This land is your land - for a price.

A federal law passed in 2004 gave public-land managers authority to charge fees to camp, park at a trailhead, hike, or drop a boat into a river. It's called the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act.

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, calls it double taxation. The Idaho legislator introduced a bill this week that would repeal FLREA, saying taxpayers already pay to use public lands.

Land management agencies say the law bolsters their underfunded coffers. It's likely they'll oppose the bill.

"We are now seeing far too much reliance by our public-lands managing agencies on fees, rather than the appropriations from the Congress for the operation of public lands," Crapo said in a Monday news conference.

The debate is longstanding.

A federal pilot program started in 1996 charged a $5 daily fee or $15 for a season pass to access some public lands, including numerous trailheads in the Sawtooth National Forest. The program was allowed to expire in 2005 after much public opposition. But the same year, Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, introduced FLREA into 2005's omnibus spending bill, which became law without a full vote or public debate.

Idaho, Oregon, Colorado and Montana passed resolutions in opposition to the law, and public outcry prompted then-supervisor of the SNF Ruth Monahan to lift the extra fees on the Sawtooth.

"To charge someone to take a walk is ridiculous," said Scott Phillips, a retired Forest Service recreation manager, who has campaigned to end the fees. "But the Forest Service and the BLM have become addicted to so-called free money. They've gotten greedy."

The issue has divided Idaho's congressional delegation. Crapo has long opposed most user fees, and Sen. Larry Craig began opposing most of them in recent years. Rep. Mike Simpson and former Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, now Idaho's governor, support them, saying the money returns to local forests.

Crapo isn't so sure that's happening.

"Local forests and so forth have been able to get more dollars in their budgets in this manner â€- but a lot of those dollars, in my opinion, have been siphoned off to the central office," Crapo said.

Crapo is co-sponsoring the repeal bill with Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana.

"Americans already pay to use their public lands on April 15," Baucus said in a statement. "We shouldn't be taxed twice to go fishing, hiking or camping on our public lands. It just doesn't make sense. That's why Mike and I are going to fight like the dickens to get this bill passed."

In addition to repealing the FLREA, the bill would reinstate a national parks pass-system program and cap the amount charged for entrance to national parks.

A spokesman for Crapo said the representatives will seek more funding for land-management agencies should his bill pass, which could make up for lost user-fee revenue.

The U.S. Forest Service, the agency most affected by the law, declined to comment for this story.

Matt Christensen may be reached at 735-3243 or at matt.christensen@lee.net.