Post by shoreman on Sept 23, 2006 15:46:56 GMT -5
"The public would want us to obtain fair market value for its land. They wouldn't want us undercutting the value of the public's land," said Hickenbottom.
The public would like access to land for which their taxes have paid. Fair would be removing politics from the equation. If they won't alllow the people acces to the land, it should be sold to the states for the states to manage as they see fit.
Archers, shooters face fee hikes
Private clubs using Forest Service land see bills skyrocket
By Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News
September 15, 2006
www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4994848,00.html
A small band of archers has been shooting bows and arrows for 37 years on a range in the Pike National Forest north of Deckers, paying the U.S. Forest Service about $450 a year for a permit.
This year it will all end because the Forest Service presented the Columbine Bowmen with a bill for $23,000 for the one-year permit, said club president Tom Younger.
The same fate faces the 180 or so members of the Buffalo Creek Gun Club, who shoot targets in the Pike forest near Bailey. The club's annual permit fee of $150 over the past 40 years suddenly soared to $20,000.
"It's their goal to do that, to run us off the land," Younger said of the Forest Service. "I'm letting it go. I can't fight it anymore."
Forest Service regional lease officer Diane Hitchings said she knows of "only three or four private clubs" that have been allowed to use national forest land in the five-state region that includes Colorado.
Such "special uses" date back decades to a more relaxed view of the forest. Now, private use of the public's land is discouraged.
"We look at it far more stringently than we used to," said Pike National Forest District Ranger Randy Hickenbottom.
Added Hitchings, "By policy, private clubs are not encouraged because the national forests are set up for the general public."
Forest Service officials said the rate increases are the result of a 1976 federal law, which requires officials to appraise forest land and set permit fees for private clubs at "fair market value."
To determine that amount, the Forest Service conducts an appraisal of its land, using nearby private property values as a yardstick, then leases the land at a percentage of the appraised value.
Rapid growth across Colorado has pushed private land values sharply higher, and national forests have followed the trend, said Dave Crumley, a Pike National Forest land use officer in Pueblo.
"If someone is going to use the land for private things, they're going to have to pay the cost, and the cost is going up because the value of the land is going up," Crumley said.
The clubs were suddenly hit with enormous fees because the Forest Service had put off more gradual increases for decades. Understaffing had prevented the agency from appraising its own lands and resetting its permit fees until recently, said Crumley.
"The fees that the gun club previously paid should have been brought into line 25 years ago, and then raised incrementally over the years, so it wouldn't be coming all at once like it is now," Crumley said.
Cuts by Congress in the Forest Service budget for almost a decade have forced the agency to find other revenue sources, said Sierra Club Colorado conservation chairman Kirk Cunningham.
"They're tremendously strapped for money. I'm sure that's why they're doing this," Cunningham said.
Michelle O'Connell, a leasing officer for the Forest Service's five-state Rocky Mountain Region, said the mammoth increases are confined to "a select few" private users.
Lower fees are assessed to ski areas, rafters and campgrounds where more than half of those served are the general public, not private club members, said Hitchings.
That is little comfort to club members who are facing the demise of their private shooting ranges.
"After the Hayman Fire, they put a gate up and told us to privatize our club and make it for members only," said Younger.
The Forest Service wanted the land closed to better protect it from fire and damage by unsupervised public use, he said.
"Then this year, they changed the policy and wanted us to open it up," Younger said.
He said that now, "anybody can walk in and shoot our range," but the Forest Service is still raising its fee.
Forest Service officials defend the higher fees for the private use of public land.
"The public would want us to obtain fair market value for its land. They wouldn't want us undercutting the value of the public's land," said Hickenbottom.
The Forest Service believes that private clubs leasing forest land should be charged the same rates they would pay to buy or lease private property, Hickenbottom said.
"Fair market value for the land seems to be a reasonable place to start," he said.
The public would like access to land for which their taxes have paid. Fair would be removing politics from the equation. If they won't alllow the people acces to the land, it should be sold to the states for the states to manage as they see fit.
Archers, shooters face fee hikes
Private clubs using Forest Service land see bills skyrocket
By Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News
September 15, 2006
www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4994848,00.html
A small band of archers has been shooting bows and arrows for 37 years on a range in the Pike National Forest north of Deckers, paying the U.S. Forest Service about $450 a year for a permit.
This year it will all end because the Forest Service presented the Columbine Bowmen with a bill for $23,000 for the one-year permit, said club president Tom Younger.
The same fate faces the 180 or so members of the Buffalo Creek Gun Club, who shoot targets in the Pike forest near Bailey. The club's annual permit fee of $150 over the past 40 years suddenly soared to $20,000.
"It's their goal to do that, to run us off the land," Younger said of the Forest Service. "I'm letting it go. I can't fight it anymore."
Forest Service regional lease officer Diane Hitchings said she knows of "only three or four private clubs" that have been allowed to use national forest land in the five-state region that includes Colorado.
Such "special uses" date back decades to a more relaxed view of the forest. Now, private use of the public's land is discouraged.
"We look at it far more stringently than we used to," said Pike National Forest District Ranger Randy Hickenbottom.
Added Hitchings, "By policy, private clubs are not encouraged because the national forests are set up for the general public."
Forest Service officials said the rate increases are the result of a 1976 federal law, which requires officials to appraise forest land and set permit fees for private clubs at "fair market value."
To determine that amount, the Forest Service conducts an appraisal of its land, using nearby private property values as a yardstick, then leases the land at a percentage of the appraised value.
Rapid growth across Colorado has pushed private land values sharply higher, and national forests have followed the trend, said Dave Crumley, a Pike National Forest land use officer in Pueblo.
"If someone is going to use the land for private things, they're going to have to pay the cost, and the cost is going up because the value of the land is going up," Crumley said.
The clubs were suddenly hit with enormous fees because the Forest Service had put off more gradual increases for decades. Understaffing had prevented the agency from appraising its own lands and resetting its permit fees until recently, said Crumley.
"The fees that the gun club previously paid should have been brought into line 25 years ago, and then raised incrementally over the years, so it wouldn't be coming all at once like it is now," Crumley said.
Cuts by Congress in the Forest Service budget for almost a decade have forced the agency to find other revenue sources, said Sierra Club Colorado conservation chairman Kirk Cunningham.
"They're tremendously strapped for money. I'm sure that's why they're doing this," Cunningham said.
Michelle O'Connell, a leasing officer for the Forest Service's five-state Rocky Mountain Region, said the mammoth increases are confined to "a select few" private users.
Lower fees are assessed to ski areas, rafters and campgrounds where more than half of those served are the general public, not private club members, said Hitchings.
That is little comfort to club members who are facing the demise of their private shooting ranges.
"After the Hayman Fire, they put a gate up and told us to privatize our club and make it for members only," said Younger.
The Forest Service wanted the land closed to better protect it from fire and damage by unsupervised public use, he said.
"Then this year, they changed the policy and wanted us to open it up," Younger said.
He said that now, "anybody can walk in and shoot our range," but the Forest Service is still raising its fee.
Forest Service officials defend the higher fees for the private use of public land.
"The public would want us to obtain fair market value for its land. They wouldn't want us undercutting the value of the public's land," said Hickenbottom.
The Forest Service believes that private clubs leasing forest land should be charged the same rates they would pay to buy or lease private property, Hickenbottom said.
"Fair market value for the land seems to be a reasonable place to start," he said.