Republicans Want to Charge for Hiking, Biking, Canoeing on State-Owned Land
Legislators push $20 permit for hiking, $40 for biking or cross-county skiing.
The North Country National Scenic Trail passing through the Brule Glacial Spillway State Natural Area. Photo by Aarongunnar, (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons
A Republican-led proposal would require new fees for people looking to hike, cross-country ski, bike, canoe or forage on state-owned land.
The package of bills, from State Rep. Chanz Green, R-Grand View, and State Sen. Rob Stafsholt, R-New Richmond, seeks to help the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources with a $16 million budget shortfall, according to a co-sponsorship memo.
“That model isn’t fair,” Green wrote. “Expanding this new revenue stream is the most common-sense way to help the DNR with its budgetary problems and ensure everyone who benefits helps sustain our natural resources.”
The package of bills, called the “DNR Revenue Stream Refresh,” would require adults to pay for a $40 permit to cross-country ski on state properties and a $40 permit if they wish to ride a bike on a “groomed mountain biking trail or other trail,” according to the memo.
Adults who want to forage on state property would be required to pay for a $40 permit, while a $20 hiking permit would be required for adult hikers.
Trail passes are already required at many state parks and trails for biking, cross-country skiing and horseback riding. The existing fees are $25 for an annual pass and $5 for a day pass.
The proposed fees are higher than many required for hunting and fishing. The current prices for an annual fishing license is $20 for a Wisconsin resident, $24 for a gun deer hunting license and $5 for a turkey hunting license.
The memo from the Republican lawmakers said the proposal will add multiple new sources of revenue to the DNR, “rather than requiring hunters and anglers to pay for urban parks and bike paths for all.”
Victoria Wilson, a Burlington resident, is with a women’s hiking group that goes on weekly hikes throughout the state. She said some hiking gear can be expensive, and there’s already a vehicle admission fee in place to use state parks.
“So adding on just another fee really limits a lot of people, especially when the economy and times are tough,” Wilson said.
Wilson said she’s worried the new hiking fee, which would be $10 for children over the age of 12, would limit people from getting into the hobby.
Foraged Wisconsin mushrooms. Mackenzie Krumme/WPR
The North Country National Scenic Trail is a national trail that’s part of the National Park Service. About 220 miles of the trail run through the northwest part of the state.
“We really believe any user fees — especially for just simply walking out on public land — would really create a barrier for people,” said Andrea Ketchmark, the executive director of the North Country Trail Association.
“But this is not the way to do it,” Ketchmark said.
Another bill in the package would remove the current registration exemption that applies to non-motorized boats in the state. An analysis from the Legislative Reference Bureau doesn’t mention a price for that registration, but said the registration would apply to a “canoe, sailboat, inflatable boat or similar device, row boat, raft, or dinghy that is not a motorboat.”
A staff member for Rep. Green didn’t respond to a reporter’s question about how much the registration fee could be.
Jeff Mazanec, the president of the Northeast Wisconsin Paddlers and a kayak instructor, said he understands the negative reaction to new fees or prices going up.
“I think that however this evolves, it’s important to step back and really look at the concerns about the cost of (the DNR) budget, what the money be used for, how it improves the sport for those people using it and trying to balance that all out,” Mazanec said.
Under the proposal, a person who is “authorized to cross-country ski on state-owned land under a separate trail pass or as part of an organized event is not required to have a cross-country ski permit,” an analysis from the Legislative Reference Bureau said.
There are similar exemptions in place for bikers and hikers, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau analysis of the bills.
Wilson said she is interested in learning more about the proposal and possible benefits.
A spokesperson for the Wisconsin DNR said they’re unable to comment on pending legislation.
Republican lawmakers propose new fees for hiking, biking, cross-country skiing on state-owned land was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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I totally support paying extra for groomed trails for niche hobbies and see an argument for foraging if hunters have to pays fees. However, $40 seems steep and would want to see it worded where it can’t be enforced for eating a couple of raspberries.
Charging $20 for hiking is insane. What else is there to do on state land other than swim? And how do you differentiate hiking from walking? Many fishers walk along a trail to get to their spot, is that hiking? That’s kinda the whole point of state owned land, to walk. So now you’d need a $20 permit just to use lake shore state park? Get out of here…
I buy my kids state passes for all the state parks for Christmas gifts. Does that mean they can only get in to the park but are not allowed to walk around? Hunting and fishing passes don’t cost as much as hiking.. Ask for donations because people are quite generous when they know they are helping people be healthy.. Especially people who can’t afford $40. What about school students on a field trip to one of our parks? Will they have to pay $40? $40 just seems way too high!
Leave it to Vos and his cronies to make more things inaccessible/unaffordable to the struggling and working class. As a compromise, why not just raise the price of the yearly or daily park pass? That has also been rising over the years.
They say they want to promote healthy citizens by proposing banning purchase of some arguably unhealthy items with SNAP benefits. Then they propose raising the pass for healthy activities at our state parks and forests. Way to you, you hypocrites. When will the folks in their districts wake up to their hypocrisy and vote them out of office?
making life less affordable as usual
This is pretty confusing. There are already fees for cross country skiing at most state groomed areas I am familiar with. And the LRB says this $40 permit won’t apply if you had a trail pass. So is this a proposal to have a $40 permit for ungroomed skiing? Pretty niche in Wisconsin. Very few people doing yo-yo laps on their sbound 98s here. Or maybe A $40 permit for LaCrosse Experimental forest trails and other places that are currently free? That seems backwards.
I don’t support increasing the cost of the existing trail pass to $40 but that makes more sense to me. I predict the revenue from XC skiers from this would be near 0.
The memo from the Republican lawmakers said the proposal will add multiple new sources of revenue to the DNR, “rather than requiring hunters and anglers to pay for urban parks and bike paths for all.”
There’s the GOP selling point – they’ve been paying too much for all those urban hippies playing ultimate frisbee and riding bikes. I’d like to see a breakdown of how much DNR money has actually been spent on these things. Is the GOP targeting activities that are perceived to be more ‘liberal’? I bet the costs to maintain motorized facilities such as boat launches and ATV trails are much higher than these nonmotorized activities.
How will this be enforced? I’m guessing the DNR isn’t adding wardens to patrol for compliance, so how many people will actually pay? Are they going to pay to put up signs at all DNR properties and on all public lakes telling people to pay up and how to do so? So many questions with this half-baked proposal.
Yeah, I agree with Math books. The general idea of user fees is not a bad thing, but the motivation and rhetoric give me a bad vibe
I would support linking license plate renewal to voluntary 12-month in-state park permit renewal by either issuing date-stamped one-year window decals or implementing license plate readers at parks. Nothing disincentivizes me more to buying a full-price state park sticker in October than knowing it will expire in December rather than in a year.
Creating 12-month permits and linking their purchase to plate renewal would decrease administrative costs, increase revenue, and not require the ungodly amount of enforcement this proposal would require.
People need to be reminded that Scott Walker (cheered on at the time by Tom Tiffany) removed all funding of our State Parks a decade ago and replaced the revenue with user fees.
Funny how we always are able to come up with big funding for major league sports venues to subsidize their ultra wealthy owners but can’t chip in for parks.