Hike permitting

[edenooch]

EDITORIAL: Hiking permits

New BLM rules for Red Rock arbitrary

Think you can plan a picnic at Red Rock Canyon with a couple of other families without much trouble? Think your federal taxes and park entrance fees are enough to cover the Bureau of Land Management's maintenance costs? Think you have a right to peaceably assemble at one of Southern Nevada's natural treasures?

You're not thinking like a bureaucrat. Managing public lands means protecting them -- from the public.


If you and your friends number more than 12 people, you're an "organized group" by new BLM standards. That means you need a "special recreation permit," at a cost of at least $95, to hike together. And you need to apply for that permit at least six months in advance of your excursion. The BLM needs that much time to properly process your application and make sure an agent is on hand to monitor your movements, you see.

Going forward on your excursion without BLM permission and getting caught could cost you a fine of at least $195.

BLM officials insist these new rules are necessary to create the experience they deem appropriate and protect well-defined trails from enduring too many footprints at once.

So 12 people climbing Turtlehead Peak do not have to declare their intent to enter a national conservation area but a group of 13 people enjoying the canyon together must pay more and notify the government of their activities six months in advance, regardless of whether anyone else is on the trail they're walking?

The new BLM rule is arbitrary at best, unconstitutional at worst. And it's ironic that in this time of endless hand-wringing about sedentary lifestyles, an obesity epidemic and the need to get people -- particularly children -- outside, the federal government is taking deliberate steps to discourage group hikes at a popular area.

If the BLM wants to replace its per-vehicle admission fee structure at Red Rock Canyon with a per-person model to better maintain the trails and picnic and camping areas, then begin that dialogue with the public. Making all users pay a uniform entry fee is fair. Double-billing a select few is not.

And for goodness sake, expecting the public to plan small group outings six months in advance is preposterous. If the bureaucracy can't turn its wheels faster than that, it shouldn't exist in the first place.

Nevada's congressional delegation needs to make a few phone calls to the local BLM office and tell it to scrap this new "permit" process at once.

[EManBevHills]

What a crock! Bureaucracy at its finest.
How come Darwinism doesn't work within the confines of government agencies?

[mve]

How come Darwinism doesn't work within the confines of government agencies?

wondering the same thing!

[Taco]

Problem with people like me is we'd just ignore it. 8) I'm not paying that fucking fee.

Turn the trail into the god damn Ho Chi Minh trail.

[Rumpled]

Where was that editorial?

I really hate these permit procedures that are so bureaucratic. Six months? I planned my wedding in a lot less time than that!

An escort on the hike?

Let's just get four groups of 12 to go!

[simonov]

What a crock! Bureaucracy at its finest.

In the San Gorgonio Wilderness I don't know of any way to legally hike in parties of more than twelve.

Frankly, groups larger than twelve or fifteen people are an unacceptable impact on the wilderness, as well as the other people up there trying to enjoy it.

[Taco]

What a crock! Bureaucracy at its finest.

In the San Gorgonio Wilderness I don't know of any way to legally hike in parties of more than twelve.

Frankly, groups larger than twelve or fifteen people are an unacceptable impact on the wilderness, as well as the other people up there trying to enjoy it.

Depends on the group. (Not that huge groups are that common, except in Korean clubs)

Anywho.

[AW~]

A more balanced link for this is
http://living-las-vegas.com/blog/2010/0 ... ck-canyon/
"The rangers hadn’t really been paying that much attention to the 2nd rule until we had some individuals that were refusing to carpool and taking up the limited parking spaces at the trailhead. That wasn’t the back breakers though that ruined it for us. Those individuals that insisted on posting hikes knowing full well that they might have some that might not finish before the loop closed were the ones that ruined it for everyone"

Taking a look at the real limits, it appears to back that up with 20 being allowed for the simpler hikes.