OCR Text |
Show Forest Land Movie Makers Site You have all heard the phrase "Land of Many Uses," and of course "Multiple "Mult-iple Use". In setting up National Forests, Congress intended that they be used for as many . purposes as possible consistent with sus tained production. Congress specifically authorized timber tim-ber harvest, forage use and recognized water production. They also recognized that other "special uses" would be desirable and of value for public use. Congress also recognized that the taxpayer should be fairly reimbursed for use of public National Forest when individuals or companies made a profit or have exclusive use of the land. As a result, loggers pay for the timber, livestockers pay for forage and other "Special Users" are also charged a fee. Congress also said that the government should not be in competition with private enterprise. Therefore, There-fore, fees charged for National Na-tional Forest resources or uses are based on products or uses charged by private enterprise. As I mentioned in an earlier article, part of the fees are returned to the county and the remainder goes into the general fund of the U.S. Treasury. This past summer. one particular "Special Use" was the filming of the movie, "Inherit the Wilderness" near the Smith-Morehouse Reservoir and at other nearby locations. In this case, the movie company was authorized to construct a "set" of two buildings as well as actually film, for instance, worked as an animal trainer and handler on one or two films. Bill Cornford of Oakley, also worked on several films. Nile Thacker from Kamas helped construct much of the set for "Inherit the Wilderness." Forest Service participation participa-tion in the movies is limited to issuing the permit, collecting col-lecting the fee and seeing that the filming does not unduly hinder other Forest users or present safety ; problems. A few years ago, Bob Wais, a summer employee, em-ployee, called by radio from the Smith-Morehouse area to say that he had complaints about tigers in the campground. camp-ground. Needless to say this upset Ranger Scott. Tigers in campgrounds are not particularly partic-ularly popular with young or old mothers with children - or Rangers charged with their safety. After Ranger Scott threatened to shoot both the tigers and their handler '(it wasn't Garland Wilde) no further problems were en countered. Many of you have seen Camp Rogers and Camp Piuta near Soapstone and Camp Steiner near Mirror Lake. These are organizational-site special uses under permit to the YMCA, LDS Church and the Boy Scouts of America, respectively. These special users pay a reduced fee because of their public nature and non-profit status. The facilities were authorized author-ized and built under a special use permit many years ago. It is unlikely that any more organizational sites will be built in this area. Forest Service officials feel that the land has a higher value for individual public use rather than exclusive use by organ- iZations. The County collects taxes on the improvements and the Forest Service collects a fee for the use of the land. They ' '; were built in the early 50's when the Forest Service was seeking more use of public land. Since then, the Forest Service has recognized that summer homes, as well as organizational sites, unduly restrict public use of the land. No more summer home permits have been issued since the middle :50's and it is likely that none will be issued in the foreseeable future. |