Public lands were given away on the cheap in the name of profit and progress. Roosevelt, an adventurer and a naturalist, had a drastically different philosophy. Today, some defenders of the forest believe the robber barons are back and this time Roosevelt is not around to swing a big stick and protect the public trust. Congress, they contend, has slashed forest budgets to make room for corporate partners on public lands. The ties between top Forest Service officials and chiefs of industry recently led to an entrance fee program in some national forests.
Silver is at the center of a fledgling movement to protect American forests.
He believes that if Americans don't wake up, the recreation industry will soon call all the shots in Washington, and the sanctuary of the wild lands will be spoiled. Instead, it has been perceived as an amenity, something extra we are privileged to enjoy. Fortunately, that's beginning to change. THE LAND OF THE FEE Nowhere is the change more apparent than in Los Padres National Forest, Santa Barbara County's backyard preserve, where visitors must now pay a fee to park at a trailhead, by a river, or along a road. It is part of a pilot program at selected forests around the country, proposed by the recreation industry and approved by Congress in 1996.