Green Mountain fee hike up for review

The U.S. Forest Service will try once again this week to win approval for a plan to raise camping fees at Green Mountain Reservoir, the popular recreation area at the north end of Summit County near Kremmling.

A citizen advisory group, set up to review recreation fee proposals, rejected the Green Mountain plan several months ago.

Since then, the Forest Service has revised its proposal to show a record of public involvement.

The advisory group will take another look at Green Mountain plan Tuesday afternoon.

Nationwide, public land recreation fees are controversial. Critics claim the charges are an illegal user tax. Forest Service rangers say the fees make sense since most of the money stays at the site where it's collected and is used to maintain facilities and pay for day-to-day management.

The U.S. House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands held a June 18 hearing on recreation fees, with several witnesses presenting evidence of widespread opposition.

Some lawmakers questioned whether the recreation fees are within the scope of the law, while other said they were concerned by the spread of the fee program.

Bob Berwyn can be reached at (970) 331-5996, or at bberwyn@summitdaily.com.

WEB EXTRA:

Forest Service recreation fee meeting: June 24, 9 a.m. American Mountaineering Center, Golden.

A plan to raise camping fees at Green Mountain Reservoir is on the agenda for the afternoon. For information on the meeting and details on the Green Mountain plan go to: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/recreation/rrac/meetings/index.shtml and click on “meeting info.”

Video of the hearing and the written statements of all the witnesses are posted at http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/index.php?option=com_jcalpro&;Itemid=54&extmode=view&extid=190.

Information on submitting comments for the hearing record until July 2 is at http://westernslopenofee.org/index2.php?display=yes&;pageid=22.