Why does it cost so much to hike, camp, hunt, ride an ATV on land that belongs to all of us? In this episode, I uncover the hidden history behind public land use fees—from the controversial Fee Demo Program to the passing of the Great American Outdoors Act during the COVID era.
Learn how corporations and the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable shaped what we now experience as “outdoor recreation,” and how their influence—not government incompetence—is behind the growing costs, declining services, and frustrating access to national parks and public lands. Learn why sending complaints to federal agencies might not move the needle—and the smarter strategy: holding the real decision-makers accountable by pushing corporations to advocate for change.
Whether you're a weekend hiker or a serious off-roader, if you’ve ever felt priced out or disappointed by the public land experience, this episode gives you the context—and power—you need to make a difference.
SHOW NOTES
Outdoor Recreation Roundtable
Website: https://recreationroundtable.org/
https://recreationroundtable.org/members
You can view members here. I mis-spoke in the recorded podcast - REI appears to be a member (again). Another new observation since I last visited this organization’s website 20+ years ago is there are more “associations” than members, note the individual corporations that are “members” of these associations. There are a lot of business part of this organization and that’s where the power in voicing your complaints lies in regared to what you'd lik to see the future of outdoor “recreation” in terms of cost, fees, and quality of service.
If there’s something else I mention in the show that you feel needs to be updated or known, please post it in the comments for this episode.
If you’d like to see my files on the history of Fee Demo contact me through the show website. Wild wilderness.org can be reached via this link:
https://groups.google.com/g/parklandsupdate/c/fDom7jK8qs8?pli=1
In preparing show notes, I checked for the ARC (American Recreation Coalition) website, another organization that helped create and implement the Fee Demo program. The banner (2018) appears to be a press release: “American Recreation Coalition, Outdoor Recreation Industry Roundtable to Unify as Outdoor Recreation Roundtable. Thus members of todays’ ORR are the same players with new ones added. It seems some of the “good guys” sold out and joined. That’s OK - with a combined force they have power to implement change, just as they did in the 80’s and 90’s when they created the problems we see today.
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