Friday December 2, 2022

Is the defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton pulling a Ticketmaster with public land fees? The billion-dollar company won a 10-year, $182 million contract to manage Recreation.gov in 2017. Since then it has collected varying processing fees from users. But some compare the charges to those “junk fees” customers face for hotel bookings to airline tickets. Plus, November 29th marked another anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre. Our partners share a report about that mass murder of at least 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people by U.S. troops in 1864. And conservation groups are pushing to keep federal protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments.

Plus, the Weekly News Reel! Doug McMurdo of The Times-Independent discusses a proposed noise buffer between residential and commercial properties in Grand County and plans for a new 80-unit apartment complex in Moab. Alison Harford of the Moab Sun News talks about the saving of World Famous Woody’s Tavern, a new community space at Adobe Garden Apothecary and the return of Science Moab on Tap.

// Show Notes:

// Photo: Most visitors had to rely on Recretion.gov to visit Arches National Park in Moab during a pilot timed-entry reservation program. The $2 processing fee collected for those reservations went to Booz Allen Hamilton. KZMU

// Matt Stoller: Why Is Booz Allen Renting Us Back Our Own National Parks?
https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/why-is-booz-allen-renting-us-back

// Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title16/chapter87&edition=prelim

// The President’s Initiative on Junk Fees and Related Pricing Practices
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/blog/2022/10/26/the-presidents-initiative-on-junk-fees-and-related-pricing-practices/

// Weekly News Reel Mentions:

// The Times Independent: Proposed noise noise buffer zone vexes OHV operators
https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/proposed-noise-buffer-zone-vexes-ohv-operators/

// The Times-Independent: Plans for 80-unit apartment complex move forward
https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/plans-for-80-unit-apartment-complex-move-forward/

// Moab Sun News: Woody’s Tavern keeps bar license
https://moabsunnews.com/2022/12/01/woodys-tavern-keeps-bar-license/

// Moab Sun News: The new community tea shop
https://moabsunnews.com/2022/12/01/the-new-community-tea-shop/

// Moab Sun News: Science Moab on Tap returns
https://moabsunnews.com/2022/12/01/science-moab-on-tap-returns/