Secret Forest Service plans will end 100's of campgrounds, privatize

[montana500]

In very sad news, the USFS has secret plans to close 100's
of your national forest campgrounds, to remove "outdated hand pump
water systems" in place of more advanced systems for RV'ers. Of the
campgrounds they keep, they plan to enlarge and create spaces for RV's
pulling ATV trailers, as well as create "modern" water systems and
electrical hookups + higher fees. Your favorite small no fee campground
tucked away in the national forest may become a thing of the past as
these areas will be closed so the USFS can focus on "Wal Mart"
campgrounds. These campgrounds will also likely be privatized. This is
one of the first steps in recent moves by the Bush adminsitration to
privatize our public lands system. A recent order to force the national
park service to operate at 30% cuts is another recent step. Please
contact the USFS and let them know what you think of this fiasco:

http://www.fs.fed.us/contactus/


Also please contact your congress people on this issue:


http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home


More on this story can be read here:


http://www.wilderness-sportsman.com/ ( April 22 Wyoming )

Or direct links to the stories:

http://casperstartribune.com/articles/2006/04/22/news/wyoming/7ac8ae2b39aff646872571570062ef4d.txt

http://casperstartribune.com/articles/2006/04/22/news/wyoming/38e1bd3aadd90c448725715700701440.txt



"Campgrounds face closure
By BRODIE FARQUHAR
Star-Tribune correspondent Saturday, April 22, 2006


LANDER -- Tucked away in a corner of the U.S. Forest Service Web site
are plans and documents which could lead to the closure of hundreds of
campground water systems and ultimately, hundreds of campgrounds
themselves throughout the national forest system.


The time-hallowed practice of fetching water from a hand pump -- for
preparing meals, washing dishes or washing dirty kids -- may become a
thing of the past. Like a small-town post office, where people meet and
talk, the campground hand pump is where campers meet and talk, forming
friendships that can last a weekend or a lifetime."

[Botany]

1. I love those little "tent camping" spots

W/ the fire Ring ..... picnic bench ...... and creaky hand pump for water.

Just last summer I was directed to Birch Grove Campground in Chequamegon -
Nicolet Nation Forest in northern Wisconsin by a great women in Washburn, WS.

My son & I woke up to loons.

[montana500]

2. Fantastic photo

Very nice. I am very familiar with many of the campgrounds in the Chequamegon-Nicolet NF. Check out Chipmunk Rapids campground next time you get a chance, Nice river area and lake.

http://www.exploringthenorth.com/nicoletmi/chipmunk/chip.html

[Botany]

7. Thanx!

It sounds great ...... $10.00 a night what a deal. To car camp or pack into a primative site is part of my DNA
I love to mess w/ the fire or watch a bear or catch a pike with a meips #3 from a canoe. (I remember in
South Western Ontario in the Quetico wilderness about 3 days paddle in; a black bear watched
us fishing and followed our canoe for about 30 minutes as we "worked" around a bay. He must have
thought we were funny ..... saw 1 other canoe that day.)

"The area is popular for trout fishing, with a variety of other fish species in nearby lakes. A carry-in canoe access is nearby and is a popular starting and ending point for canoe trips. A one-mile trail connects this campground with Lost Lake Campground. The south trailhead of the Lauterman Lake National Recreation Trail is located north of the river.

This particular campground is rarely visited. If you want solitude, but also want to be able to drive up to your campsite - this is the place for you. These campsites are designed primarily for tents, but popups and small trailers will fit. At the picnic area there is an artesian well which flows all year. Chipmunk Rapids Campground is open from May 2 to Oct 21. Fee is $10 per night."

Because I plan to go back to that area of Wisconsin ..... I loved sea kayaking ....... and the pine / oak / prairie scrublands
that were sharp tailed grouse habitat was really neat. I want to go back but I need to take my canoe this time.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. "Camping" is only for the rich. This is such bullshit!

:grr:

[Zorra]

11. I have backpacked all over the US, and I totally agree. This is

a trend that has been escalating since the Reagan era.

I use to enjoy talking to, and getting valuable information from, the friendly rangers and other forest service personnel that take such pride in the excellent care they take of our public lands. But republican budget cuts have greatly reduced the numbers of these really cool folks.

Now, every campground has a smarmy dweeb from downtown LA called a "campground host", employed by a private company, that stays in a $100,000 RV, and who doesn't know the difference between a coyote and a duck fart.

Places where I used to camp for free cost $25 a night.

The cuts in funding for management of our public lands during republican administrations is a tragedy.

Privatization sucks. Our campgrounds are rapidly becoming private resorts catering to the well-to-do.

[acmejack]

4. KnR

It is just so typical. Remove a the real campgrounds and install drivethru profit centers which will soon be obsolete, the fossil fuel powered behemoths they were built to support permanently parked on blocks somewhere else far away. This is just criminal!

Thanks for calling it to our attention montana500, you do us a real service with vigilance on things Parks and Forest Service related. I truly appreciate your efforts!

You are yet another DUer that I look forward to buying lunch when you get down here to Austin!
a

[montana500]

8. Thanks....

"It is just so typical. Remove the real campgrounds and install drivethru profit centers "


haha that's a great way of putting it. Very catchy.


And thanks for the kind words! I really appreciate it. I would sure like to have lunch in Austin!

Also, I edited the original post to include direct links to the stories. I'm sure this is something we will be hearing more about very soon.

[Neecy]

5. well, this makes sense....

How many people are taking RV's on the road with these gas prices? These vehicles are fast becoming extinct - I know two people who have tried to sell theirs and almost can't give 'em away.

So, sure, ruin this land for everyone else for RV's that won't show up. Typical brilliant Bush policy.

[coffeenap]

6. Done--thank you. I will pass this on and fight for it. Primitive

campgrounds are the only way many people experience a true connection with our natural country. These are part of our heritage and should be protected from the ravages of money-hungry political agendas.

[Mind_your_head]

9. K & R

[dogday]

10. Corporate control of our campgrounds....

This is freaking ridiculous and so totally in step with this corporate administration....

[file83]

18. We are living in a nightmare.

[Joe Fields]

12. I'll still camp wherever I damned well please.

We cannot stop them from doing this. The move will have to be undone when Al Gore becomes president again.

So this administration can go fuck themselves. I will camp where I want in the meantime.

[file83]

17. Don't be surprised if some night in the future, while you are sleeping in

your tent you are rudely awaken by "Black Water Security Services" agents hired by the "privatized" forest service and probably charged with "terrorism" just for camping in an undesignated zone.

They want to take EVERYTHING away from us. :mad:

[grasswire]

13. how does this fit with the increased cost of gas?

How many more recvees will be on the roads, anyhoo, with gas skyrocketing? Why cater to them?

[montana500]

24. That's a great point.

How out of touch does the forest service ( the Bush admin ) have to be to cater to vehicles and users that will make up the smallest userbase?

[LSK]

14. FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF I WANT TO STAY AT A KOA, I WILL STAY AT A KOA!!!!!!!!!111

:grr:

[eleny]

15. We have a fifth wheel camper and I don't see a need for the change either

We camp here in Colorado at the federal campgrounds. There are spaces for rv's and spaces for tent campers. With the price of gas and diesel going up, there's little need for converting the existing campgrounds to private ownership. There are already existing campgrounds that cater to larger rigs that will no doubt be going out of business due to these fuel prices. You should see the deep discounts available on big campers these days.

Btw, before you all get too harsh on camper owners let me say this - Over the years I've seen plenty of tent campers doing outrageous things like peeing and pooping in the woods and not in the pit toilets. And brushing their teeth at the side of a stream. Dangerous and foolish and like e-w-w-w. I feel better about carting in our needs and carting out our waste.

Hard sided campers are also safer when it comes to being in the woods with large wildlife. I wouldn't sleep in a tent in the Rockies - ever.

There's good and bad in each category. Try not to paint with too broad a brush, mkay? We can all get along.

[montana500]

16. No one is blaming you for this.

It's not your fault, and you have a right to enjoy the national forests as much as anyone. This is a plan by corporations and conservative "think tank" groups like ARC and PERC. There is plenty of room for small campgroudns and already existing RV campgrounds.

But I will disagree with this comment:

"I wouldn't sleep in a tent in the Rockies - ever"


There are no grizzlies in Colorado, New Mexico or southern Wyoming, which makes for perfectly safe tent camping. No worries at all , just don't sleep with snickers bars for our black bear friends.

Tent camping in Montana and NW Wyoming? That's a different story because of the grizzlies. But it's perfectly safe to tent camp in many of the drive in campgrounds in this area. I do it all the time. It's the backcountry campgrounds you have to hike to that make tenting in grizzly country an exciting deal.

[eleny]

21. I don't take any blame - Btw, there are large cats & bear in the Rockies

I didn't mean grizzlies. There are dangeorus animals in the Rocky Mtn states that attack people on hiking trails not far from towns. You're sadly mistaken if you think campgrounds are exempt from dangers.

Here's one story that sadly happened right outside Boulder. Flagstaff Mountain is *not* remote.
http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/county_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2423_4626903,00.html

And a City of Boulder warning about how our neighbrohoods are bear country.
http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/openspace/nature/lions_bears.htm

[montana500]

22. Not really dangerous IMHO

I have camped in the rockies for years in black bear and cougar country. It's not really dangerous at all. Just make sure you keep an eye on your kids (and when is the last time a cougar draged a kid out of a tent?). And don't jog down backcountry trails either - that triggers an attack response from a cougar.

[mdmc]

19. mad

:mad:

[malaise]

20. In other words

they are stealing national property.

[glitch]

26. In a nutshell. like everything else, they are stealing our property,

Now we know what it feels like to be a third-world country.

[Jara sang]

23. I fucking hate RVers.

I can't tell you how many Greyhound bus sized RVs I've seen pulling Chevy suburbans. I fucking hate them. Why are they doing this now with gas prices going through the roof?

[crispini]

25. This bites.

:kick:

[faithnotgreed]

27. kicking

[SmokingJacket]

28. Fucking our great country up, step by step.

If there's any great but cheap pleasure left in this country, chance are good it has a target painted on it.

[Rosemary2205]

29. Baby boomer's once again assert their will

they are sick of trying to reserve an RV spot a year in advance and being told the campground is full already but that there are 100's of tent spots available. I think what's being done is awful and I hope every park will preserve at least a section of tent sites.

And then there's the whole thing about cutting funding for our infrastructure so that Dick Cheney can add to his Billions.

[wishlist]

30. Last year my favorite one raised fees & went to a reservation system

What bothered me the most about them changing my Forest Service campground to a private reservation system and raising fees was that it was not even kept open last fall in October, the peak of the beautiful leaf season but they still paid maintenance crews to do extensive mowing there for the entire month of October while gates were closed off to campers. In the past they had stayed open for at least two or three weeks in October before the weather turned too cold.