[Awclist] [Fwd: RRFW Riverwire - RIVER RUNNERS CHALLENGE LOTTERY FEES]

[Thomas Robey]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	RRFW Riverwire - RIVER RUNNERS CHALLENGE LOTTERY FEES
Date: 	Thu, 5 Oct 2006 22:06:39 -0600
From: 	Riverwire <riverwire at rrfw.org>
Organization: 	River Runners for Wilderness
To: 	<riverwire at rrfw.org>



RRFW Riverwire – RIVER RUNNERS CHALLENGE LOTTERY FEES

October 5, 2006

Six organizations recently sent a joint letter to National Park Service 
Regional Director Michael Snyder expressing their concern over a new $25 
lottery application fee. The new fee is part of the first ever online 
Grand Canyon Colorado River lottery, awarding non-commercial river 
permits to conduct a float trip through the park.

In a letter dated August 12, 2006, the groups, River Runners for 
Wilderness, High Country River Rafters, North West Rafters Association, 
Wild Wilderness, Private Boaters Coalition and Pikes Peak River Runners 
expressed their concern over the amount of the fee, noting that 
application fees charged for other river lotteries range from $15 to 
nothing.

In a reply to the groups sent September 19, 2006, Regional Director 
Snyder asserted that the $25 fee is needed to fund the River Permits 
Office. Snyder went on to say that the old waiting list had roughly 
1,100 new additions a year, netting the park “approximately $110,000 in 
funding for the River Permits Office. Park managers have predicted there 
will be 4,000 to 5,000 applications submitted in this October’s first 
Weighted Lottery. If this procedure is correct, total costs recovered 
will be very close to what is needed to operate the office.”

But Jo Johnson, Co-Director of River Runners for Wilderness, says Snyder 
has neglected to mention the $357,100 the park also generated in the 
past by charging $100 per person in trip fees in addition to the $100 
fee to join the waiting list, which the Park previously collected.

“There’s a lot of fuzzy math here” continues Johnson, who points out the 
new lottery includes a doubling of river launches. “The park will charge 
$100 per person and generate a whopping $705,100 on top of the 
anticipated $110,000 collected in the lottery.”

Johnson also wonders what the park is doing with the $815,000. “A few 
patrol trips and operating an online lottery for 198 launches at that 
price sounds a little steep to me. The park continues to look at 
non-commercial river runners as a cash cow, something they have done 
since the implementation of the Fee Demonstration program in 1997.”

The groups were also concerned that the lottery requires losers to pay 
year after year, subsidizing the park for a river trip they may never be 
lucky enough to win. In his reply, Snyder noted that the park may 
consider changing the fees in the future. According to Snyder, “We fully 
expect to re-evaluate both the $25 lottery fee and the $100 per person 
permit fee each year as actual numbers of applicants and permit 
participants become known.”

The on-line lottery application, only open October 1 to October 21, can 
be found at

http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/weightedlottery.htm.

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