[TN-Bird] birders asked to satisfy greed for revenue ?
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "TN-birds" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 23:11:34 -0500
TN-Birders:
In my opinion, one of the major threats ahead for birders is the tremendous
greed that local, state and federal agencies have for revenue. How long will
it be before Tennessee public lands have outrageous charges to go birding on
state wildlife areas, national forest or national parks or even TVA owned land
and such?
Would it be unreasonable to be asked by the Tennessee Department of
Conservation to pay $200 a year to go birding in a state park or the Tennessee
Wildlife Resources Agency to want $190 to go on one of their properties? What
if each of those also want a $65 per year each for you to park on those
properties ? What if they also want $9 per day to just walk on state land to
view birds, + the parking fee.
What if we have to pay a $30 per day fee to see the Sandhill Cranes and
Whooping Cranes near Chattanooga ? What if there is an annual fee of $300 per
person to see the cranes and a $50 parking fee to bring your car on the area?
Read on about what is going on in California...........
Mary Weston/Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2005 -
Complaints about fee increases on Lake Oroville have prompted a local
recreation committee to explore the issue.
Members of the Oroville Recreation Advisory Committee (ORAC) agreed to ask
California State Department of Parks and Recreation to look into the fee
structure and consider ways to resolve complaints that it's too expensive to
fish on the lake.
"People are coming into my sports shop and saying, No way in #$@^ am I going to
pay $200 a year to fish on Lake Oroville,"' said Don Reighley, a representative
member of ORAC.
Reighley said Butte County is probably one of the lessor economic areas in the
state with many people retired and living on limited incomes. He questioned
that high fees were consistent with mitigating the impacts of the dam on the
community that's part of relicensing negotiations.
Other members of ORAC said they've been getting a lot of complaints about the
fee increases that went into effect last June. The committee members expressed
concern that fees could affect lake usage and impact the economy in Oroville.
"It is contrary to what we're doing in relicensing, and we need to work on it,"
said Bob Sharkey, the city's representative on ORAC.
An annual boat launch pass now costs $125 a year, and an annual parking pass
costs $75. Daily use went from $4 to $9 not including parking fees.
ORAC Chair Kevin Zeitler said years ago, state parks was going to raise fees at
the lake and people protested on top of the dam. ORAC was formed in part
because of local protests to fee increases.
If fee increases effect lake usage, that could affect the area economically,
Zeitler said. Especially since the city has spent money attracting bass
tournaments, and some of the anglers talk about boycotting Lake Oroville.
However, Zeitler suggested the best way to handle the issue was to talk to
state parks first, get more information and give the agency the opportunity to
handle the issue internally. Maybe communication with state parks could resolve
the issue and avoid turning it into a hot issue with people making inflammatory
statements, he said.
State parks books between 40 to 48 bass tournaments on Lake Oroville every
year, according to Bob Grisak, a retired park supervisor who works as a
volunteer to coordinate special events on the lake.
That equates to one tournament every week-end of the fishing season, and bass
tournament sponsors have to stand in line to make a reservation.
Tournament sponsers have to get a permit from the California Department of Fish
and Game, Grisak said, and that agency allows only one tournament at a time on
the lake. Now, sponsors have to book events eight to nine months in advance.
Although tournament participants have to pay launching and parking fees, the
tournament fees are set by the sponsor. ORAC will be looking into the fee issue
and reporting back at a future meeting.
---------------END OF Article
Let's go birding......
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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