trails, not directly connected to trailheads (where fees are required), maintenance and upkeep may have to be reduced. The Forest Service receives annual appropriations for trail maintenance, but these have been insufficient for many years. The Forest Service augments trail work accomplished with appropriated funds through the use of volunteer groups like the SGWA (San Gorgonio Wilderness Association) and partnerships with organizations like the PCTA (Pacific Crest Trail Association). These groups are larger and have the capability to train qualified project leaders. Work parties are skilled at multi-day projects, even into back-country areas that require over night stays and logistic support. This is not the case for some trail routes on the southern California national forests. Volunteers are available, but not for complex projects located several miles from trailheads, requiring multi-day camping and logistics capability. Trail routes in these areas may begin to show deterioration.

Forest visitors are generally safer.
The sale of Adventure Passes at nearly 400 private and public sales outlets has brought nearly 1.5 million additional visitors into contact with the Forest Service and its programs each year. These contacts are increasing in both frequency and quality, helping to disseminate information vital to public safety and resource protection. The Adventure Pass program has literally created the communication mechanism that forges this vital link with the public.

As previously mentioned, troublemakers were changing the nature of recreation use in many areas of these forests. The simple application of the Adventure Pass fee to these forest areas helped reduce occupancy by the troublemakers. "When Bad guys have to pay — they go away!" Our forests are safer places.

What will change? Forest visitors who need to buy passes and permits will continue to come into contact with the agency, receiving important and up-to-date information. Crime in the forest will continue to be suppressed in areas where the fee is required. The changes will begin to occur in those areas and sites where the public no longer needs a pass or permit, simply because there will be fewer direct public contacts made by forest officers in those locations. Troublemakers often gravitate to locations where they can conduct illegal activities with less oversight. Some visitors may miss out on important information they might have obtained had they come to key vendors and information offices in search of passes and permits.

Smaller, more remote recreation sites received regular maintenance & service.
There are hundreds of trailheads, parking areas, rustic camps and waysides scattered throughout these forests. The minimal facilities at these locations help to support visitors using the general forest areas, which are largely undeveloped.
During the early-1990’s, the southern California national forests had begun to assess the need for these quaint facilities. Appropriated funding was not sufficient to maintain them in safe useable condition. Being smaller, many located off-the-beaten-track, these sites are less efficient to maintain. The Forest Service had little choice but to begin reducing the number of smaller sites simply because they are less efficient to operate. Before the Adventure Pass program began to provide funding these sites were being evaluated for possible decommission and elimination from the National Forest system.

Many visitors feel cramped in large developed sites. Some seek a more rustic experience in out of the way locations. The Adventure Pass program literally rescued this traditional form of recreation use from disappearing from our southern California national forests. Retaining smaller recreation facilities that support general forest recreation use helps disperse visitors rather than just concentrating them in larger sites. But there was a price to pay for keeping this traditional form of recreation. The price was the cost of a Daily Adventure Pass - $5 per vehicle.

What will change? Unfortunately, this is where the recreating public is most likely to be impacted by the changes in the fee program. REA specifies that 6 standard amenities must be present at a site or within HIRAs before a recreation fee can be charged. There is also the possibly of applying the requirement of a Special Recreation Pass to areas that show the need for more intense management backed-up with specialized services and facilities. This is not the case in many general forest areas, therefore these rustic sites scattered about the forest outside of HIRAs will have to be evaluated through the Forest Service "Facility Master Planning" program starting in 2006. Sites and facilities that are deemed inefficient to operate may become candidates for decommissioning.

The Field Ranger program has been partially restored and redesigned!
On average, more than forty (40) field rangers are employed each year through the recreation fee program in the national forests of southern California. Since the early 1990’s, the expectations and focus of their work has changed. Many field rangers now are the coordinators and supervisors of a much larger work force provided through external sources, partnerships and volunteer organizations. While these employees still retain and use their maintenance and repair skills, the recreation organization is gradually being re-engineered to focus on “results” rather than “tasks”. A single field ranger often multiplies the value of their position by 4-10 fold, as they plan, supply and coordinate the human and physical resources provided by external organizations through dozens of volunteer programs and outings each year. Achieving this requires a realignment of skills within the work force.

Field rangers are also cross-trained as Forest Protection Officers and in fire prevention specialties. They make thousands of high-quality public contacts each year, providing important support to both the law enforcement and fire prevention efforts. Recreation field rangers are trained to never ignore a law enforcement or fire prevention incident. They will as a minimum promptly report such incidents, or take immediate action within the scope of their training and qualifications. View some of the projects accomplished and services provided in the Your Fees at Work section.

What will change? Since fees are only required on about 15% of the acres that were formerly included, the Forest Service expects a reduction in overall revenues from recreation fees. Only time will tell what the exact fiscal impacts will be. Many of the HIRAs and developed sites will remain in the fee program under REA authority. Field Rangers will focus their time in support of public services at those sites and areas.

Taxpayer liabilities are reduced!
Better communication with, and information for the public results in fewer accidents, crimes and human tragedies occurring in these forests. Businesses and forest offices are communicating with many more visitors who come in search of Adventure Passes. Example, see the Winter Safety Tips section of this web site. All of these incidents, when they occur, represent public tax liabilities – which are reduced through the Adventure Pass program.

**The Adventure Pass program was created to be much more than a source of funding for recreation and resource programs. The Adventure Pass is in fact a broad management strategy designed to provide continued public access, use and appreciation of these High Impact Recreation Areas of southern California.

The Adventure Pass generates badly needed funding. It also reduces crime and harassment by troublemakers, improves resource protection, and focuses attention on recreation opportunities in High Impact Recreation Areas where the public, by preference, has selected to spend the majority of their time.

**Open-space recreation is dwindling in southern California – it is not a “given” that this resource will remain accessible for public use. Ignoring the need to more intensely support and manage these High Impact Recreation Areas will hasten the day when these opportunities cease to exist!

What will change? Time will tell how the changes will be manifest. It is generally accepted that reducing public contacts and the presence of forest officers results in less information for visitors, which could lead to more visitors getting themselves into difficult situations and increased use by "trouble-makers".