Our view: Public land users have reason to celebrate the U.S. Forest Service's reversal on trailhead fees.

It takes a bold spirit to recognize the need to reverse course. To see such a change happen in federal government, is more than just bold -- it's downright courageous.

To describe the U.S. Forest Service in such terms wouldn't be an overstatement.

Last week, the Forest Service after nearly nine years of pushing access fees and trailhead passes at national forest sites, stopped in its tracks and changed its course.

Forest Service chief Dale Bosworth announced that the agency has dropped 500 day-use sites nationwide from its fee-structured program since they did not meet higher standards set for fee sites under new laws. That new law, the Federal Lands Enhancement Recreation Act, was passed last winter as an end to the Fee Demonstration program that started in 1996.

And just like that, the Trailhead Parking Pass Program required at day-use areas, including 17 locations in the Sawtooth National Forest and Sawtooth National Recreation Area, was gone.

Fee-demo was passed by Congress as a way to enhance revenue by charging recreationists for hikes, picnics, and day use activities. But the $5-per-day, $15-per-summer, parking passes became an onerous reminder to most Idahoans spending time in the Sawtooths. And so the pay-to-play concept, while valid for developed campgrounds, boat-docks, and national parks, grew drastically unpopular in national forests.

By rolling back trailhead access permits at the Sawtooth sites, forest supervisor Ruth Monahan and her staff deserve enormous credit for changing the course.

"We have scrutinized our existing recreation fee program on the forest and have determined that our Trailhead Parking Pass Program does not meet the intent of the new legislation or the agency's interim implementation guidelines," Monahan said.

Those guidelines say that a fee at day-use facilities is warranted only when they include developed parking, permanent toilets, permanent trash bins, interpretive signs, exhibit or kiosk, picnic tables and security services. None of the trailheads in the program meet those requirements by having all of those amenities.

In a discussion with the Times-News editorial board on Tuesday, Monahan said the trailhead fees brought in around $50,000 of revenue for the Sawtooth Forest. That money was reinvested back in Sawtooth trails and amenities.

With the new law, that revenue is gone, but the local forest office will be allowed to keep the outfitter and guide fees that are collected in the Sawtooth Forest. Monahan said that trade-off will amount will make the SNF break even. (And if you liked paying the fees, the Forest Service will gladly take your donation.)

Yet, the best investment from this new announcement is the reaffirmed confidence that public lands truly are open to the tax-paying public. The new program will continue to charge fees for overnight camping at developed sites in the Sawtooth National Forest, but most public land users are willing to pay for those uses.

But for more than eight years, the notion of charging the public land user for a walk through the trees and on mountain trails bristled against our public lands legacy. Sure, many land users paid for their parking pass. But under a threat of a fine or other penalty, participation was less than voluntary.

Today, the Sawtooth Forest trailheads are open to those who already pay for it. The Forest Service is to be commended for adopting the change. And those who defended the principle of public forests, deserve the chance to celebrate.