Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:33:46 -0700
Reply-To: monte merrick <montemerrick@SPEAKEASY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: monte merrick <montemerrick@SPEAKEASY.NET>
Subject: Re: Camping..slight rant without V-C
In-Reply-To: <785095.27845.qm@web82709.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
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theoretically you can still camp anywhere in the national forest in
oregon for free, and i jsut camped in a relatively easy to access CG
(corral springs, just north of chemult) at the north end of the Klamath
Basin, that had no fee, picnicntables, vault toilets and fire rings and
trian tracks (amtrak and freight) a mile off and well within earshot so
not exactly back country. of course this is a CG that serves mostly as
a an exceptionally nice rest area for the traveler - not as a
destination such as close-by crater lake.
i dont mind paying to support what i love. sucha s the friendly rangers
of humboldt county parks, and the beautiful camaraderie of andrew
moleraSP at big sur, these are around ten bucks a night - which aint
cheap - its almost the same as monthly rent and basically its a trash
and bathroom fee - a lot more than you might spend at home for these
services and the bathroom at home lets face it probably smells and
looks a lot better.
of course with the great pressure to log and develop i'm sure the more
conservative politicians think that wilderness must pay its own way if
its not goinng to meet the axe, and i agree 100 per cent with mr kao
that the government today is a war machine that gobbles anything and
everything to convert to its bloody agenda - so..... i'm down with the
rant
happy trails anyway and remember - the mayan calender says we've only
got to endure this another five years (hahahahahaha)
take care
monte
If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore
it to
him though I drown myself. - henry thoreau
On 21 Jul 2007, , at 08:29, David Kao wrote:
> Before Arnald, Gray Davis was the California Governor. Davis had all
> California
> park fees reduced by a half. Some parks that had no service became
> free. When
> Arnold took over the throne he restored all fees back and set up fee
> collection
> for parks with no service. I guess it's not just WA and OR states.
> It's probably
> all over every state.
>
> It's clear that people who visit these parks are asked to pay for the
> war in Iraq.
> Parents who pay for their children's college are also asked to pay for
> the war in
> Iraq. The problem is after all that increased fees the price at the
> pump is still
> increased.
>
> David
>
>
> --- Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET> wrote:
>
>> Here in the Northwest, in the past few years, an alarming government
>> practice has begun. The states have started double charging for
>> public land
>> camping by requiring what they call a "Forest Pass" and in Oregon,
>> they've
>> begun snarfing-up unimproved sites and calling them State Parks Permit
>> areas..Washington has what they call a Recreation pass, or some
>> such..(I
>> ignore that)
>> I do really enjoy and certainly don't begrudge a user fee for our
>> Forest
>> Service campgrounds. I really appreciate how lucky we are in the US
>> to have
>> facilities like those. But paying a fee to park in a Clear-Cut to go
>> pick
>> some huckleberries or take a mountain bike ride through the
>> 'slash"..not!
>> So you go into the national forest and find a proliferation of
>> sites that
>> are now designated 'Forest Use permit required' where they've done
>> nothing
>> but block off and sign-off all the surrounding forest and road access
>> so you
>> are forced into the "fee-parking area" .If you don't have a $40 annual
>> sticker on your VW, you get a ticket..That's about what you get for
>> your
>> forty bucks....nothing if you pay, a citation if you don't..
>> ...The way I've got it figured, the national forest we are already
>> charged
>> for, in our federal taxes. So these newer state fees are redundant.
>> I see
>> no improvements being done, other than new Law Enforcement(parking
>> attendants?) trucks and uniformed "rangers" to collect the fees.
>> Signs to
>> tell you "You Must Pay" and in some cases, miles of "No Parking"
>> signs to
>> make sure you can only park in the Fee Area...
>> Kinda pisses me off when our government does stuff like that, and
>> nobody
>> really says much.."Geeze, it IS the government, they must have the
>> right"
>> And the Forest Law that I have asked about it, they say stuff
>> like.."Hey,
>> we use the fee to improve your forest experience..." Right...I just
>> love
>> being in the back country and being confronted by a law man in a flat
>> hat
>> driving a truck I bought, telling me I can't park there without a
>> permit..
>> Big "Improvement"
>> Rant over..
>> Don Hanson
>>
>
>
>
>
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