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Annual public land fee considered JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - Federal land managers might replace recreation fees in the Yellowstone ecosystem with year-round passes. Officials representing Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and the U.S. Forest Service considered the new fee program during a recent meeting of the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee in Idaho Falls, Idaho. They said annual passes could be purchased at the beginning of the year. "Everything I have been hearing about the current fee situation is people don't want numerous fees," said Tom Puchlerz, Bridger-Teton National Forest supervisor. "They would be much happier with a single fee." Puchlerz said people who volunteer to help maintain public lands could earn access that is credited toward their passes. "I would look at it as a way to get people closer to public lands," he said. "I don't want their money so much as I want their friendship." Opponents criticized having to pay fees at all. "Do you have to buy wilderness experience?" said Franz Camenzind, executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. "It is almost an oxymoron. All of these things tell me there is a heck of a lot of demand for these areas, and you simply have to ask why are there not more tax dollars appropriated to these public lands." Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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