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The money, already dribbling in this spring, is collected as client fees from Southeast Alaska guide-outfitter operations and previously went straight to the U.S. Treasury.

That changed with Congressional passage of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act in December.

Now almost all of the guide-outfitter fee revenue collected annually - about $600,000 - will stay with the Tongass.

The new revenue will be banked until next year, forest officials said.

"It's the tightest and most fought-over dollars on the Tongass," said Scott Fitzwilliams, recreation, lands and minerals staff officer for the national forest. "The demands have just been increasing," he said

For example, the number of Tongass special use permits increased 300 percent in the last 12 years, he said.

The Tongass spends about $6 million of its $47 million budget on recreation programs. In contrast, about $22 million goes to its timber harvest program.

In addition to the redirection of outfitter-guide fees, Congress permanently established the experimental day use fees at enhanced facilities on public lands, such as the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center.

The fees were imposed in 1996 and were supposed to expire in two years. But Congress approved two-year extensions through 2004, then voted in December to extend them for at least 10 years. This is the crux of the swirling national controversy over the federal legislation.

Some national forest user groups feel there shouldn't be fees on public lands. But the legislation allows land managers for four federal agencies to establish a "standard amenity recreation fee" at trails or designated picnic areas that are heavily used or have high maintenance costs.

Fitzwilliams said to expect little in the way of fee changes in the Tongass.

Tongass officials are now reviewing all of their public facilities to evaluate whether they should collect new fees or discontinue existing ones.

The most significant change coming is that the forest may shut down some facilities, such as campgrounds or cabins, that aren't getting frequent use and are too expensive to maintain, Fitzwilliams said.

The only place where the Tongass is seriously considering a new fee is at the road-accessible Fish Creek Bear Viewing Observatory north of Hyder, he said.

The observatory attracts tens of thousands of tourists and the Tongass currently spends about $100,000 per year to keep it running, Fitzwilliams said. "It's a major hit," he said.

The new fee program can only be used at certain kinds of developed facilities, such as cabins, campgrounds and interpretive centers.

The fee program cannot be used to charge people for general access to the national forest for hiking, hunting, fishing or other subsistence activities, he said.

Unfortunately, there's been some misinformation about the act, according to Fitzwilliams.

"The fee part is what got people nervous," he said.

A key criticism is that the legislation didn't get a public hearing when it was inserted into a 3,000-page Senate appropriation bill. The act went into effect immediately upon passage.

Failure to pay the recreation fees can result in a fine of up to $100 for first-time offenders.

The legislation was heavily criticized from many quarters, including Western governors and the Alaska House of Representatives, which passed a resolution against it.

The House took action after Rep. Jim Elkins, R-Ketchikan, called for the elimination of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act.

Elkins said the act harmed local residents' access to public lands for traditional activities.

The irony is that recreation fees are becoming common at state-run parks. State fees generate hundreds of thousands to maintain recreational day use facilities in the Anchorage area.

"Southeast Alaska is definitely behind the curve on day use fees," said Mike Eberhardt, Southeast Alaska State Parks superintendent. So far, the only day-use fee in Juneau is at the Eagle River recreation area.

"Without fees, we can't keep up with the demands that the public puts on us," he said.

Some special interest groups, such as the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition, claim the federal legislation amounted to double taxation and will create an incentive for public land agencies to create more day use areas and permit programs.

But the influx of redirected fee money is good news for some guide-outfitters in the Tongass, frustrated by chronic permit delays and the forest's inability to analyze new activities in the forest.

"We've had some people who want to do overnight or multi-day technical climbing trips. We haven't even got the Forest Service to look at it," Engelbrecht said.

"They can just barely administer the permits they've got," he said. "Things are pretty restricted."

• Elizabeth Bluemink can be reached at elizabeth.bluemink@juneauempire.com.