AquaDawg post this on the Escapees RV Club Forum,"HR5204 has passes out of committee. It will allow the USFS and BLM to charge access fees to all visitors, as well as allowing a concessionaire to give you a senior discount for whatever amount they want.Please get the word out... http://westernslopenofee.org/index2.php?display=yes&pageid=34 http://www.westernslopenofee.org/pdfuploads/HR5204_WhatsInIt.pdf Page 5 Lines 8-13:Deletes the prohibitions currently imposed on the Forest Service and BLM fromcharging fees for parking, picnicking along roads or trailsides, general access, dispersed areas with lowor no investment, driving through, walking through, boating through, horseback riding through, orhiking through Federal recreational lands and waters without using facilities and services, camping atundeveloped sites that do not provide minimum facilities, and use of overlooks or scenic pullouts. HR5204 eliminates those prohibitions and replaces them with a single prohibition on fees “For any site,area, or activity, except as specifically authorized under this section.” Since “this section” authorizesfees for anything, that prohibition is meaningless.Page 28 Lines 11-15:Senior and Disabled passes would have to provide some discount oncampground fees, but the amount of the discount is not specified. Currently they receive a 50%discount. That would likely not be continued, since the concessionaires hate having to give it, andwould likely be replaced with a lesser discount and one that would vary from site to site, day to day,and season to season.regards-David"Here is a link to the topic, http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=112561&hl=rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

Gov-Track gives it a 7% chance of passing

I figured they would do this since there are so many baby boomers old enough to get the golden age passports. Figures now that I'm old enough to have it.

Chicken little is among us.Funny how everyone is in favor of less government handouts UNTIL it is something they want.Rich and poor, republican or democrat all are in it for what they can get.Let us cut waste but what I use is not waste.AIN'T it amazing.

Some of us seniors in a 20K motorhome, living on fixed income Social security that we worked and paid into for 40+ years will take any kind of discount we can get. Most of the time the discounts are the only way we can get away from all the yuppies. The ones in the 250K+ class As usually don't bother with the discount campgrounds we have to use and enjoy. Keep going with the kids and a tent, you are making some of the best memories you will ever have! Enjoy it while you can, when all the campgrounds and public areas are sold to the highest bidder, and/or run by private concessionairs, none of us will have anything we can afford. Only for the rich and famous.

I support our family on one Social Security check. On the other hand, we aren't jealous of anyone else getting some small discount. Consider that the gummint is always looking for yet another way to raise taxes (even if called a "fee").Better would be if they didn't find ways to buy something (with our money) we didn't want and didn't need. Instead, take care of the wounded veterans as was promised. Oh, and I'm not a wounded veteran, just an ordinary USN veteran.

50% Discount in Federal Parks could Disappear! | Good Sam Community

n7bsn
Explorer
Aug 27, 2014
Gov-Track gives it a 7% chance of passing
whistlebritches
Explorer
Aug 27, 2014
I figured they would do this since there are so many baby boomers old enough to get the golden age passports. Figures now that I'm old enough to have it.
darsben
Explorer II
Aug 27, 2014
Chicken little is among us.
Funny how everyone is in favor of less government handouts UNTIL it is something they want.
Rich and poor, republican or democrat all are in it for what they can get.
Let us cut waste but what I use is not waste.
AIN'T it amazing.
Johno02
Explorer
Aug 27, 2014
Some of us seniors in a 20K motorhome, living on fixed income Social security that we worked and paid into for 40+ years will take any kind of discount we can get. Most of the time the discounts are the only way we can get away from all the yuppies. The ones in the 250K+ class As usually don't bother with the discount campgrounds we have to use and enjoy. Keep going with the kids and a tent, you are making some of the best memories you will ever have! Enjoy it while you can, when all the campgrounds and public areas are sold to the highest bidder, and/or run by private concessionairs, none of us will have anything we can afford. Only for the rich and famous.
Gonzo42
Explorer
Aug 27, 2014
I support our family on one Social Security check. On the other hand, we aren't jealous of anyone else getting some small discount. Consider that the gummint is always looking for yet another way to raise taxes (even if called a "fee").

Better would be if they didn't find ways to buy something (with our money) we didn't want and didn't need. Instead, take care of the wounded veterans as was promised. Oh, and I'm not a wounded veteran, just an ordinary USN veteran.
dahkota
Explorer
Aug 27, 2014
Just an FYI.
At this time, there is no specified discount in FLREA. Currently, seniors do get a 50% discount. There is no change in the new updated FLREA Congress is attempting to pass. Congress or the Secretary of the Interior, at any time since FLREA passed, could have changed the discount %.

However, currently, concessionaires are NOT required to honor the discount. This new FLREA is requiring them to honor the discount.
"the Secretary shall
require concessionaires operating federally owned campgrounds
and day use facilities on Federal recreational lands and waters
to accept a recreational pass issued under this title or
section 4 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965
(16 U.S.C. 460l-6a) for discounted or free use, as applicable."

So, this is a good thing, not a bad thing.

You can't take everything Western Slope No Fee prints at face value. They have an agenda and will manipulate facts to get people to follow them.
darsben
Explorer II
Aug 27, 2014
Johno02 wrote:
Some of us seniors in a 20K motorhome, living on fixed income Social security that we worked and paid into for 40+ years will take any kind of discount we can get. Most of the time the discounts are the only way we can get away from all the yuppies. The ones in the 250K+ class As usually don't bother with the discount campgrounds we have to use and enjoy. Keep going with the kids and a tent, you are making some of the best memories you will ever have! Enjoy it while you can, when all the campgrounds and public areas are sold to the highest bidder, and/or run by private concessionairs, none of us will have anything we can afford. Only for the rich and famous.

I am retired too but in a $4000.00 MH a 1990 Southwind.
bid_time
Nomad II
Aug 27, 2014
darsben wrote:
Chicken little is among us.
Funny how everyone is in favor of less government handouts UNTIL it is something they want.
Rich and poor, republican or democrat all are in it for what they can get.
Let us cut waste but what I use is not waste.
AIN'T it amazing.
X2
Tvov
Explorer II
Aug 27, 2014
So... does Western Slope No Fee have some sort of interest in not having that passed? What is their agenda? (I've never heard of them before)

dahkota wrote:
Just an FYI.
At this time, there is no specified discount in FLREA. Currently, seniors do get a 50% discount. There is no change in the new updated FLREA Congress is attempting to pass. Congress or the Secretary of the Interior, at any time since FLREA passed, could have changed the discount %.

However, currently, concessionaires are NOT required to honor the discount. This new FLREA is requiring them to honor the discount.
"the Secretary shall
require concessionaires operating federally owned campgrounds
and day use facilities on Federal recreational lands and waters
to accept a recreational pass issued under this title or
section 4 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965
(16 U.S.C. 460l-6a) for discounted or free use, as applicable."

So, this is a good thing, not a bad thing.

You can't take everything Western Slope No Fee prints at face value. They have an agenda and will manipulate facts to get people to follow them.
4runnerguy
Explorer
Aug 27, 2014
rocmoc wrote:

Page 5 Lines 8-13:
Deletes the prohibitions currently imposed on the Forest Service and BLM from charging fees for parking, picnicking along roads or trailsides, general access, dispersed areas with low or no investment, driving through, walking through, boating through, horseback riding through, or hiking through Federal recreational lands and waters without using facilities and services, camping at undeveloped sites that do not provide minimum facilities, and use of overlooks or scenic pullouts. HR 5204 eliminates those prohibitions and replaces them with a single prohibition on fees “For any site, area, or activity, except as specifically authorized under this section.” Since “this section” authorizes fees for anything, that prohibition is meaningless.

I think this bothers me most. Imagine having to pay a fee just to drive through NFS or BLM lands! Pay a fee to hike. Pay a fee to boondock in the middle of nowhere.