ENGLISH FOR SENATE POSITION PAPER ON:
Hunting, Fishing, and Camping
As a person who spends most of each Summer camping and hiking on
Federal lands and occasionally fishing in Federal waters in the Rocky
Mountain states, I have become very familiar with the recreational
management policies affecting the public users of Federal lands
(National Parks, National Forests, Bureau of Land Management Lands,
etc.). Well over half of the total land area in the Mountain Time
Zone is owned by the Federal government. User fees for park
admission and camping in all Federal campgrounds have escalated much
more rapidly during the past thirty years than increases in the minimum
wage, which severely punishes low income families desiring to take
inexpensive vacations on Federal lands. Admissions fees are now
almost twice the Federal minimum wage: forty years ago they were about
the same. Some overnight Federal campground fees are almost four
times the minimum wage now: they were much lower than the minimum wage
40 years ago. In addition, daily trail user fees are now being imposed
for many hiking trails that originate at park or recreational area
boundaries.
Non-resident U. S. citizens who wish to hunt or fish on Federal lands
in these states also are subjected to extortionate short term hunting
and fishing fees imposed by state Game and Fish Departments. A
one day non-resident fishing permit in Wyoming cost $15 per person
daily in 2005. Non-resident license fees for hunting on Federal
lands are even more outrageous, often well exceeding $100 plus the
substantial added cost of any special big game permit. In
situations where a lottery is held to draw a limited number of permits
for hunting certain big game species, non-residents are flagrantly
discriminated against and often excluded from the lottery even though
the habitat of the big game species involved is solely limited to
Federal lands. These same states receive hundreds of millions of
dollars from timber sales held annually on Federal lands, yet they
continue to discriminate against U. S. citizens living in other states
that desire to hunt or fish on these same lands. Public support
of natural resource conservation and preservation for our
Federal lands ultimately depends upon widespread public benefit from
access and use of these lands and waters. As more citizens are
excluded from their enjoyment by ever-increasing user fees, public
support for these programs will gradually diminsh as more citizens
realize that they cannot also share the benefits from the recreational
use of these areas.
I propose that the Congress pass legislation implementing the sale of
Federal hunting and fishing licenses at nominal fees to all U. S.
citizens. These licenses would be used only on or within
Federally-owned lands and waters. If the states affected wish to
participate in this Federal initiative, 90% of the fees collected from
Federal license sales in would be remitted to the participating states'
according to a formula based upon the amount of Federal land in each
state and the level of state expenditures for wildlife conservation
programs. They would be designated only for funding wildlife
conservation efforts with the provision that non-residents be
permitted to hunt or fish anywhere in that state on the same basis as
that state's residents, without discrimination or special
exception. In addition, for all citizens who file income
tax returns with incomes below the poverty level, the IRS would
be instructed
to mail a special Federal recreational user certificate valid
until September 30th of the following calendar year. These
individually named Federal recreational certificates would provide to
their poverty level income recipients free admission to all Federal
historical parks and
recreational facilities with a $1.00 maximum charge per night for
campground occupancy. For families with incomes between the
poverty level and twice that amount, 50 % discounts for admissions and
other fees would be provided using the same mechanism. Why not
give the poor some fee (aka
disguised tax) relief? The wealthy continue to get more tax cuts
every year whether needed or not!
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Designed by Imad-ad-Dean,
Inc.