Wenatchee forest cabin owners stunned by rise in permit fees

YAKIMA - Some cabin owners in the Wenatchee National Forest were shocked last week to learn the government is substantially increasing their annual special-use-permit fees, in some cases tenfold.

The fees jumped from about $500 to $1,700 per year for Paul and Judy Scott, who have owned a remote summer cabin for 42 years along the Bumping River.

"I kind of expected it to double, at least," said Paul Scott, a retired Naches, Yakima County, postmaster. "It will put a hardship on a lot of people. I've heard from two or three people that say they'll just have to sell, and some lawyer will buy it, and that'll be that."

The Scotts are among the 529 owners of "recreational residences" on Wenatchee National Forest land within the Naches Ranger District.

They pay fees based on 5 percent of the appraised value of each lot to lease the lots on which the cabins sit.

The fees are rising anywhere from 100 percent to 1,000 percent throughout the Wenatchee National Forest since the last appraisal 20 years ago.

The largest increases were for lakeside lots, especially those at Bumping, Rimrock and Lake Wenatchee.

"I don't call 300 percent a marginal raise. I would call that an outrageous increase, not a reasonable one," said Jack Selby of Kennewick, president of the 21-cabin American Forks Summer Home Owners and vice president of the Naches Recreation Association.

"They're valuing the land far more than mine is worth," Selby said.

The concept behind the increases, said Mike Hiler, special-uses coordinator for the Naches Ranger District, is to "represent the taxpayer and get a fair return on all of the (U.S. Forest Service land) uses."

"We have to use fair-market value to come up with the permit fee," he said.

The Forest Service raises the fee a little bit each year, in an effort to hold down the size of the increases from the 20-year appraisals.

National-forest land west of the Cascade Range largely kept pace with the annual fee increases. The cabins in the White River area in Western Washington say fees rise only about $175 each.

But the value of forest property in Eastern Washington is rising much faster, said Paul Hart, public-affairs supervisor for the Wenatchee National Forest.

"People are really interested in finding recreational sites on the sunny side of the mountains," Hart said. "The private-land values have just not gone up comparably on the west side.

"It's kind of ironic because a lot of the people who are purchasing those lots on the east side are from the west side."

Any major changes or improvements to cabins on leased National Forest land are subject to Forest Service approval.

Because of those restrictions, the cabins are worth far less than the Forest Service contends, Selby said.

The lessees must also pay property taxes to the county, something that irks some cabin owners.

"I think the Forest Service has been more than fair with the leases," said Ed Keniston, a board member on the Andy Creek Water Users Association. "What I object to is the amount of taxes we pay Yakima County because the county gives us nothing in return."

The new national-forest use fees will take effect in 2002. Any fees that have more than doubled will be phased in over three years. Selby said some cabin owners may appeal.

Naches District Ranger Randy Shepard said he sympathizes with cabin owners who are on a fixed income.

"But our job is to get a fair income for the other 200-some million taxpayers," Shepard said.