Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021 - Now Closed

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drm
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Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021 - Now Closed

Post by drm » August 17th, 2021, 5:56 pm

The Yakama have announced that Tract D within the Yakama Nation will be open Aug 30 - Oct 1, 7am - 7pm every day for day use only, no camping. The fee will be $20/vehicle.
2021_tractd_opening.jpg

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Chip Down
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Re: Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021

Post by Chip Down » August 17th, 2021, 7:06 pm

Yikes, fee quadrupled.
Gotta admit though, $5 was so cheap, I wondered why they even bothered.

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Re: Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021

Post by Webfoot » September 3rd, 2021, 8:29 am

Are all the trailheads open including Hellroaring Creek, or is this a partial opening?

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drm
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Re: Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021 - Now Closed

Post by drm » September 23rd, 2021, 12:03 pm

The Yakama have changed their closing date, setting it to Saturday, September 25 - the last open day this season. Although they don't give a reason, there is some speculation that not enough people are visiting and paying the fee to justify sending somebody up every day to open and close the gate and collect the fees.
Are all the trailheads open including Hellroaring Creek, or is this a partial opening?
All trailheads that you can drive to are open. I don't know what trailhead that is. Most people use either the "main" upper trailhead, which is less than a mile SE of BCM, or Bird Lake. If this refers to Bench Lake, then I don't know the condition of the road to that lake. I tried driving there last year and decided not to risk it in my Subaru, and backed out. But maybe they fixed it - I know that people have been fishing in Bench Lake, so they are getting there. But it isn't that long of a walk from the main upper trailhead either.

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BigBear
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Re: Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021 - Now Closed

Post by BigBear » September 23rd, 2021, 6:01 pm

To answer your question about $5 being cheap, a hike, picnic or backpacking experience was free until the mid-90s. So if you were out-and-about before then, you weren't used to paying for the experience. As far as trail maintenance goes, I do know from the MHNF budget person at the time, when the initially-volunteer NW Forest Pass was introduced, he was ordered to move the budget for trail maintenance to another line on the budget so USFS could claim they needed the money. BLM and the state parks were more than happy to start charging as well.

I guess the concept of what's "cheap" depends on when you started hiking.

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Re: Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021 - Now Closed

Post by Aimless » September 23rd, 2021, 7:01 pm

so you approve of the government using taxes paid by everyone to pay for trails only used by a few who pay only a tiny fraction of the cost of their frivolous hobby!?! I'm shocked to see you, of all people, endorsing such socialistic ideas and denigrating user fees that place the financial responsibility squarely on the shoulders of that tiny minority of people who benefit from using those expensive trails! :o :P :lol: :D

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Re: Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021

Post by BigBear » September 23rd, 2021, 8:25 pm

Ironically, the more socialist the country becomes, the higher the user fees get. :o
Aren't user fees and taxes are the tools of the tax-and-spend liberals? :o

I guess since the biggest fee I pay is for schools and I have no kids, then the answer to the Great Socialist System paying for the trails I hike, I respond with an enthusiastic, "Hell Yes !"

The sad news is that you now get to pay for trail maintenance twice: (1) they money you paid in your taxes for trail maintenance is still being given to USFS, it's just being spent on something else like marking trees for clearcuts or buying pencils made from old growth cedar trees, and (2) on trailhead passes. Ooohhh...makes me feel are warm and tingly inside, how about you? :lol:

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drm
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Re: Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021 - Now Closed

Post by drm » September 24th, 2021, 7:27 am

$20 is certainly not cheap, but this is not government land. Your regular taxes don't pay anything for it. Debates about Forest Service fees belong somewhere else. And politics definitely belongs somewhere else.

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BigBear
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Re: Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021

Post by BigBear » September 24th, 2021, 8:16 am

You miss my point entirely. Yes, this is Indian land, not USFS, but Aimless made the assertion that it was socialist to expect to continue to hike on public land for free but it wasn't socialist for government to get involved and start imposing fees on people hiking, picnicking or backpacking, and was an error in reasoning.

My initial comment was an interpretation of "cheap." If you have been in the forests as long as I have, you are used to being able to walk for free amongst the trees and that was the way it had been for a century since the Forest Acts were incorporated, regardless of who "owned" the land. Then came fees which may seem cheap in 2021, but weren't considered cheap in 1995. I suspect the next generation will come to think of $20 as being cheap. It's all in one's perspective of what they are used to paying or not paying.

I find $20 to hike in the forest for a day completely ridiculous. Maybe if you had a carload of people that wouldn't be so bad, but as a lone hiker, I see more and more privatization of the forest with fees on every little thing you want to do.

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rubiks
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Re: Bird Creek Meadows Opening 2021 - Now Closed

Post by rubiks » September 24th, 2021, 9:46 am

Thanks for the update. I was originally planning a one night backpack elsewhere this weekend. But between this change and the weather forecast predicting rain earlier on Sunday, a nice dayhike on Mt. Adams is looking better and better.
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