Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

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BigBear
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Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

Post by BigBear » December 25th, 2019, 9:20 am

USFS has decided to start charging day use fees at Sandy River Delta beginning January 17th - front page article on Christmas Eve Oregonian newspaper.

Very disappointed that USFS continues to thumb its nose at the federal courts in charging such fees. Sadly, your hiking options will continue to diminish as the new year proceeds. I wonder where all of the dog walkers will go now that USFS hands will be stretch wide open ready to pocket a $5 bill every time Fido heeds the call of nature. I wonder if they will also charge the fee to people camped at the delta or if this only going to be enforced on vehicles parked in the area. Also, will this fee be charged at Lewis & Clark State Park or the fishing parking lot on the south side of the freeway?

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adamschneider
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Re: Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

Post by adamschneider » December 25th, 2019, 9:43 am

This one makes me happy. They built a HUGE paved parking lot and bathrooms -- and a bunch of trash cans that need VERY regular emptying -- for a very specific user group (dog owners) and let them use it for free, while in other locations they charge hikers $5 for a port-a-potty and a picnic table that they'll never use.

Seriously, the daily poop removal alone justifies the fee. And $30/year is nothing compared to the cost of all the fossil fuels these people use to drive out there every weekend. Maybe this will encourage them to carpool.
Last edited by adamschneider on December 25th, 2019, 12:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Webfoot
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Re: Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

Post by Webfoot » December 25th, 2019, 12:23 pm

I am in full agreement with Adam.

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Water
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Re: Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

Post by Water » December 25th, 2019, 3:42 pm

happy about fees.. ..I don't need a huge paved lot and regular trash service at almost any of the TH's I go to. If you ask me doing that at a place like sandy river delta is where funds should be spent. What's the cost for trash service up at Breitenbush Lake TH, Whitewater, or the privy pump out for there? replace the TP weekly? or are we paying for facilities that go unmaintained? Or any other remote TH's? not as regular but sure has to be expensive. Something in town is easy to address, let them spend the money there and provide a great service to the public.

Happy about more fees almost has an air of being happy some restrictions went on someone who was getting a benefit, because you've had to pay for a lesser benefit and that's not fair. Instead of fighting up the chain to ask why you have to pay for a public 'benefit' that your tax dollars go towards already.

For anyone happy about fees, I can only hope one day they're so high they'll be prohibitive for you to pursue your outdoor interests. Then you can scratch your head about it and wonder why only people wealthier than you are doing the activities you used to love doing.
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adamschneider
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Re: Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

Post by adamschneider » December 25th, 2019, 9:31 pm

Here we go again. :roll: I'm not going to join the anti-USFS crusade, no matter how many rants get posted. It's a complicated issue with no easy answers.

I'm happy about THIS fee because I think it's 100% justified. I don't want the Forest Service to have to skimp on maintenance of real trails because they spent all their money on Suburban Poop Patrol.

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Water
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Re: Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

Post by Water » December 25th, 2019, 11:03 pm

The FS already doesn't spend money on trails really just as an fyi. Your dollars go to privies, tp stock, trash service, pump outs, kiosks, picnic tables, etc.

If it really went to trails you'd be able to find it front and center how many miles were maintained each year in each district / expenses on such would be detailed on the yearly NWFP 'where does your money go' info sheets. Instead any meager trail expenditures are rolled up under the above services, aka not trails.

"It's complicated" - well, if one day it's ever too expensive for you to hike, hopefully that won't seem too complicated. The FS has made it complicated. Trail work is about the cheapest service they can provide. Americorps crews of 12 young adults run something like $14k for 2 weeks of work.

The proposed budget for Central Cascades, at a base level revenue expected (215k/year), puts 11.6% (25k) of it into trail work, restoration, work in the woods. Barely over 10%. It's laughably inept for an entire permit system intended to address overuse. Consider 89% of it going to admin and enforcement of the new system if it isn't going to tangible work activities in the wilderness.
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drm
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Re: Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

Post by drm » December 27th, 2019, 7:29 am

Water wrote:
December 25th, 2019, 11:03 pm
The FS already doesn't spend money on trails really just as an fyi.
News to me. Then who is paying for the FS trails team that cuts logs out of every single trail on Mt Adams, Indian Heaven, and Trapper Creek wildernesses every year. That's right, every maintained trail, every year in those three wildernesses. And some trails outside of the wilderness areas too. The guy who leads that team occasionally posts here. We keep providing evidence to you and you keep ignoring it. So we get tired of responding to the same thing again and again. I'm not denying that there are violations wrt how the NWFP is managed, because some of us acknowledge evidence for both sides.

Only post on this thread for me, and I have no opinion on the Sandy River Delta. Never been there, don't know anything about it.

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adamschneider
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Re: Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

Post by adamschneider » December 27th, 2019, 8:52 am

drm wrote:
December 27th, 2019, 7:29 am
I have no opinion on the Sandy River Delta. Never been there, don't know anything about it.
It's basically an enormous free-range dog park, on the closest parcel of USFS land to the Portland metro area. It's also known as "Thousand Acres," although the southeasternmost 400 acres are closed to public access.

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BigBear
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Re: Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

Post by BigBear » December 27th, 2019, 9:06 am

Back in the mid-90s there was a nice loop that you could walk which followed the Sandy River and along the Columbia...then the blackberry vines came back (no cows for 2 years will do that). No dogs, no people, just me, the rabbits, the river otter, and the heron. Haven't walked it since.

Wonder where all the dog walkers will go come MLK day?

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Re: Sandy River Delta Day Use Fee begins Jan 17

Post by Webfoot » December 27th, 2019, 2:34 pm

Water, it is hard for me to be impartial because in the 23 years I've lived in Troutdale I've seen the Sandy River delta turn from being my closest natural area into a big open air dog latrine. (Does anyone even visit the fancy bird blind they built?) I actually haven't been there in years so maybe—hopefully—it is not as bad as I remember, but if it is I don't see how freely providing dog-crap-central-of-the-east-side is a "great service to the public." Nevertheless I shall try to put my emotions aside and listen respectfully if you wish to make that case.

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