Forest proposal: Pay to play

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican

12/17/2007 -

Little Tesuque and Aspen Vista picnickers might have to start paying a fee under proposed changes at recreation areas around the Santa Fe National Forest.

Big Tesuque campers would have to start paying a $10 fee, while the fee at Black Canyon campground would be raised to $15.

But the trail heads at those locations would remain free.

The proposed changes are part of a five-year analysis of recreational facilities required of all national forests, which are facing a backlog of maintenance work and increased use of aging campgrounds. "All forests were asked a few years ago to reconcile aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance needs with revenue from appropriations and user fee, to see if we were serving the needs the public had in our areas," said Mike Frazier, a Santa Fe National Forest staff officer for recreation, lands and minerals.

The forest collected suggestions from surveys at 75 campgrounds, trail heads and picnic areas, according to officials. Then the Forest Service conducted its own internal review of the backlogged maintenance needs at the recreation sites and how much it would cost to fix them.

The analysis was posted on the Santa Fe National Forest Web site in mid-October, and the public had until mid-November to comment. Frazier said they received only 11 comments, most of them from horseback riders who wanted more attention for equestrian activities and a few concerned about off-road vehicle use. "We received no comments about fees," he said.

Alan Karp, an avid hiker who helps maintain the Atalaya Trail, said the biggest problems he sees around the forest is at campsites. "What I have seen as a volunteer is that campsites are abused with trash," Karp said. "You don't see that on the trails."

The trash "causes a lot of work, a lot of maintenance. It's a hazard to pick up beer cans and needles and dirty diapers," he said "There's a whole range of people who use the great outdoors and who abuse the great outdoors."

As long as the trail heads remain free, Karp doesn't have an opinion on fees at the campsites. But he wonders how the Forest Service will ensure people pay.

Frazier said the analysis is just the first step in the process. "What we found out is the changes are not really very dramatic compared to some forests where they are closing all their water systems and closing some of their campgrounds," Frazier said.

Some of the recommended changes, such as increased fees, might not be approved in the final plan. The Santa Fe National Forest will conduct more public comment meetings next year. Any proposed changes to the recreation sites must be approved by a citizen-based resource advisory council. The Santa Fe National Forest elected to use an existing U.S. Bureau of Land Management Resource Advisory Council.

Frazier said the backlog of maintenance needs is too big to take care of in one budget year. Santa Fe National Forest estimates right now the cost of deferred maintenance on its recreation sites is $2.7 million, according to the analysis. If the changes in the analysis are put in place, the Forest Service estimates it could whittle the maintenance needs down to $1.9 million.

"Things wear out," Frazier said. "Some of these campgrounds were built in the 1960s. Tables are old. Fire rings are old. Toilet buildings are old."

Nationally, the U.S. Forest Service has set a goal to reduce its maintenance backlog by 80 percent in 2020. "That means we have to chip away at it with appropriated money and (user) fees every year," Frazier said.

Under the proposed changes, the Santa Fe National Forest would begin charging fees at 12 more recreation sites. It proposes increasing fees at 10 sites. Fees collected remain in the Forest Service district and are used for the recreation sites.

Frazier said they want to be more consistent with fees at various sites. "Some areas that are developed have fees and some don't. We want to be fair," he said. "Areas where we have to pump toilets and pick up garbage should generate money (to help pay for it)."

He said the Big Eddy rafting take-out site on the Chama River generates a lot of garbage staff has to pick up. "And we've never charged a fee," he said.

He said some people have suggested the Forest Service should have security at some of the popular trail heads where vehicles are broken into. "We could afford to do that, maybe pay a security company to have more presence, if we had a fee," Frazier said.

ON THE WEB
To see the Recreation Facility Analysis: www.fs.fed.us/r3/sfe/recreation/rfa.html

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.