How many Fee Demo sites are there? When Congress first authorized the Fee Demo Program (through a rider, skipping the public hearing process) it said that the Forest Service could charge fees at up to 100 “areas, sites or projects.” But in December 2001, U.S. Magistrate Thomas Coffin found that the agency had “exceeded its authority” in collecting fees at 1,349 sites. After the ruling, Congress lifted the 100-site cap (in another process that skipped public input). Now the Forest Service says it is testing fees nationwide on “87 projects in 80 National Forests across 32 states and Puerto Rico.”

Fee Demo: We Already Pay Taxes!