It has been extended for one year periods and it has been extended again as a rider on the 2001 Interior Appropriations Bill. The program imposed fees to certain recreation users of lands managed by the National Park Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Forest Service. The fee demo unjustly targets a small minority of the population for these double taxes. This is not an entrance fee but a user fee for simply walking, paddling, or biking on public lands. Without exception the group targeted to pay the fees is the group that it is easiest to collect from.
River put-ons, trailheads, and bike trails are particularly subject.
Those that simply drive through, or stop and gawk, are generally not charged. But the fees are being used to build areas that these tourists will use the most. The Fee Demo is the first step in the attempt to commercialize our national lands. It is being pushed most by the American Recreation Coalition , a group consisting of Disney, KOA, Exxon, and Yamaha among others. The logical conclusion to these fees is concessionaires in all of our National Lands.