I received an email from the Western Slopes Coalition today, and they say our efforts to defeat the attempts to eliminate the discounted fees on Federal Lands was successful.  They were known as the Proposed Directives for Forest Service Concession Campground Special Use Permits.  

If you have enjoyed the full and longstanding benefit of a Golden Age Passport or other Federal Lands senior or disabled discount, you may continue to do so.  Especially contentious was the feature of the proposed change that would result in dropping the 50% Golden Age camping discount to only 10%.  Seniors and disabled citizens railed against the proposal, to the tune of about 99.5%, and the idea was withdrawn due to overwhelming public opposition.  The only input favoring the change was from commercial entities and their Associations representing concessionaires, the only ones who stood to gain by implementation of the Directives.

Thank you to those of you who took the time to call, write, or email the govt. agencies involved, expressing your opposition to the change.  Many who wrote in were adamantly against the continued use of concessionaire management of public lands facilities, as well as inconsistent policies across the nation regarding the honoring of Federal discount documents by concessionaires.  It would seem there is evidence the basic intent of long-standing Federal Lands public use legislation, policy, and administrative rules has been mutilated by commercial interests.  This recent attempt at more profit may have backfired, because there is now an apparent sentiment to eliminate or severly limit concessionaire administration of National Park and National Forest facilities.

Further information regarding the issue can be found at:  http://westernslopenofee.org/index2.php?display=yes&pageid=23

-Joel