09/19/98 Meeting - 07/31/98 Meeting - 11/07/98 Meeting - Rec Fee Info
Do you think the Forest Service should charge a river use fee for private boating on the Kern? How should the money collected under the current Fee Demo program be used to benefit boaters? Should there be additional access points on the Lower Kern? Does the Forks permit system need to be updated? Is the current river permit system effective?
These are some of the questions that are being considered by the Forest Service in a series of meeting with Kern River paddlers. If you can't attend a meeting, FAX your opinion to Mr. Dick Reynolds, USFS Kernville, at 760-376-3795 and also FAX a copy to the AWA at 406-837-3156. Please be civil.
The next meeting with the Forest Service is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., Saturday, May 15 in Kernville at the Chamber of Commerce building.
If you would like to write your congressional Representative and express your opinion concerning these and other issues, Write Your Representative can be used to obtain the mailing address, phone number and web site link for your Congressperson. You can get contact information for California Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein from their web sites.
Meetings with the Forest Service this Fall and Winter have been educational and productive. Boaters have learned that local Forest Service officials will listen to suggestions and, where possible, make changes to improve boating on the Kern. Forest Service officials have (hopefully) learned that boaters are "part of the solution" rather than "part of the problem." Following are some of the items that were announced or discussed:
It may have been dark and stormy outside, but inside the meeting room the mood was calm and upbeat; particularly when the Forest Service announced that they did not plan to implement Phase III of their proposed FY 1999 business plan, the extension of the Fee Demo program to include private boaters. Relieved paddlers responded immediately with cheers and applause. With the issue of user fees tabled for the time being, discussions turned to other concerns, including the issuance of river permits and additional access points along the Lower Kern.
Many private boaters feel that the current river permit system is of questionable value and is a non-productive use of Forest Service money. One of the gripes about river permits is that it is difficult for year-round boaters to renew their permits when they expire at the end of the calendar year because Forest Service offices are closed on weekends during the Winter. The Forest Service said they would consider other options suggested by boaters, including changing the expiration date to coincide with the resumption of weekend operation of the Kernville/Lake Isabella Forest Service offices.
The Forest Service also distributed a map of proposed additional (multiple use) access points along the Lower Kern. Suggested new river access points included Delonegha bridge, White Maiden's Walkaway, and Borel Road. The Forest Service explained that the Delonega bridge access has top priority, but that it may not be completed until the year 2000. Located just before the first big class IV rapid, the proposed White Maiden's access point would be useful as an emergency takeout for boaters in over their heads. In response to a question from a boater, the Forest Service responded that no new access points are currently planned for the Kern downstream of Democrat Dam.
One paddler asked why the access point at Sandy Flat is closed when the campground at Sandy Flat is closed. The Forest Service said they would consider installing a gate at the campground entrance, rather than closing the access and the campground.
Once again paddlers voiced their complaints about the fees charged by the concessionaire at the Hobo put-in and Democrat take-out. Private boaters feel it is unfair to charge a $5.00 fee at both the put-in and the take-out, and also feel an annual pass should be made available at a reasonable fee. The Forest Service said that an annual pass was part of the operating plan agreed to by the concessionaire and that this issue would be resolved by the next meeting.
More than 120 agitated Kern River boaters and other concerned individuals attended the latest in a series of meetings with the Forest Service to discuss charging private boaters a use fee. The Forest Service is authorized to collect such a fee under the "Recreation Fee Demonstration Program" and has already enacted a Fee Demo project to collect fees from commercial outfitters licensed to operate on the Kern River.
Plagued with recreation fees at every turn, one paddler commented "You can't see the forest for the fees!" This refrain pretty much summed up the feelings of many of the people in the crowded room. "I already pay taxes!" another paddler exclaimed after the meeting. "It makes me mad to see all that money deducted from my paycheck, and then when I want to hike or paddle on public land, to have to pay more."
It is estimated that private boaters represent less than 3% of the total river corridor users. Unfortunately, boaters are an "easy target" because a river permit system is already in place, and all the Forest Service has to do to implement the recreation fee is to charge for the required river permit.
One of the primary questions the Forest Service has been asking is, "What improvements are needed by private boaters using the river." Most of the improvements that have been proposed by the Forest Service would benefit campers, fishermen, hikers, sightseers, mountain bikers, cyclists, climbers, and others that visit the Kern River, much more than private boaters. One paddler suggested that if a fee is assessed, a rodeo play hole and a permanent slalom course should be constructed. The Kern was the training site for the U.S. Canoe and Kayak Team in the early seventies, and more recently has served as a Winter training site for U.S. and Canadian team members. In April of each year the Kern hosts the Kern River Festival, which attracts rodeo and slalom contestants from all over the U.S. and around the world.
Kern River boaters are not the only group upset about the Fee Demo program. Rep. Lois Capps says "...I have received more angry calls, letters, and e-mails on this topic than almost any other matter of Federal policy." On August 8, 1998, Rep. Mary Bono introduced H.R bill.4447, the Forest Tax Relief Act, commenting "These fees are an unjustified tax and discourage people from visiting our scenic public lands." The bill would terminate the participation of the Forest Service in the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program.
Kern river ranger, Matt Norris, was introduced to the group. Many paddlers have already met Matt on the river and have found him to be personable and knowledgeable. (It's refreshing to see a Redline in a Forest Service truck!) Several paddlers voiced their opinion that enforcement activities should focus on individuals that litter, shoot guns, defecate on beaches, spray paint rocks, and swim or tube the river, NOT private boaters. This concern is amplified by the Forest Service's statement that they would eventually like to have river rangers on the Lower, Upper and Forks sections of the river. Presumably Fee Demo funds would be used to pay the salary of the additional river rangers.
Speaking of fees. At the July 31, 1998 meeting the question was asked, "If Fee Demo is implemented will we still have to pay the $5.00 fee for parking at Hobo put-in for the Lower, as well as the (additional) $5.00 fee at the Democrat take-out. " Apparently the answer to this question, at least in the short term, would be YES. The concessionaire operating these sites has a five year lease.
Two hours was not enough time, and a room for thirty people was not enough space to adequately cover the concerns of all the paddlers that attended the discussion meeting Friday with the Forest Service regarding the possible implementation of users fees for private boaters on the Kern.
Paddlers were surprised to learn that the proposed fee is a planned extension of a Recreation Fee Project that has already been implemented. The current phase of the project collects fees from commercial outfitters with permits to operate on the Kern. It is proposed that fee collection be extended to private boaters in 1999.
The consensus of the paddlers attending the meeting was that private boaters represent a very small percentage of the total resource users, and that it would be grossly unfair to charge private boaters for "improvements" that would benefit campers, fishermen, hikers, sightseers, mountain bikers, cyclists, climbers, and many others, and be of questionable value to private boaters. Most felt the Forest Service would be exploiting the existing river permit system to unfairly target private boaters.
An informal show of hands at the end of the meeting demonstrated thatif a use fee of some kind must be assessed, most boaters would be willing to pay a reasonable fee if:
Almost no one would be willing to a pay a fee if it applied to only private boaters.
The next meeting with the Forest Service is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., Saturday, September 19 in Kernville at the Chamber of Commerce building. That's right, by popular demand, the meetings been moved back to Kernville!
