Message from the President
Mike Berriochoa
February 17, 2009
Dear Fellow Cabin Owners:
I have received the following message from the National Forest Homeowners Association and it contains very disturbing news of importance to all of us. Action must be taken now. There is no time to waste.
Mike Berriochoa, President
Chinook Pass Cabin Owners Association
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Subject: The Moratorium is Out the Window:
Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack has directed the Forest Service to send cabin owners their statements for 2009 fee increases. The moratorium on those fee increases issued by the agency last month is no longer in effect. The Forest Service has apparently not yet decided how it will implement Secretary Vilsack's directive. So we do not yet know when the statements will be sent and when full payments will be due. The NFH is continuing to monitor the situation and will report further details as soon as they are known. Furthermore, the NFH is examining whether there are any remaining prospects for an administrative moratorium and, if that is not the case, we will be urging Congress to enact a legislative moratorium.
Since we believe that the FS is very unlikely to issue another administrative moratorium, however, our primary and immediate goal must be to obtain a legislative moratorium from Congress. The best, probably the only, legislative vehicle for such a moratorium amendment or "rider" will be the Fiscal Year 2009 FS Appropriations Bill.
Unfortunately, there is no certainty at this time that Congress will even pass a separate 2009 Appropriations Bill. The FS and most other agencies have been operating since last October 1 on a "continuing resolution" or "CR" which held 2009 spending at 2008 levels. One option before Congress is simply to extend the CR (due to expire on March 3rd) through to the end of the fiscal year on September 30. If that is done, there will be no 2009 appropriations bill. But we must proceed as if Congress will soon take up a 2009 appropriations bill.
A 2009 appropriations bill will rest with first Senator Diane Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that controls the FS budget and with Representative Norm Dicks, who chairs the corresponding House Appropriations Subcommittee. They both have a large number of cabin owner constituents.
My recommendation for a grassroots strategy is to assume there will be a 2009 appropriations bill and that cabin owners should immediately ask for a Congressional moratorium on 2009 fee increases. Cabin owners in California (Feinstein) and Washington State (Rep. Dicks and also Senator Maria Cantwell) will, as noted, be particularly vital.
In addition, cabin owners in Oregon (Wyden), Montana (Tester and Baucus), Wyoming (Barrasso) and Idaho (Crapo) can play critical roles, as also can those in Tennessee (Senator Lamar Alexander is now the ranking Republican on the Senate Forests Appropriations Subcommittee).
PLEASE NOTE THAT URGENT ACTION IS ESSENTIAL. IF CONGRESS ENACTS A 2009 APPROPRIATIONS BILL, IT WILL HAPPEN WITHIN THE NEXT MONTH. CONGRESS IS IN RECESS NEXT WEEK SO IT COULD BE A GOOD TIME FOR CONSTITUENTS TO CONTACT THEM WHILE THEY ARE BACK HOME.
Cabin owners can make at least the following points when they communicate with their Members of Congress:
(1) Cabin owners are outraged at this flip flop by the Forest Service.
They first expected to pay their 2009 fee increases, then were told their 2009 fees would be the same as 2008 (with only a 1.7% increase) and now will be told their 2009 increases will have to be paid anyway.
Now, cabin owners will probably have only a very short time to come up with their higher fees.
(2) Members of Congress themselves were give the same reassurances by the Forest Service about this now aborted administrative moratorium, about which they then informed their constituent cabin owners, and Congress should now also be outraged and embarrassed at this abrupt turn of events.
(3) The new 2009 fees are excessively high and based on flawed appraisals a decade or more old that CUFFA was intended to correct (although it did not do so).
(4) Congress needs time to reexamine CUFFA and the overall appraisal system now used by the Forest Service and all fee increases should be suspended until Congress has that opportunity. (Otherwise, there is the risk that some cabin owners may have to pay excessive fees only to have Congress later this year change the whole system on which cabin owner fees are based.)
(5) The overall recreation residence program fee system is at best in a state of confusion and at worst in a state of crisis, with the continued existence of the entire recreation residence program in question, because of unfair, excessive fees. Cabin owners are caught in this mess that was not their doing and they should not have to pay fee increases until at least things get straightened out.
Additional points can undoubtedly be made. Cabin owners should cite their particular situations if possible, especially if they are faced with egregious increases.
Let me reemphasize that grassroots communications from cabin owners to Congress need to be made as soon as possible. Time is not on our side on this one. If there is a 2009 appropriations bill, it will move soon so we should also.
Let's roll.
Best to all,
Aubrey King
Washington Representative
National Forest Homeowners
Mary Clarke Ver Hoef
Executive Director
National Forest Homeowners
5150 Fair Oaks Blvd. Ste 101/315
Carmichael CA 95608