Campsite Fees to Balloon this Summer

The dollar plunges, your AAA-rated investments disappear, your house goes into foreclosure... no big deal, right? You can always go camping. That is unless Congress and budget-strapped public lands managers price you right out of the woods.

This summer, campgrounds across the country may see fee increases up to 70%. Developed campsites at longtime favorite Kennedy Meadows, for example, in Sequoia National Forest, are to be jacked up from $10 per night to $17.

From the Sacramento Bee: "We're trying to walk that fine line between having reasonable access to the great outdoors, which we all own, and providing the money needed for maintenance," said Nathan Rangel, a Sierra Nevada river guide and member of the California Recreation Resource Advisory Committee, an 11-member federal panel now quietly shaping what people will pay for using Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management recreation facilities. Together, the two federal agencies manage 35 million acres in California—roughly one-third of the entire state.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., has introduced legislation to repeal the new fee program.

Meanwhile, road construction is booming. A 53.4 million dollar 3.2 mile highway-extension project broke ground this week on CA 180 from Fresno toward Kings Canyon, and the $84 million dollar widening of sections of US 395 in Inyo County continues apace.