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For Immediate Release:
October 26, 2005

Craig Holds Rec. Fee Oversight Hearing

Calls on agencies to focus program on specific sites

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Idaho Senator Larry Craig held an oversight hearing today on the recreation user fee program.

Last winter, a provision was slipped into the Fiscal Year 2005 Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations bill permanently authorizing the program, entitled the Federal Land Recreation Enhancement Act. It applies to National Forests, BLM Districts, U.S. Fish or Wildlife Refuges, and Bureau of Reclamation lands. Craig, long critical of an "entrance fee to our forests," opposed the provision.

During his opening statement at the hearing, Craig reminded the audience of his concerns, "I want all to know that I will not support a basic entrance fee, whether or not it is called an entrance fee or by any other name. When I see you charging for entrance into a 205,000 acre area, like the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway in Utah, I have to suspect that implementation may have gotten off on the wrong foot."

Craig does support fees to pay for the use of specific improvements, such as for parking or a campground. However, he is concerned that the agencies are stretching the definitions beyond these limits.

Craig also expressed concern with an agency interpretation that may allow charging entrance fees to wilderness areas or on some rivers and regarding the implementation of Recreation Resource Advisory Committees.

The hearing was held by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Forests and Public Lands, which Craig chairs. More information, including the written testimony from the witnesses, is available on the Committee's website.

ATTENTION RADIO NEWSROOMS: Senator Craig's opening statement is available for download here (4:30, 4.12 MB, MP3).

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