Rangers make trail park passes easier to purchase

Forest officials are trying to make the two-year-old trail park fee program more "user friendly."

Deschutes National Forest has unveiled a new fee and permit structure for local forest users in the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. Public feedback in the first two years of the program prompted the changes.

"If we're going to have user fees in the National Forest system, they have to be simple to use and understand," said Sisters' District Ranger Bill Anthony.

The 1999 trail park pass will be required at all 66 trailheads in the Deschutes National Forest and will allow entrance to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, according to Anthony.

Fees will remain at $25 for the season and $3 for a day pass.

New for this year will be an entrance fee of $3 per vehicle at the Lava Lands Visitor Center, and $3 entry fee for Lava River Caves. Paying visitors to Lava Lands who do not have a trail park pass will receive a complimentary day pass to visit other trailheads on the Deschutes National Forest.

"The Forest Service will take over management of the Lava River Caves and provide additional interpretive programs which haven't been offered in the past," added Anthony.

Availability of passes will also improve.

"One of the things we heard loud and clear from the public last year is it was very (difficult) to buy passes," Anthony said. "The Sisters and Crescent Ranger Districts will now be open on Saturdays, May through September."

Anthony reported that local vendors will continue to sell the trail park passes and that the Forest Service will "work closely with them to make sure they are stocked with passes and trail information."

"We are also installing 'iron rangers' (permanent metal drop boxes) on major arterial roads accessing groups of trailheads in the forest," he said. "This allows people to buy a pass closer to the site where they recreate."

An iron ranger will also be installed outside the Sisters Ranger District office for times when the office is closed.

"This will allow us to spend more time providing service and less time chasing non-compliance," said Anthony.

Funds for the iron rangers will come from the portion of trail park revenues the Forest Service is allowed to spend to administer the program.

The remainder of the fees collected, or 80 percent, provide local services and trail maintenance.

The initial fee demo program was slated for three years, through 1999, but Congress recently authorized the extension of the program through 2003, according to Anthony.

Other fee demonstration passes from Pacific Northwest national forests will also be accepted in the Deschutes National Forest.

According to Anthony, 1997 Deschutes National Forest receipts from trail park passes and the Newberry National Volcanic Monument were approximately $106,000, which supplemented appropriated recreation dollars by about 5 per cent.

In 1998, revenues exceeded $167,000, amounting to a 9 per cent subsidy. Gross receipts for 1999 are currently budgeted at approximately $250,000, Anthony said.