Media Contact: Madeline Bautista
(602) 851-7122
[email protected]
www.fs.usda.gov/tonto
Cave Creek and Mesa Districts to add fees at
4 OHV areas for enhanced user experience
PHOENIX, October 11, 2024— Tonto National Forest officials will be changing and adding new fees at four OHV recreation areas to enhance and maintain these sites for an improved recreational experience. These new fees will take effect January 1, 2025.
The Tonto conducted public outreach from August 2021 to January 2024, receiving comments on the fee proposal. The proposed changes were based on comments from the public, the level of amenities and services to be provided, cost of operations and maintenance and market assessments.
Fees collected at recreation areas are reinvested directly to maintain these sites which includes trash removal, toilet pumping, painting, cleaning, addressing the backlog of deferred maintenance, conducting patrols, maintaining highly used trails, campsites and more.
Collected fees will also enable necessary improvements to be made across the 4 OHV permit zones including additional restrooms, stabilizing gravel and compaction at staging areas, better access trails, increased information kiosks, and upgraded amenities such as dumpster services. Any new improvements will be monitored for sustainability and adjusted to meet recreational trends.
“We’ve listened to our forest visitors who have expressed their desires for added amenities and improved maintenance at these sites. Adding and restructuring these fees will allow us to do that,” said Kelly Araiza, Tonto’s OHV program manager. “We had to take into account the increasing costs of maintenance and other requirements to develop a fee structure that could be sustainable while meeting the needs of the recreational users who provided comments and input for the fee proposal.”
Tonto National Forest’s fee changes include adding new fees at Bulldog Canyon, The Rolls, Lower Sycamore, Desert Vista, and St. Clair OHV Permit Zones. Fees will also be added to the Lower Sycamore OHV Permit Zone although they will not take affect January 1, 2025, as listed above, but will be implemented at a later date after all requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) have been completed.
Bulldog Canyon OHV Permit Zone is located on the Mesa Ranger District and was previously under a permit system available at www.recreation.gov. The Rolls and Lower Sycamore OHV
Permit Zones are also located on the Mesa Ranger District and will be new to the permit system. St. Clair OHV Permit Zone is located on the Cave Creek Ranger District and was also previously under a permit system available at www.recreation.gov. Desert Vista OHV Permit Zone is located on the Cave Creek Ranger District and will be new to the permit system.
Specifically, the following fee changes have been approved:
Special Recreation Permit
Current: $6 administrative fee
New: Annual $80, 6-Month $60, 3-Day $10
Bulldog Canyon OHV Permit Zone
St. Clair OHV Permit Zone Special Recreation Permit
Current: $0
New: Annual $80, 6-Month $60, 3-Day $10
The Rolls OHV Permit Zone
Desert Vista OHV Permit Zone
Lower Sycamore OHV Permit Zone (Fees will not be charged until all NEPA requirements
have been completed, exact date to be determined)
A complete list of fee areas can be found on the Tonto National Forest webpage at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tonto/passes-permits/recreation.
The fee changes come after the Arizona Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Recreation Resource Advisory Committee (Recreation RAC) met April 25, 2024 and July 16, 2024 to approve the proposed fee changes. The Recreation RAC members represent a broad array of recreation interest groups to help ensure that the Forest Service is proposing reasonable and publicly acceptable fee changes. The Regional Forester reviewed and approved the final fee changes on Sept. 13, 2024 which will now be implemented as described above.
In 2004, Congress passed the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act which allows the Forest Service to retain 95% of revenue collected at recreation sites and use these funds locally to operate and maintain and improve these sites.
The Tonto National Forest hosts numerous fee free days and many roads, trails, and developed recreation sites on the forest are free for public use. You can find information on fee free days at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/tonto/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=stelprdb5350931.
For more information, please visit the Tonto National Forest website at: www.fs.usda.gov/tonto
or call the Cave Creek Ranger District at (480) 595-3300 or the Mesa Ranger District at (480) 610-3300.