The National Forest Stamp

The National Forest along with the Virgina Department of Game and Inland Fisheries requires hunters and fishermen of Virginia to purchase a $3.50 National Forest Stamp, to hunt and fish on publicly owned national forest and state parks. Other users of the public land such as, hikers, wildlife viewers, campers, horseback riders, bikers, and others, do not have to pay the fee. The problem here is equity towards hunter and fishermen. Both groups use the same public land, and only one of the has to pay the fee. Hunters and fishermen are already mandated to pay for their hunting and fishing licences, but still have to pay an additional fee for use of the public land. Other users impact the public land just the same as hunters and fishers, if not more.

Their are two main alternatives to this problem. The first being, not requiring any users to pay a fee. This alternative would generate no money for national forest, which means law enforcement money that used to be there no longer be available. This would negatively effect the land because there would be one to regulate improper use of the land.

The second alternative is to adopt the national parks use fee. The national parks require all users to pay a standard fee upon entering their public land. Hunting isn't allowed within the parks, but fishing is, so it is very comparable to the national forest. This system would provide more revenue with the same amount of use to the land. It would provide more money for law enforcement, furthering the integrity of the public land. This alternative is the one that i would choose to promote fairness and environmental integrity of our national forest.