We are blessed to have a vast protected wilderness in our backyard and even more blessed to have the opportunity to explore it. From our local open spaces, to Caspers Wilderness Park, to Cleveland National Forest, the opportunities to experience natural California are endless. And thanks to the U.S. Forest Service, it may soon also be free. According to the Forest Service, “Cleveland National Forest officials are [considering] proposed changes to the Corral Canyon, Holy Jim, Mt. Laguna, Ortega, Tenaja and Wildomar Recreation Fee Areas. The forest is proposing to eliminate or substantially reduce the size of these standard amenity fee areas.” Translated, that means the proposed fee changes would result in over 30,000 acres of Cleveland National Forest becoming free to the public.
Back in 2011, the federal government ordered a review of the 97 fee areas within the National Forest System with the goal of reducing or eliminating as many of the fee areas as possible. As a result, the Forest Service plans to eliminate fees in 73 of these areas and reduce the fee boundaries for the remaining 24. Included in these changes are the six fee areas within Cleveland National Forest. If implemented, the changes will be effective at the end of 2014. In the meantime, the Forest Service has not been issuing notices of required fees or enforcing fees within the Cleveland National Forest outside of the listed recreation sites and reduced area boundaries.
More information is available here.
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