[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



 
   CITIZEN AND AGENCY PERSPECTIVES ON THE FEDERAL LANDS RECREATION 
                            ENHANCEMENT ACT 

=======================================================================

                           OVERSIGHT HEARING

                               before the

                      SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS

                      AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION

                                 of the

                     COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                         Tuesday, June 18, 2013

                               __________

                           Serial No. 113-24

                               __________

       Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources
         Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov
                                   or
          Committee address: http://naturalresources.house.gov

                               ----------

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                     COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

                       DOC HASTINGS, WA, Chairman
            EDWARD J. MARKEY, MA, Ranking Democratic Member

Don Young, AK                        Peter A. DeFazio, OR
Louie Gohmert, TX                    Eni F. H. Faleomavaega, AS
Rob Bishop, UT                       Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ
Doug Lamborn, CO                     Grace F. Napolitano, CA
Robert J. Wittman, VA                Rush Holt, NJ
Paul C. Broun, GA                    Raul M. Grijalva, AZ
John Fleming, LA                     Madeleine Z. Bordallo, GU
Tom McClintock, CA                   Jim Costa, CA
Glenn Thompson, PA                   Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, 
Cynthia M. Lummis, WY                    CNMI
Dan Benishek, MI                     Niki Tsongas, MA
Jeff Duncan, SC                      Pedro R. Pierluisi, PR
Scott R. Tipton, CO                  Colleen W. Hanabusa, HI
Paul A. Gosar, AZ                    Tony Cardenas, CA
Raul R. Labrador, ID                 Steven A. Horsford, NV
Steve Southerland, II, FL            Jared Huffman, CA
Bill Flores, TX                      Raul Ruiz, CA
Jon Runyan, NJ                       Carol Shea-Porter, NH
Mark E. Amodei, NV                   Alan S. Lowenthal, CA
Markwayne Mullin, OK                 Joe Garcia, FL
Chris Stewart, UT                    Matt Cartwright, PA
Steve Daines, MT
Kevin Cramer, ND
Doug LaMalfa, CA
Jason T. Smith, MO

                       Todd Young, Chief of Staff
                Lisa Pittman, Chief Legislative Counsel
               Jeffrey Duncan, Democratic Staff Director
                David Watkins, Democratic Chief Counsel
                                 ------                                

       SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION

                        ROB BISHOP, UT, Chairman
            RAUL M. GRIJALVA, AZ, Ranking Democratic Member

Don Young, AK                        Peter A. DeFazio, OR
Louie Gohmert, TX                    Niki Tsongas, MA
Doug Lamborn, CO                     Rush Holt, NJ
Paul C. Broun, GA                    Madeleine Z. Bordallo, GU
Tom McClintock, CA                   Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, 
Cynthia M. Lummis, WY                    CNMI
Scott R. Tipton, CO                  Pedro R. Pierluisi, PR
Raul R. Labrador, ID                 Colleen W. Hanabusa, HI
Mark E. Amodei, NV                   Steven A. Horsford, NV
Chris Stewart, UT                    Carol Shea-Porter, NH
Steve Daines, MT                     Joe Garcia, FL
Kevin Cramer, ND                     Matt Cartwright, PA
Doug LaMalfa, CA                     Edward J. Markey, MA, ex officio
Doc Hastings, WA, ex officio




                               ----------                              

                                CONTENTS

                               ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Hearing held on Tuesday, June 18, 2013...........................     1

Statement of Members:
    Bishop, Hon. Rob, a Representative in Congress from the State 
      of Utah....................................................     1
        Prepared statement of....................................     2
    Grijalva, Hon. Raul M., a Representative in Congress from the 
      State of Arizona...........................................     2
        Prepared statement of....................................     3

Statement of Witnesses:
    Benzar, Kitty, President, Western Slope No-Fee Coalition.....    38
        Prepared statement of....................................    39
    Haze, Pamela K., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, 
      Finance, Performance and Acquisition, U.S. Department of 
      the Interior...............................................     4
        Prepared statement of....................................     6
    Ledford, Lewis, Director, North Carolina State Parks and Vice 
      President, National Association of State Park Directors....    16
        Prepared statement of....................................    18
    O'Toole, Randal, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute...............    28
        Prepared statement of....................................    30
    Stahl, Andy, Executive Director, Forest Service Employees for 
      Environmental Ethics.......................................    31
        Prepared statement of....................................    33
    Weldon, Leslie, Deputy Chief of the National Forest System, 
      Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.............    11
        Prepared statement of....................................    12

Additional materials submitted for the record:
    Brown, David L., Executive Director, America Outdoors 
      Association, Prepared statement of.........................    64
    Crandall, Derrick, President, American Recreation Coalition, 
      Prepared statement of......................................    66
    Forest Magazine, Summer 2008, Fee Demo: a Promising Program 
      Falls Short, by Ed Becker..................................    35
    Reese, Marily, Executive Director, National Forest Recreation 
      Association, Prepared statement of.........................    69
                                     



  OVERSIGHT HEARING ON CITIZEN AND AGENCY PERSPECTIVES ON THE FEDERAL 
                    LANDS RECREATION ENHANCEMENT ACT

                              ----------                              


                         Tuesday, June 18, 2013

                     U.S. House of Representatives

       Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation

                     Committee on Natural Resources

                            Washington, D.C.

                              ----------                              

    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 a.m., in 
room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Rob Bishop 
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
    Present: Representatives Bishop, McClintock, Tipton, 
Grijalva, DeFazio, Sablan, Shea-Porter, and Garcia.
    Mr. Bishop. Thank you. I didn't mean to interrupt the 
mortuary here. The hearing will come to order. The Chair notes 
the presence of a quorum. The Subcommittee on the Public Lands 
and Environmental Regulations is meeting today to hear the 
citizen and agency perspectives on Federal lands and recreation 
enhancements.
    Under the rules, the opening statements are limited to the 
Chairman and Ranking Member. However, I do ask unanimous 
consent to include any other Members' opening statement into 
the hearing record if submitted to the clerk by close of 
business today.
    [No response.]
    Mr. Bishop. Hearing no objections, so ordered.

STATEMENT OF THE HON. ROB BISHOP, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 
                     FROM THE STATE OF UTAH

    Mr. Bishop. Last time we covered this particular subject 
area was in 2008, and we have a program that is about to expire 
in 2014. So the Federal Land Recreation Enhancement Act, which 
is called FLREA, because we like to talk in acronyms around 
here, expires next year. This program allows agencies of the 
Interior Department and Forest Service--some are good, some are 
bad, and I will let you decide which of those--to collect fees 
for development of facilities that are providing special 
services.
    So, this agency can suspend the fees without further 
appropriations. Most of them stay on the collection site. And 
FLREA also authorizes the sale of nationwide permits.
    Today we are going to hear from witnesses who represent the 
Federal Government who administer FLREA. We are going to hear 
from a State Park Director who will illustrate what is done on 
the State government level. We also have with us critics of 
FLREA, who will talk us through what they see as reforms that 
should be enhanced with the program.
    As I said, the authorization of this expires in 2014, 
December of 2014. But since there are many activities that are 
multi-year permits, the sooner that we can renew this act and 
make changes to improve the act, the better it will be. There 
are several important issues that need to be addressed, like 
which agency should charge the fees, what types of fees should 
be allowed. What is the oversight mechanism of the fees? Is 
there correct pricing of the fees? How should the fee revenue 
be used? Do the incentives in the program of fees promote the 
best policies that we have, and are there adequate requirements 
for transparency and efficiency? These are just some of the 
questions this Committee will ask. And I think some of our 
witnesses will talk about whether we should have them at all.
    With that, though, there are a lot of things that we need 
to talk about to be considered before we reauthorize FLREA, 
which, in one way or another, has to be reauthorized. And I am 
looking forward to this hearing as the opening phase, and 
clearly having a better understanding of what this program 
does, what it is intended to do, and what it actually can be, 
or if it shouldn't be there at all.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Bishop follows:]
Prepared Statement of The Honorable Rob Bishop, Chairman, Subcommittee 
              on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation
    The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLUH-REE-AH, in 
government-speak) expires next year.
    This program authorizes the National Park Service, the Fish and 
Wildlife Service, BLM, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Forest 
Service to charge and collect fees at developed recreation facilities 
on Federal lands and waters when special services are provided. 
National Parks can charge an entrance fee, BLM and the Forest Service 
cannot.
    The agencies can spend the revenue from fees without further 
appropriation, with most of the money retained at the collection site. 
FLREA also authorizes the sale of nation-wide passes.
    Today we will hear from witnesses who represent the Federal 
agencies that administer FLREA and from a State park director regarding 
recreation fees from the perspective of State government.
    FLREA has its critics as well and we will hear from three 
thoughtful advocates for reform of the program.
    The authorization for FLREA expires in December of 2014, but 
because some of the activities allowed under the act are multi-year, it 
is best for us to act well before the expiration date. Before we extend 
the program, however, we need to see what we can learn from the 
successes and failures of the current program.
    Several important issues still need to be addressed.

    Which agencies should charge fees?
    What types of fees should be allowed?
    What is the correct pricing of fees?
    How should fee revenue be used?

    Do the incentives in the program promote the best policies, and are 
there adequate requirements for transparency and efficiency?
    These are just a few of the questions this Subcommittee will need 
to consider as part of any FLREA extension.
    Let us then begin the hearing. I look forward to hearing from 
today's witnesses.
                                 ______
                                 
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