Vermont's state parks, national forests, and public fishing access areas are facing a funding crisis — and the answer being proposed is to charge Vermonters more to visit the lands they already own. New fees, higher campsite rates, and flexible pricing that could spike costs during peak family vacation times are all on the table.

But here is the real question: why are Vermont families being asked to foot the bill while the Trump administration hands $700 million to coal plants, slashes federal agency budgets, and guts the staffing and funding of public land agencies across the country?

The Green Mountain National Forest is facing a massive backlog of deferred maintenance. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is struggling as federal support shrinks. State parks are absorbing surging costs while federal investment in public lands dries up. This is a federal failure being passed down to the families who can least afford it.

Vermont's blue-collar families — the ones Governor Scott says he wants to protect — should not have to pay more to take their kids camping because Washington decided public lands are not worth funding. Vermont's "right to roam" is a cornerstone of the state's culture. Pricing families out of their own parks is not a solution. It is an injustice.

We're calling on Vermont's congressional delegation to demand the Trump administration restore federal funding for public lands and stop forcing states to raise fees on working families to cover Washington's failures.