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H.R. 2028 



The Department of Agriculture objects to the enactment of H.R. 

 2028. 



The National Forest System is a major provider of outdoor 

 recreation experiences for the American public. In 1991, 1.6 

 billion visits were recorded on Federal lands. Of these, 600 

 million took place on NFS lands. Increasingly, we are 

 accommodating this demand through partnerships and other 

 non-Federal resources. Currently, approximately 5,300 

 concessioners operate on NFS lands generating revenues in excess 

 of $1.2 billion of which $26 million is returned to the Federal 

 Government in the form of permit fees. Approximately 60 percent 

 of the capacity of NFS-developed recreation facilities are 

 operated by concessioners under the authority of the Granger -Thye 

 Act of 1950 (P.L. 81-478, 64 Stat. 82, 16 U.S.C. 580d) . Without 

 the extensive use of concessioners, the Forest Service could not 

 begin to fulfill the ever-growing recreation demands of the 

 American public. 



While the intent of H.R. 2028 is to enhance the role of the 

 private sector in providing recreation experiences on Federal 

 lands, we believe the bill contains a number of critical 

 provisions that -would have the opposite effect in application. 



