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National Forests Are Quietly Repricing the Campground
A wave of fee proposals is moving through Western and Eastern forests at once, and two of the California comment periods close September 29.
The Eldorado and Tahoe national forests both put fee changes out for public comment on July 31, covering campgrounds, cabins, day-use sites and, on the Eldorado, wilderness overnight permits and Christmas tree permits. Comments on both close at the end of business on September 29.
They are not alone. Six Rivers opened a comment period in May that ran to September 15. Green Mountain and Finger Lakes in Vermont and New York, and Helena-Lewis and Clark in Montana, ran their own this year. Several reached the Federal Register earlier this month.
The forests make a consistent argument: rising costs, deferred maintenance, and a 2004 law that lets the Forest Service keep at least 80 percent of what it collects and spend it at the site where it was collected. Each proposal also makes a point of noting how much of the forest stays free — roughly 40 percent of sites on the Eldorado, nearly half on the Tahoe, two thirds on Six Rivers.
Worth separating from the fee itself: the $8 charged when you book through the federal reservation site is a transaction fee for the booking platform, not a Forest Service recreation fee. It rides on top of whatever the campground costs, and it is per reservation.
Nationally recognised fee-free days are being preserved at day-use sites under all of these proposals. Comments go to the named recreation officer at each forest, by post, email or the online tool, and the proposals then go to a regional advisory committee before anything is final.
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