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Paying to Play 
(Click each pass for more info) Any of these passes will let you park and play for the day at National Forest trailheads, picnic and other recreation sites that require a pass (see list below). Camping in a developed National Forest campground is a separate charge. NOTE: The Washington & Oregon Recreation Pass is discontinued as of July 31 but those purchased before then will be honored until their one-year expiration date. The Golden Age and Golden Access Passports are no longer issued but they are still accepted and still good for life if you have one.Federal (scroll down for state) Ahhh, August. The month of summer heat, family vacations and now -- permit paranoia -- that headache-making confusion over what should be laying on your dashboard and/or hanging from your rear view mirror when you park and recreate on state and federal land. Hearsay has it that one local hiker spotted a car parked at a trailhead that had about a dozen pieces of paper on the dash. We can sympathize. Our aim here is to clarify where you need permits, what they cost and where you can get more information. We make no promises, but here are two general statements to get us started: Number one: A federal pass is required for parking and day use at some National Forest trailheads, picnic areas and recreation sites in Washington and Oregon. The pass is valid for any vehicle the purchaser occupies. A separate fee is charged for using the campgrounds marked as fee sites (day use pass not needed). Number two: A state pass is required to have your motor vehicle on state parks, fish and wildlife and natural resources lands, even if you are just driving through. The permit is vehicle specific - they cannot be transferred among vehicles. That was the easy part. Scroll down to read about the state's new Discover Pass and keep reading here to learn about the federal pass program.
The passes for those of us who are considered old or infirm by our government are good nationally and also give us half-price discounts on campsite fees and perks at national parks. Sorry, youngsters under 62, you have to buy one of the others. Parking or camping (where it's allowed) outside of recreation sites and campgrounds is free. You can also picnic in a campground for up to 1/2 hour for free. Where to buy:
Penalties: You park without a pass, you go hiking, you return to your car, you find a ticket on your windshield -- a $75 ticket. And, yes, there are people whose full-time job it is to patrol trailheads for compliance. Here is one reason Jennifer Zbyszewski, recreation, wilderness and facilities program manager for the Methow Valley Ranger District, wants you to buy a pass instead of risking a ticket: 90 percent of the money raised through the sale of Northwest Forest Passes comes back to the Methow Valley to fund trail work. Money raised through fines goes into a general fund with no direct benefits for the Methow Valley. Trailheads Requiring Passes:
State  Rick Lewis, managing ranger and long-time employee at Pearrygin Lake State Park.The state Discover Pass became reality on July 1, 2011. The reaction has been everything from anger to shoulder-shrugging acceptance. There also has been plenty of confusion and frustration about yet another required fee for using public lands, in this state parks and lands under the jursidiction of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). "Essentially, state parks has been put into survival mode," says Rick Lewis, managing ranger at Pearrygin Lake State Park. "We really hope that people understand the position we're in." As it stands now, the legislature has decreed that the entire state parks agency needs to become self-sufficient by July 1, 2013, Lewis explains. Even before that drop-dead date, money the legislature historically provided has been drastically cut for the past several budget cycles. Mike Phillips, state parks budget analyst for the Eastern Washington region, explains the loss of money from the state's general fund: "In six years we've gone from $98 million to $17 million agency wide" -- a drop of $81 million. "This biennium they've given us $17 million to help wean us off the general fund," he adds. The $30 Discover Pass was created to raise $60 million over the next two years to replace the lost funds, Phillips says. "We also made major cuts starting July 1, 2011 of positions and in other areas throughout the agency... A lot of people think state parks is just doing this to increase their revenue... It's not agency driven." Phillips is resigned to reality and says the legislature is taking away money to pay for other priorities but lawmakers are "allowing us to continue as an agency" and are "allowing us to implement the Discover Pass as a way to raise funds."  The Washington State legislature created the Discover Pass to replace funding cut from the state budget. Click the logo for more info.Lewis, who has been a ranger at Pearrygin Lake State Park for 21 years and in charge for 11 years, hopes to maintain the present level of service. "Our rangers have always been very resourceful," he says. "They've used BandAids, rubber bands and duct tape to get along until the next budget cycle, hoping things get better." Lewis runs a bare bones operation. David McWalter is his only assistant ranger. Libby O'Daihmin, a Methow Valley native, is senior park aide. Tim Evans, another Methow native, handles maintenance. Lewis adds that he has just enough park aides to clean the six full-service bathrooms, three rental cabins, two offices and group camps, plus collect garbage and recycling. Those aides also clean 171 fire pits every week. There are two campground host couples at the park who cover the east and west campgrounds. The volunteer hosts mow all the lawns in addition to taking care of reservation information every morning. They tag the reserved camp sites, post the list of open sites, walk and talk with campers, pick up trash and report any problems to the rangers. Another volunteer does pruning and weeding. And every spring McWalter oversees a crew of about 75 volunteers who do an early season cleanup. There are 30 state parks in the Eastern Washington Region. Pearrygin Lake, Steamboat Rock and Lake Chelan are the popular big three in terms of bringing in revenue from campground fees, according to budget analyst Phillips. Historically, money generated through fees for camp sites, hookups, boat launches and trailer dumps has gone into a slice of the budget called the Parks Renewal and StewardshipFund. It still does. But as the Legislature starting cutting funds, a new program was started that lets drivers renewing their licenses make a $5 donation to support state parks and that option has brought in enough to almost double the fund, says Phillips. If the new Discover Pass program can bring in $30,000,000 a year, the state parks agency's budget woes should ease. Put another way: 1 million of the 5,568,379 non-commercial vehicles registered in Washington state will have to have a Discover Pass. What you need to know about the state's Discover Pass:
8/1/11 |
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