Another US Forest Service Rip Off ?

[SkaredShtles]

"leaving [the USFS] with a $380,000 negative balance on the year."



US Navy ships should drag back loot to offset the cost of each deployment. Otherwise they're operating at a loss.

This.

Framing this issue as a "business" issue is fkng dumb. But... that seems to be where we are these days.

[justiner]

The tiny Aspen airport logs 13,000 yearly flights and these chuckleheads wanna target people on e-bikes.

125 billionares have homes in Aspen and these wizards of accounting wanna target people on e-bikes.

It's truly embarrassing that one of the most concentrated areas of wealth in the State has trouble paying for the upkeep up its trails and campsites.

And the proposal is to target potentially the poorest of visitors -- which the article points out would only cover a small percentage of the deficit.

We'll see how this plays out! Will they:

* Charge e-bikes
* Sell off the land to foreign investors/logging companies
* Cut more funding to National Forests/Wilderness Areas, further entrenching the recreational side of these lands into chaos and dysfunction
* Put up gates at the entrance of Aspen and close off access to anyone who hasn't bought TrumpCoin

* Increase funding for recreation on public lands, BLM, USFS, Wilderness, and National Parks

[cedica]

Selling VALUABLE US property -

My first preference is -

Sell the UN Headquarters Property in NYC

What a bunch of anti-American loosers.

TORCH IT first, then sell it.
.

UN_Fight_for_Freedom.jpeg

[Bill G]

300,000 annual visitors generating only $220,000 in revenue? Backpackers and most climbers are already paying way more than $2. If there is a revenue problem, getting an extra dollar from the bus crowd seems obvious.

[dwoodward13]

So reading the article again I’m pretty sure the deficit they are talking about is in regards to only road/parking management not overall usage of the wilderness area.

They quote a revenue or 222k and then later give a breakdown for parking as 143k and 79k for bus fees, totaling 222k. Obviously backpacking permits are not zero in revenue so this seems to be a narrow budget view only in regards to managing the road.

If so, a really dumb way to frame the article as that is never once clarified.

[Monte Meals]

So they need money for road maintenance AND they want to pay for it
by increasing fees for E-Bikes ????

What MORONS !

[BillMiddlebrook]

Maybe, just maybe, their operating expenses are too high in the first place and they should at least consider whether or not they can cut costs.

I’m not a Trump-goofus looking to just blindly cut federal staff, but I do hope the USFS will at least look internally as well.

[Ptglhs]

Perhaps we can raise some Revenue by taxing all the people who have more money than God and like to spend two to four weeks a year skiing in aspen in a home that's worth more of us will make in our entire lives.

Or perhaps nationally we could charge companies for the natural resources they're extracting from public lands. Mining companies, oil companies, and Timber companies get Pennies on the dollar for the resources they're extracting. Raise the severance fees and use that to fund more of the National Forest Service / blm.

[nyker]

Surely with a state GDP of over $550 billion and budget of ~$44 billion, the state could find $380k (~0.00086% of the budget) somewhere for one of the most popular tourism draws and probably the most photographed place in CO, does seem a little silly to tax a bike $5.

[seannunn]

Maybe, just maybe, their operating expenses are too high in the first place and they should at least consider whether or not they can cut costs.

I’m not a Trump-goofus looking to just blindly cut federal staff, but I do hope the USFS will at least look internally as well.

+1 Bill. $700K seems like a AWFUL lot of money to maintain 7 (?) miles of road.
If they are going to continue "pay to play" when it comes to parking at the Maroon Lake trailhead, then it might make sense to make sure that everyone parking there is paying.
We had reservations last year for 4 different days. 3 of those days we got there early (3am) to climb. We didn't have (because we were told that we didn't need) any way of identifying our vehicle as having a reservation in the lot; no window tag, etc. So I am not sure that 100% of the people parking there are paying for the privilege of that. Kind of like our current tax code: 70000 pages but ultimately based on the honor system for the 98% of those who aren't audited in any given year. There must be a better way. How about a simple window tag that you print out when you make your reservation? This wouldn't solve the entire shortfall, but it's a start.

Sean Nunn
Peculiar, MO

[Monte Meals]

^" $700K seems like a AWFUL lot of money to maintain 7 (?) miles of road. "

How about another solution to keep the cost (and visitation down):

REMOVE THE ROAD !

If someone want to dip their toes in the lake -
Let them hike, ski, or bike in.

(Plus - fire the FS Rangers who toil away their day sitting on their butts in the gate house.)

[SkaredShtles]

^" $700K seems like a AWFUL lot of money to maintain 7 (?) miles of road. "

How about another solution to keep the cost (and visitation down):

REMOVE THE ROAD !

If someone want to dip their toes in the lake -
Let them hike, ski, or bike in.

So simple... it's AMAZING to think nobody has thought of this before.