recreation fees

Land managers commonly use recreation fees to pay for public land infrastructure and services. However, recreation fees are often unfair, arbitrary, and inconsistently applied. Recreation fees may unfairly target recreational users who desire no administrative support and whose use has negligible impacts on public lands. Fees charged to backcountry users may not benefit the backcountry, but instead pay for front-country facilities such as visitor centers, campgrounds, and picnic areas.

The Access Fund believes that:

• Recreation fees on public lands are appropriate in some situations, such as where services are provided or agency budgets are substantially burdened by recreational users. 
• We oppose charging recreation fees for access to backcountry sites where administrative support is neither required nor desired by recreational users, and where recreation impacts do not significantly impact agency budgets or degrade the environment.