Flintstone, Georgia resident Gerry Williamson visits The Pocket area of Pigeon Mountain about 20 times each year looking for rare wildflowers to cross off his life list. But when he went on one of his trips in early 2012, he found something planted in the ground that he wasn’t expecting – a new brown and yellow sign from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Much of Pigeon Mountain, prized for its wildflowers, crags at Rocktown and numerous caves, was now only open for those with the $3.50 Georgia Outdoor Recreational Pass.
More and more during the recession, as government agencies face declining tax revenues, parks are being asked to be more self-sufficient by increasing revenues. And in at least a few instances, that means new fees.
The newest-and some of the most controversial-fees are the $4 per person cost the National Park Service is charging for backcountry shelters in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “Really with any new system, especially one that involves user fees, you’re going to have some opposition, but we’ve also had some good support for our program,” says Dana Soehn, the spokeswoman for the GSMNP. The fees go to pay for a new online reservation system and for two new seasonal backcountry rangers.
One of the loudest critics against the fees is John Quillen, whose group Southern Forest Watch has filed suit against the National Park Service and gotten the Tennessee House of Representatives to condemn the fee. In an email interview, Quillen says his group is “fighting tyranny and double taxation.”
“Since we pay taxes for the use and upkeep of the Smokies and since the Smokies is unique in the National Park system in that the land was largely donated, the situation here is unique,” the Knoxville backpacker says. “To charge someone for walking through the park, which is the most traditional usage of that land, for sleeping on unimproved ground is a matter for the court.”