New trail user fee

["Eddie Spurgeon" <espurgeon@glade.net>]

From the February 23, 2002 Wise County Messenger, Decatur, Texas

 

FOREST SERVICE INSTALLS PARKING FEE AT TRAILHEAD

If you plan to park at the TADRA Point trailhead on the Lyndon B. Johnson
National Grasslands in Wise County, you'd better bring some cash with you.

Beginning Friday, March 1, the U. S. Forest Service will begin charging  a
$4 parking fee at the site.

The area is located south of Cottonwood Lake in the northern part of Wise
County.  It is a particularly popular area for horseback riders and
campers.  The trailhead features a special ramp which allows handicapped
riders to mount their horses.

Ninety percent of the parking fees may be used for improvements at the
trailhead, said Ranger Jim Crooks of Decatur.

"User fees such as this parking fee will provide revenue for repair,
maintenance, signing, wildlife habitat and other aspects of adminstration,
including law enforcement," Crooks said.  "Under the fee demonstration
project, all but a small percentage of a fee is used where it is collected."

A collection box will be used for the parking fee.

"Visitors will pay $4 pr vehicle per day or they may purchase the annual
day-use permit for $25 per year," Crooks said.  "We've sold the annual
day-use permit for several years and it is popular with visitors using the
national forests and grasslands in Texas.

"We have an ageement with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and the
Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana to honor each others' day-use permit
so our visitors get more for their money," Crooks said.

Crooks said the fee will also help add to the facilities at the trailhead.

The trailhead, located along Forest Service Road 900 in the federal
agency's administrative allotment unit 31, is at the confluence of the four
loops that make up the 35-mile LBJ National Grasslands multi-use trail system.

Facilities at the site include two handicapped-accessible restrooms, the
handicapped-accessible horse ramp, 20 parking spurs, six pull-through sites
and 20 stock tethers.  Stock water is available, but no drinking or wash
water or sewage connections is available at the site.

"The fee will also give us a better idea how many people use the site,"
Crooks said.  He estimated that the LBJ National Grasslands in Wise County
have 250,000 visitors a year and the TADRA trailhead gets about 60,000 per
year.

Crooks said the Forest Service's goal is to increase the quality of a
visitor's experience and the fee helps by maintaining recreation
facilities, trails and trailheads to the best standards possible.

An information sheet and comment form are available at the ranger office in
Decatur and an annual evaluation of the fee demonstration program will be
conducted to gauge customer satisfaction.  Results of the evaluation will
be reported to Congress and the public.

The TADRA Point trailhead was named for the riding group, the Texas Arabian
Distance Riders Association, that contributed labor and financial support
for its development.

For recreation information on the LBJ Grasslands, call 627-5475 or visit
the office located just north of Decatur on the east side of U.S. 81/287.