For the week of June 27 - July 3, 2001

Forest camp fees reevaluated by SNRA

---

By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The Sawtooth National Forest’s 12 summer camps could face incredible fee increases next year if local trends conform to what’s happening in Arizona.

For the next year, the Sawtooth National Forest will work to appraise federal lands on which the camps operate to determine fair-market value the camps should pay to lease the properties.

Under federal law, camp properties must be appraised every 20 years, and camp operators must pay 5 percent of the appraised value annually. Since the properties were last appraised, local property values have skyrocketed.

The eight camps in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) pay between $300 and $800 per year, said Alison Nelson, SNRA permit administrator. She refused to speculate on how much those fees could go up following the appraisals, which could be completed for next year’s summer camp season.

The same process nearing completion in Arizona might indicate potential outcomes of the local appraisals.
The annual cost for the Boy Scouts of America to lease a camp near Tucson will jump from $4,500 to $71,000 if increases take place as scheduled.

“We just can’t afford it,” said Paul Abbot, director of the Old Pueblo District of the Boy Scouts.

Coronado National Forest Service Spokesman Ken Palmrose said the increase there is so steep because the fees hadn’t been adjusted in decades.

Managers for Cathedral Pines summer camp on the SNRA are bracing for an increase but don’t yet know what that increase might be.

“We just know an increase is coming,” said Susan Mann, Cathedral Pines manager. “We’re a non-profit camp. We can’t afford a huge increase.”

Mann said the fees charged to attend Cathedral Pines, 12 miles north of Ketchum, don’t cover the camp’s cost of operations. The camp depends heavily on donations from churches to make up the difference.

“We’re governed by whether God wants us here or not,” she said. “If he wants us here, we’ll be able to pay the fees.”
Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Bill LeVere also would not speculate about the outcomes of the pending increases.

“We don’t know what the new fees are going to be,” he said, adding, “We’re just implementing the law and National Policy.”

U.S. Rep Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., however, has inserted language in a recent appropriations bill asking the Forest Service to reconsider its plans.

“The proposed fee increases are astronomical,” he said. “I think we should do everything we can to help these groups, who serve the underprivileged, continue using our public lands.”

Kolbe’s goal is to work through the issue administratively or in a regulatory manner. It is still too early to tell which means will be pursued.

“We should not be putting a fee on these groups that could literally put them out of business,” Kolbe said.

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.