DeFazio says he'll fight fee extension.

Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

Rep. Peter DeFazio said he will give it a try, but he doesn't expect the U.S. House of Representatives to overturn the extension of recreation fees charged Americans to access federal lands.

With little notice, Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, attached the contents of a bill, House Resolution 3283, to the massive federal spending bill approved by Congress last month. Regula's move extends the life of the recreation fees on federal lands 10 more years.

Regula's bill was approved with no debate by the House. Without the so-called bill "rider," the fees would have expired next summer.

In Oregon, many of the fees are assessed through the Northwest Forest Pass, a $30 annual or $5 daily pass that is required at national forest trailheads, picnic areas, boat launches, rustic campsites and visitor centers throughout the state.

DeFazio has been an opponent of the fees since Regula authored the original legislation eight years ago. Under House rules, DeFazio can ask for a "point of order" on the House floor to eliminate Regula's bill rider.

DeFazio said he has made the request of House Speaker Dennis Hastert. There will be a request Monday to strike other provisions attached to the spending bill that House members find objectionable, DeFazio said. Those include language that allows certain members of Congress to look at individual tax returns.

But DeFazio said he doesn't expect Hastert, a Republican like Regula, to give him the opportunity to eliminate the fees extension through a point of order motion. Nor does he figure Hastert will allow House members to vote on the matter.

"We have been asking for a fair fight, an up and down vote on this provision for eight years now," DeFazio said.

The Springfield representative said it's reasonable for Americans to pay fees when they use federal recreation sites with amenities.

"I have no problem with charging a fee for a developed campsite," he said. But DeFazio said he doesn't think fees are justified when "we are just talking about driving up an old logging road, parking your car and going off into the woods."

Federal land managers say charging $5 for use of marked trails and restrooms - or $10 for a campsite - ensures that those who use the land help pay to maintain it. The fees generate about $170 million per year for the Forest Service and Department of the Interior, which use the money to maintain restrooms, collect trash and provide other amenities.

But critics call the fees a hidden tax that discourages the public from using public lands.

The fee ``amounts to nothing more that a stealth double tax for hikers, hunters, picnickers or anyone wishing to spend a day at the beach or in the forest with their family,'' DeFazio said.

A Bend-based activist said he isn't ready to give up the fight. Scott Silver, director of the group Wild Wilderness, said if DeFazio and other House members can't kill the fees, then he and other activists hope that members of the U.S. Senate overturn the law next year.

Four committee chairmen who deal with public lands have problems with Regula's fees extension, Silver said, including Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

"One of the things we can all be doing is encouraging those four senators to revisit the issue in the upcoming legislative session and to put things right," he said.

Silver discouraged people from buying an "America the Beautiful Pass," a national annual pass proposed in the bill that is estimated by some to cost $85 to $100. He also said a boycott of federal lands that charge the fees sends a message.

"If the agencies measure success in dollars received, then one way to demonstrate failure will come when the public chooses not to spend their dollars at those recreation sites," he said.

A spokesman for Regula could not be reached for comment.

But Assistant Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett called the new law ``a very important accomplishment by the Congress.''

The National Park Service and other agencies have long had the ability to charge fees, Scarlett said, but now can keep much of the money on site, to use for maintenance and improvements where it is collected.

``Our No. 1 reason (for the fees) is to provide enhanced services and facilities to the public,'' she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.