Reducing the size of the Red Rock Pass fee area cleared one its final hurdles.

U.S. Forest Service Southwestern Regional Forester Corbin Newman announced Dec. 14 he approved changes reducing the area where a Red Rock Pass is required by more than 93 percent, from 160,000 acres down to 11,000 acres.

The changes could be in effect as early as February, according to Newman. He said the reduction is a result of public outreach efforts and the recommendation of the Bureau of Land Management’s Arizona Recreation Resource Advisory Council, which decided the issue in August.

Parking a vehicle anywhere on the 160,000 acres of the Coconino National Forest land around the city of Sedona formerly required displaying a Red Rock Pass. The 160,000 acres included the Red Rock Secret Mountain, Munds Mountain and Sycamore Canyon wilderness areas. The recommended changes Newman approved reduces the requirement to two corridors along state highways and seven individual sites.

The decision complies with the Federal Lands Enhancement Act allowing Red Rock Pass revenue to be collected and used for the management and conservation of forest land in the Red Rock Ranger District area, Newman said.

The public can expect to see a significant reduction in the acreage of the existing standard amenity fee area, which includes two smaller fee areas and seven standard amenity fee sites, with no changes in the actual fee, Newman said. He added USFS believes these changes respond to public desires and carry out the purposes of the enhancement act.

The corridor areas include:

• A 7-mile stretch in Oak Creek Canyon along State Route 89A, from Midgley Bridge to Bootlegger Day Use Area. This area includes Bootlegger, Banjo Bill and Halfway day use areas, and Encinoso, Huckaby and Midgley Bridge trailheads.
• A 3-mile stretch on State Route 179 from Bell Rock Vista and Pathway to just past Back o’ Beyond Road at the southern end of Sedona city limits. This area includes Cathedral Rock, Little Horse, Courthouse Butte, Yavapai Vista, Bell Rock Vista and Pathway trailheads.

The seven individual standard amenity recreation pass sites include:

• Honaki Heritage Site.
• Palatki Heritage Site.
• V-Bar-V Heritage Site.
• Baldwin Trailhead, near the end of Verde Valley School Road.
• Boynton Canyon Trailhead, along Boynton Pass Road.
• Doe and Bear Mountain Trailhead, along Boynton Pass Road just before the pavement ends.
• Jim Thompson Trailhead, located off Jordan Road north of Uptown.

The Coconino National Forest will continue to work with the public and the Advisory Council to provide updates on the implementation of the fee area changes, he said.

The pass requirement was called into question with a judge’s ruling last year.

In 2010, James Smith, a Sedona hiker, successfully fought a citation USFS issued him for not displaying a pass on his vehicle parked near the Vultee Arch Trailhead off Dry Creek Road northwest of Sedona. Smith refused to pay the $55 criminal citation and the U.S. Forest Service fined him $100.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark E. Aspey ruled in favor of Smith and wrote the High-Impact Recreation Area was too broadly applied to the Sedona area. Red Rock Pass sales were meant to alleviate wear and tear from visitors within the HIRA. The ruling effectively required USFS to redefine specifically which areas the pass was and wasn’t needed.

Aspey ruled the pass could only be required in areas with six key elements:

• designated developed parking
• a permanent toilet facility
• a permanent trash receptacle
• an interpretive sign, exhibit or kiosk
• picnic tables
• security

Only those seven individual sites possess the six required amenities. The corridors have them in close enough proximity to fall under the HIRA guidelines, the Recreation Resource Advisory Council decided.

“Although I’m pleased that they’re closer to being in compliance with the law, I still wonder if they’re in complete compliance,” Smith said of Newman’s approval.

Smith said he agrees with parts of the FLEA that give the Coconino National Forest authority to charge amenity fees for access to certain individual sites but questions whether the act necessarily applies to those who simply park along the side of the road.