Document text
Since You Asked: Educators still get day-use fee exemption Tuesday Jan 30, 2018 at 7:21 AM Thank you for the article on the Forest Service wanting to charge for Natural Bridge. I take lots of kids to Crater Lake every year and stop off at Natural Bridge or Rogue Gorge. Do you know if there will be educational waivers like the ones we get from Crater Lake National Park? — Larry S., Jacksonville There sure was a lot of interest and some backlash toward the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest's proposal to create or increase fees at 57 day-use, campgrounds and other facilities on the forest, including first-ever $5 fees at Natural Bridge, Union Creek and Rogue River Gorge day-use sites. The fee-increase proposals, currently up for public comment, were the first in about a decade; Forest Service officials say they are needed to cover increased costs amid flattened or diminished federal recreation budgets. However, tucked away on Page 11 of the Forest Service Handbook could be your financial salvation, Larry, if your educational trips are connected with a school. On that page is language specifying that the Forest Service not charge a "standard amenity recreation fee" for "outings conducted for noncommercial educational purposes by schools or bona fide academic institutions." If you fit that bill, Larry, you won't be charged the day-use fee, nor will other educators and their classes. Although the proposal technically is not a parking fee because the forest can't charge parking fees, the $5 day-use fee is charged per vehicle. The money would be collected at pay stations similar to those at boat ramps; violators face $50 fines. While the forest does not charge parking fees, the forest does charge fees for sites that provide services and amenities, and developed parking lots are considered amenities, said forest spokeswoman Chamise Kramer. However, those who don't park in the lots and walk into places such as the Rogue Gorge won't be charged under the proposal, Kramer says. In a previous  Mail Tribune article, Kramer said walk-ins would be charged, but she has since clarified that to say they won't. If adopted, the proposal would go into effect this summer and is expected to generate about $100,000, which would represent a 50 percent increase in the forest's recreation budget. The money collected for recreation generally stays within the ranger district where it's collected. — Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.