A federal lawsuit brought by four hikers could bring an end to a 16-year-old controversial fee program that rakes in millions of dollars for new picnic tables and routine maintenance within the four heavily used forests rimming Southern California.
At the order of U.S. District Court Judge Terry J. Hatter, lawyers for the plaintiffs and the Department of Justice are locked in settlement talks that could determine the outcome of the U.S. Forest Service's Adventure Pass, a fee that has elicited objections as "double taxation" from opponents but has been defended by forest managers as essential in this time of budgetary cutbacks....
http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_23142443/four-hikers-challenge-forest-adventure-pass