Forest Service Waives 'Adventure Pass'' Fees Through Monday

IDYLLWILD - The government is waiving Adventure Pass fees in the San Bernardino National Forest and in other national forests around Southern California through Monday, partly in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

Fee waivers -- $5 daily and $30 for a year -- are in effect through Monday in all parts of the 676,000-plus-acre forest, about one-third of which is in Riverside County.

''We encourage the public to get outdoors in America's vast and dynamic playground,'' Tom Tidwell of the Forest Service said. ''We hope that visiting ... beautiful national forests and grasslands will help people gain a deep appreciation for natural resources and create lifelong memories.''

Rangers said the fee waivers were also part of an effort to boost economic activity near parkland. They said access to 98 percent of federally protected land is free most, if not all, of the time. All overnight parking inside national forests requires an Adventure Pass.

Future fee-waiver weekends are planned on June 9, Sept. 29 and Nov. 10.

More information is available at http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/sanbernardino/ap/.