I just read the January FMCA Newsletter. Have you? One article that caught my eye was the one titled -

Camping fees

The U.S. Forest Service may change its discount policies pertaining to holders of Senior and Access passes. Read more [/color]>>

I don't know about you but I worked hard to earn my retirement and part of that was the right to enjoy the National Parks, BLM and National Forest Service campgrounds at a senior rate. As soon as I turned 62 I headed for the nearest National Monument to buy my Golden Age Pass. Six months later my wife turned 62 and we headed to Mt St Helens to get hers. We were proud of those passes and we love and support the National and State Parks. In fact in the last 7 years while full timing we have volunteered at State Parks in four different states: Oregon, California, Arizona and Alaska because we think it is important to support the park system. Now this is just my opinion but I am not real pleased that the Forest Service has turned over most of their campgrounds to private concessioners so they can profit from public lands. But now the Forest Service wants to add to the concessioners profits at our expense. Below is a letter that I sent to Senator Patty Murray from Washington State along with the article from the FMCA newsletter. I think we should all be mad as H--- and make some noise and write our legislators. It says on the back of my Golden Age Pass that I am entitled to a 50% discount at Forest Service campgrounds. What will they take away next?

Also a big thanks to FMCA for bringing this to our attention.

If you want to send this to your Senator you can contact them through this web site. http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_info...enators_cfm.cfm

To: Senator Patty Murray

The article below is from the FMCA web site, http://www.fmca.com/index.php/motorhome/mo...ome-rights/2929. We have been big supporters of state and national parks and have worked as volunteers at state parks for the last 7 years. Now the U.S. Forrest service has seen fit to put private concessioners above the interest of seniors by changing the term of the Golden Age Pass as noted below. We talk to senior RVers often who are on Social Security and rely on the reduced fees at NPS, BLM and U.S.Forrest service to be able to afford to maintain their RV live stile. This is another take-a-way from seniors who have worked hard all their lives to be able to enjoy retirement. Please help support seniors by helping us retain the benefits promised when we bought our Golden Age Passes.