The Mouse That Roared

In 1996 Congress authorized the "Recreation Fee Demonstration Program," a three-year project to raise additional funds by charging the public for recreational use of public lands and parks. The program has been extended through 2001, when it will either expire or be made permanent through legislation.

This Demonstration Program has been implemented by the "American Recreation Coalition," a public-private partnership of which the Disney Corporation is a member. A critic of the user fees, and of corporate development of national parks and wilderness areas, is Wild Wilderness, a Bend, Oregon environmental group. The American Recreation Coalition's purpose, Wild Wilderness contends, is "to fashion public opinion in promoting and implementing the commercialization and privatization of public land."

On August 14th, Wild Wilderness staged a "National Day of Action," the purpose of which was to oppose "Disneyfication of the Wild" and "Corporate Takeover of Nature." Thirty-one protests took place in 9 states. According to a news release, "Protestors specifically targeted the Disney Corporation, siting [sic] Disney's direct involvement in creating and implementing this highly unpopular program."

One such protest took place at the entrance to Disneyland in Anaheim, Califonia. The T-Shirt artwork worn by one of the protestors prompted a threatening letter from Disney's legal counsel. Says Scott Silver, Executive Director of Wild Wilderness, "The shirts are clearly a parody. No court in the land would hold that Wild Wilderness was 'passing off' these protest shirts as Disney products. We created these shirts to be worn by persons wishing to protest Fee Demo and the associated corporate takeover of nature."

More disturbing than the imposition of a user fee is the willingness of the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and others to abandon their conservation and preservation mission for a policy of development and "theme parkism" for our country's lakes, mountains, wilderness, and natural wonders.

Visit the Wild Wilderness website and browse through some of their articles and links. It's a huge site with many resources and much documented evidence of the partnership (conspiracy?) between corporate interests and the federal government to sacrifice a sacred trust for dollars.

Teddy Roosevelt, who established the national park system and warned against corporate abuse of government against the public interest must be spinning in his grave.

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