Quote
Nmvhiker
I wonder if an onsite resident Ranger could be supported by daily use fees?
It will never happen for a number of reasons. The circumstances regarding access to Deep Creek are very unique to say the least. Most people access through the Bowen Ranch gate, where Mike Castro charges a daily fee. His revenue stream would definitely be impacted if additional daily use fees were imposed by the FS. More importantly, as I mentioned before, The FS is really strapped for funds and they simply don't have manpower for constant enforcement even if they imposed daily use fees. Recent legal decisions have actually gone against the Forest Service collecting fees for parking and other services, so it is extremely unlikely that ANY FS fees for Deep Creek will ever be implemented for Deep Creek.The FS Adventure Pass is essentially now dead in the water. Also remember that a lot of the land around Deep Creek is administered by the BLM, and they are equally as cash strapped as the FS ( And we haven't even mentioned the paid informer conspiracy theorists.... ;-)
What's the solution? Obviously more enforcement by rangers, but that ain't gonna happen. I have spent a lot of years trying to diplomatically educate illegal campers about the rules, but because I was faced with so much hostility and even threatened with a gun, I decided to cease doing so.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2014 10:16PM by Paul P..
