I'm curious: for those who advocate expanding the application of user
fees -- would you advocate for toll roads and highways to get to the
"the roads, parking lots, fences, trails, bathrooms, etc" of your
birding destination? Would your advocacy include public libraries?
Those who want to read books and do research - and can't afford to
buy all their books - should pay for the library? Schools? Those
who want to learn to read and write should be the ones who pay for
schools? How about the fire department? If your house is burning,
who pays?

I know this is the "slippery slope" argument, but I hope you see my
point here. This is the same ground the Founders of our country went
over (and even before that, the original colonists). There's nothing
wrong with revisiting the principles. I would just ask that we make
sure we are aware that we draw lines between what is commonwealth and
what is not; and we give very considered thought to where we locate
the lines, and the effect on others. If we keep applying the user
fee logic, my view is that we soon come to a point where all but the
very wealthy have to give up some basic needs (IMO, we're almost
there already in regards to health care). And most of us are just an
extended job-loss away from that place, or, at the least, having to
give up birding some of the prime public locations.

What happens to those who truly can't afford what you or I can easily afford?

David Lyles
Portland OR