Listen Live to Robertson’s Testimony to Congress on Fee Demo

Listen Live!

In Our Analysis…

You should be able to listen to Wednesday’s hearings broadcast live on the internet starting at 2 pm Eastern time by going to: http://resourcescommittee.house.gov.

Across the top of the page are several links in black type. 

The furthest left link is for “Live Audio.” 

When you click on this, you are taken to a page with two links for the hearing rooms.

Wednesday’s hearing will be in the Walter B. Jones, Sr. Hearing Room (the second link). 

This link will not work until the hearing begins, so do not worry if there’s no sound coming through until 2 pm EST.

IMPORTANT! – You must have Windows Media Player installed on your computer in order to listen to the hearings.  Scroll down for a link to download this application if you do not have it.  This application will work on both PC and Macintosh computers. If you do not have Windows Media Player and want to listen to the hearings, be sure to download it the night before or early that morning, to have ample time for the download.  The time it takes to download varies from 20 minutes to an hour depending on which system you have.

Summary of Comments:

·        In the two years since Robertson last testified on Fee Demo in 2001, there have been some small changes and improvements; however public dissatisfaction with the program has grown, and the Agencies continue to push for permanent fee collection authority without resolving most of the specific problems we raised or those problems described by the GAO in 2003. 

·        It is relatively easy to find local governments who support the fee programs because they benefit from the fee collection; however, it is hard to find any recreationists who are willing to advocate for continued fee authority for the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management. This is interesting because it is in stark contrast to the public’s response to fee collection by the Park Service. In fact even the staunchest opponents to Forest Service Fees support Senate Bill 1107, which permanently extends fee authority for the National Parks.

·        At issue is the fundamental preservation of the principle of free access to federal recreation lands.

·       Is Congress willing to make trespassers out of taxpayers?

Recommendations:

• It is time for Congress to decide whether to terminate this program once-and-for-all or make it permanent.
• If Congress extends Fee Demo, the Agencies need to be held accountable and ensure that the faults ascribed to the Forest Service in the recent 2003 GAO report “RECREATION FEES: Information on Forest Service Management of Revenue from the Fee Demonstration Program” are addressed and resolved in a timely, efficient, consistent, and accurate manner.
• The narrow goal of defraying maintenance costs remains worthy of support. All other purposes to which the legislative mission of the program has been stretched should be terminated. If the Agencies only charge fees to help with basic recreation maintenance on trails and recreational use, and only utilize the fees on programs that directly, locally, and obviously benefit the group being charged, it will do much to restore the credibility of the agencies and may even generate long-term support for fees. If this is not a readily achievable goal or is too narrow, then the Agencies should stop pushing for fee collection authority and this Committee should refuse to extend the program.