you ALL need a discover pass for ALL DNR land.

[mtman]

I will not pay to use land that all of us already own

[BOWHUNTER45]

No, it doesn't say anything about a free Discover pass with the purchase of a hunting of fishing license.

  Ya know this seriously pi$$e$ me off ... When are we ever going to say we had enough with this crap.. everything has gates on it , can just take the family out and enjoy a ride up in the mountains like I always have .. its just bull sh$t..... this land is all of ours and I think we need to just take back !!!!

[bigtex]

Mushroom and Berry Picking tag.
 

Well actually state law requires you to have a specialized forest products permit for anything over 5 gallons of mushrooms. Then on top of that individual landowners (such as National Forests) can require you to get a permit to pick any amount of shrooms, berries and other forest products

For private consumption I could care less if folks pick mushrooms/berries.... What bothers me is the depletion of the forest of Salal, all allowed so that illegal pickers have another revenue source.

Quite honestly I think the issue with the illegal take of forest products (especially salal and bear grass) is the lack of enforcement because there are laws and permits required to pick but they rarely get followed. Under state law county sheriffs, DNR, WDFW, WSP and the US Forest Service are to be the enforcement authority for forest product picking.

I can never remember a time when a WSP Trooper did any type of this enforcement. About the only time I can remember a county deputy doing forest product enforcement are during emphasis patrols for forest products or when county budgets were big and many counties had “forest patrols” but since everybody is in the red for their budget you don’t see deputies doing this enforcement. DNR and USFS have to stick to their lands for law enforcement issues. WDFW obviously has a lot of other issues (fish and wildlife seasons) so forest product enforcement is done but not to a significant level, more often it’s a WDFW Officer who is out doing hunting enforcement and runs into a forest product violation.

For the sake of my examples let’s look at the Olympic Peninsula area since that’s where the large majority of forest product picking occurs. It is well known that DNR only has one law enforcement officer per DNR region. So there is one DNR Officer that covers law enforcement in Clallam, Jefferson, a good portion of Grays Harbor, and a corner of Mason County. Then with the USFS and the Olympic National Forest, in 2008/9 the USFS cut the amount of law enforcement positions on that forest in half, at the time the forest probably could have added 2 more officers, so they are also drastically understaffed in the area. Thats a couple officers to handle a TON of issues on a huge amount of land, and not just forest products.

[Little Dave]

Quite honestly I think the issue with the illegal take of forest products (especially salal and bear grass) is the lack of enforcement because there are laws and permits required to pick but they rarely get followed. Under state law county sheriffs, DNR, WDFW, WSP and the US Forest Service are to be the enforcement authority for forest product picking.

Children are shown films in third, fourth, and fifth grade that gloss over the concept of public lands... the seed for the idea that public lands are owned by everybody.  This is where people form the idea that they can go in there and do pretty much what they want.

The fee concept is kind of new.  I should probably be charging a fee for my kids to return home each day they retrun from school so that they can get used to the concept... or periodically change the locks and have them pay for the new key.

Got a chuckle this morning when I asked my son what the logo says.  He couldn't see that the tree was supposed to be part of the letter A, he figured I...

So, according to my son, the cutesy artwork says Discover Piss.  I guess we will be calling it that.

[fireweed]

I too waded into the Discover Pass debate early, and called the DNR.  They told me they are looking at requiring a discover pass not on "every" piece of DNR land, but on 74 designated "recreation areas".  The problem is, they are now sitting down on paper and creation "designated recreation areas" as basically chunks of land with or without improvements where recreation of any kind takes place.  When I asked point blank, will you need it to "enter Capitol Forest via vehicle" they said yes.  I asked if it is needed on the Toutle Block which is 37,000 acres of state timberland without legal public access (it's landlocked by Weyco.) and not a single recreation site they said yes, too.  After a few more emails and phone calls my correspondence made its way to Rep. Brian Blake a DEMOCRAT who sponsored the legislation.  He did not believe that the intent of the law he just voted FOR--was to require a pass just to hunt and fish on DNR without using a developed site.  When he learned how the DNR has expanded the scope of the law, he sent me a reply quote "we are going to fight this one."  So I don't think the issue is resolved just yet.   QUESTION: Why would the DNR, that gets a piddly little $2.40 of every $30 pass sold be so hell-bent on requiring these passes on most undeveloped land???  THEORY:  If the new DNR chief can show  the possibility of more money  generated from anything OTHER than timber, he can justify cutting fewer trees, which is the new chief's goal. 

[huntingextremist]

Why is everyone so upset about a $30 pass to access DNR "recreation lands"?  DNR land provides you with a place to hunt, fish, camp, berry pick, cut firewood, or just relax and go for a drive.  You spend more than that taking the family out to dinner or going to the movies, and those activities only last a couple of hours!  If you want to be upset about something be upset that DNR is only getting $2.55 per pass!  How many of you can go hunting in State Parks?  How about this for a question, when the morons rut up the roads, dump garbage, shoot up trees on DNR land is that recreation?  If you camp on DNR land where there are not facilities, are you not doing it for recreation?  I'm sure no one on this forum would leave a mess when they camp away from designated campsites.  But it does happen so who should pay for that?  It seems that there are no free rides any more and if I have to pay to access some of our state trust lands then I am willing.  And as a point of clarification, DNR land is not "public land" even if that is what the commissioners title is.  DNR land is state trust land that provides money to it's trust beneficiaries, like schools, colleges, and state capital. 

[Wenatcheejay]

Why is everyone so upset about a $30 pass to access DNR "recreation lands"?  DNR land provides you with a place to hunt, fish, camp, berry pick, cut firewood, or just relax and go for a drive.  You spend more than that taking the family out to dinner or going to the movies, and those activities only last a couple of hours!  If you want to be upset about something be upset that DNR is only getting $2.55 per pass!  How many of you can go hunting in State Parks?  How about this for a question, when the morons rut up the roads, dump garbage, shoot up trees on DNR land is that recreation?  If you camp on DNR land where there are not facilities, are you not doing it for recreation?  I'm sure no one on this forum would leave a mess when they camp away from designated campsites.  But it does happen so who should pay for that?  It seems that there are no free rides any more and if I have to pay to access some of our state trust lands then I am willing.  And as a point of clarification, DNR land is not "public land" even if that is what the commissioners title is.  DNR land is state trust land that provides money to it's trust beneficiaries, like schools, colleges, and state capital.

My bitch is we already pay $10 per hunting license and $10 to fish per license for parking and they raided the funds. What makes you think they won't raid these funds in a few years? Or, when will they reallocate the DNR fund. I do not trust our Government to use their taxes for what they claim it is for. I would rather see a pass for DNR where it gets all it's funds and let people who use parks pay for that activity. We will get screwed again, we always do.

[Special T]

Its funny, hunting extreamist that you mentioned that... My main beef is that the $$$ is not going to the user group that pays for it. several years ago a WA parks parking pass of $2-5 a day was institued and parks attendance dropped like a brick! I think you would hear less bitching if there was an equil distribution of funds. I have it on good authority, from a close friend, that most people who visit parks for the day are of less financial means... That does not include the people camping or using the boat launches. Fishermen and hunters ARE willing to fork out $$$ for thier hobby, but DO NOT use parks in the previous "free day use" fashion.  The goal is to raise $$ for the parks, not be "fair" in any shape or form..  I for one will not visit non WDFW lands or buy the pass.... You give a good argument as to why everything should be private as opposed to public... 

[sebek556]

huntingextremist- I would like to think that most people on this site care enough and are smart enough to know that if you trash your campground then the game will leave, so dont do it. For me the issue is the state keeps taking more and more from me with out giving anything in return, my kids school is over crammed with students cause of schools closing due to lack of funds, they are shoving wolves down my throat taking away game from friends and family(and soon to be paying millions for the livestock they will kill), it takes police(in my area) 14 hours to show up for a theft, build a 10 million dollar bike trail that is rarely used(how about charging those people?) where does my money go when they just keep sticking their hand back out?!?!?

[madmack76]

interesting first post hunting extremist, i allways thought we kinda payed our way thru our tags and access permits it just seems like another nail in the coffin for hunters

[300rum]

I am tired of it being called a Pass or access permit or whatever.  It is a tax, nothing more and nothing less.

[bobcat]

Huntingextremist- I agree with a lot of your post. The biggest problem I have with the Discover Pass is that I would need to buy it for all four vehicles that I own. That to me is not fair. I wouldn't mind so much paying $30 but don't feel I should be penalized for having four vehicles. I am not going to pay $120. So instead, I will pay nothing and will just not use DNR lands where it is required.
 
And for those saying we already pay enough fees through our hunting and/or fishing licenses- well those fees do not go to the DNR. They only go to the WDFW, so that's really not a valid argument.

[winshooter88]

Guys,

Just to add reality to this dicussion, the actual price of the Discover Pass will be $35.00 after you add in dealer and transaction fees. This to me makes it just that much harder to swallow.

[turkey buster]

like many have already said it's not a pass it's a tax, and I wont be paying for it. I just wont use the land.

[grundy53]

Why is everyone so upset about a $30 pass to access DNR "recreation lands"?  DNR land provides you with a place to hunt, fish, camp, berry pick, cut firewood, or just relax and go for a drive.  You spend more than that taking the family out to dinner or going to the movies, and those activities only last a couple of hours!  If you want to be upset about something be upset that DNR is only getting $2.55 per pass!  How many of you can go hunting in State Parks?  How about this for a question, when the morons rut up the roads, dump garbage, shoot up trees on DNR land is that recreation?  If you camp on DNR land where there are not facilities, are you not doing it for recreation?  I'm sure no one on this forum would leave a mess when they camp away from designated campsites. But it does happen so who should pay for that?  It seems that there are no free rides any more and if I have to pay to access some of our state trust lands then I am willing.  And as a point of clarification, DNR land is not "public land" even if that is what the commissioners title is.  DNR land is state trust land that provides money to it's trust beneficiaries, like schools, colleges, and state capital.

We ALREADY pay for it. It's called taxes. Also, DNR land IS public land. Not all DNR land is trust land, but even the trust land is own by PUBLIC schools. Which means WE pay for it. This is just more redistribution of wealth and it makes me sick.