Dear Kern River Courier,
The following are clarifications of some misconceptions about the US Forest Service:

1. Over the past decade money allocated by Congress to the U.S. Forest Service for recreation has seen a steady increase, not a decrease.  The problem is much of this money never makes it to campgrounds or picnic areas; rather it is getting eaten up in the Forest Service's vast bureaucracies, first in Washington D.C., then San Francisco, then Porterville.

2. The argument that fire fighting is swallowing up these funds is questionable: under the Forest Service's budget procedures, recreation money must be used only for recreation.  

Locally, over the past eight years, the Sequoia National Forest has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Kern River rafting companies. This money, as required by law, must go back into Kern River projects (with public input and oversight that Sequoia officials have actively denied) for such things that would include trash Dumpsters/pickup Porta-potties, etc. 

As anyone who attended the June 5, 2008 meeting in Kernville can tell you, Sequoia officials could not state how much money they have collected from the rafting companies over the past few years – other than that it has been several hundreds of thousands of dollars – nor what has been done with the money.  What they did tell people is that they just spent $20,000 on an accounting program so that possibly in the future they might be able to tell the taxpaying public what they are doing with the money they do receive.  Sequoia Forest officials gave the same "I don't know" answers when asked about money collected over the last three years from the campgrounds around the lake.

There's a bill that has been introduced in the Senate by Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Max Baucus (D-Montana) which, if passed, would be the first step in returning financial responsibility and accountability on the part of the U.S. Forest Service's recreation budget.  A similar bill may be introduced in the House soon, and our own Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) is a potential co-sponsor.

You can send a letter or email to Congressman McCarthy's office in Washington  – (www.kevinmccarthy.house.gov). Regardless of how you feel about the U.S. Forest Service in general, or the Sequoia National Forest in particular, now would be a good time to let Congressman McCarthy know.

April Karlberg
Lake Isabella