Visitors to Big Sur area wll get to pass up fees

11 April 2004

By Hildy Medina
NEWS-PRESS Staff Writer

Visitors to the Los Padres National Forest's Monterey Ranger District will be happy to learn that beginning next month, they will no longer have to pay the controversial Adventure Pass fee.

"The Monterey Ranger District was selected as a free area to eliminate visitor confusion particularly along the Big Sur Coast," said Forest Supervisor Gene Blankenbaker.

"The Highway 1 corridor along the Big Sur Coast includes a lot of private property and state parkland interspersed with national forest land. This has always been confusing for visitors."

Visitors to the Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Ventura and Los Angeles counties portions of Los Padres are not so fortunate. They are still required to pay the $5 daily fee or buy a $30 annual pass.

The fee to be ended May 28, also will no longer be required at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument in the San Bernardino National Forest, Palomar Mountain in the Cleveland National Forest, and the area south of interstate 8 to the border of Mexico in the Cleveland National Forest.

Fees for campgrounds and concessionaire-operated day use sites will remain in effect.