Adams v. United States Forest Service ( 2012 )


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  •                    FOR PUBLICATION
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
    GAYE ADAMS, GREG LEWIS, DANIEL           
    PATTERSON, and CHRISTINE M.
    WALLACE,
    Plaintiffs-Appellants,
    No. 10-16711
    v.
    D.C. No.
    UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE,                 4:08-CV-00283-
    JEANINE DERBY, Forest Supervisor                    RCC
    for Coronado National Forest, and
    OPINION
    ANN BIRMINGHAM SCHEEL, Acting
    United States Attorney for the
    District of Arizona,
    Defendants-Appellees.
    
    On Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the District of Arizona
    Raner C. Collins, District Judge, Presiding
    Argued and Submitted
    November 15, 2011—San Francisco, California
    Filed February 9, 2012
    Before: Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge, Carlos T. Bea,
    Circuit Judge, and Robert W. Gettleman, District Judge.*
    Opinion by Judge Gettleman
    *The Honorable Robert W. Gettleman, Senior United States District
    Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, sitting by designation.
    1431
    1434                        ADAMS v. USFS
    COUNSEL
    Matt Kenna (argued), Public Interest Environmental Law,
    Durango, Colorado, and Mary Ellen Barilotti, Hood River,
    Oregon, for the appellants.
    Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General, and Andrew
    C. Mergen, David C. Shilton, and Nicholas A. DiMascio
    (argued), United States Department of Justice, Environmental
    and Natural Resources Division, Washington, DC, for the
    appellees.
    OPINION
    GETTLEMAN, District Judge:
    The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (“REA”)
    prohibits the United States Forest Service from charging fees
    “[s]olely for parking, undesignated parking, or picnicking
    along roads or trailsides,” for “hiking through . . . without
    using the facilities and services,” and “[f]or camping at unde-
    veloped sites . . . .” 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (d)(1)(A), (D) & (E).
    Despite these clear prohibitions, the Forest Service collects
    fees from all drivers who park their vehicles in a mile-wide
    piece of the Coronado National Forest running along the 28–
    mile Catalina Highway, the only paved road to the summit of
    Mount Lemmon, a heavily used recreational area an hour’s
    drive from downtown Tucson, Arizona.
    Four recreational visitors sued,1 seeking a declaration that
    1
    Also named as defendants were the Forest Supervisor for the Coronado
    National Forest and the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona.
    Defendants will be referred to herein collectively as the “Forest Service.”
    Ann Birmingham Scheel, Acting United States Attorney for the District of
    Arizona, is substituted for Diane J. Humetewa pursuant to Fed. R. App.
    P. 43(c)(2).
    ADAMS v. USFS                             1435
    the Forest Service was exceeding the scope of its authority
    under the REA by charging fees to those who drive to Mount
    Lemmon, park their cars, then picnic, hike, or camp in nearby
    undeveloped areas. Plaintiffs also sought to enjoin the Forest
    Service from collecting such fees. The district court granted
    defendants’ Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Plaintiffs
    appealed. Because plaintiffs are correct that the Forest Ser-
    vice’s fee structure contravenes the plain language of the
    REA, we reverse the district court’s dismissal of Count I2 and
    remand to allow plaintiffs to pursue that claim.
    BACKGROUND3
    [1] Everyone is entitled to enter national forests without
    paying a cent. 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (e)(2) (“The Secretary shall
    not charge an entrance fee for Federal recreational lands . . .
    managed by . . . the Forest Service.”). The Forest Service
    may, however, charge a “standard amenity recreation fee” in
    an “area”:
    (A)   that provides significant opportunities for out-
    door recreation;
    (B)   that has substantial Federal investments;
    (C)   where fees can be efficiently collected; and
    (D)   that contains all of the following amenities:
    2
    The district court also found that two of the four plaintiffs should be
    dismissed on claim and issue preclusion grounds, and that Counts II and
    III failed to state a claim. Plaintiffs have not appealed those rulings.
    3
    Because this is an appeal from an order granting a motion to dismiss,
    the following facts come from the complaint and “documents on which the
    complaint ‘necessarily relies’ and whose ‘authenticity . . . is not contest-
    ed.’ ” Warren v. Fox Family Worldwide, Inc., 
    328 F.3d 1136
    , 1141 n.5
    (9th Cir. 2003) (quoting Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 
    250 F.3d 668
    , 688
    (9th Cir. 2001)).
    1436                         ADAMS v. USFS
    (i)     Designated developed parking.
    (ii)    A permanent toilet facility.
    (iii)    A permanent trash receptacle.
    (iv)     Interpretive sign, exhibit, or kiosk.
    (v)     Picnic tables.
    (vi)     Security services.4
    [2] But the REA prohibits the Forest Service from charg-
    ing that fee, even in a place where subsection (f) would other-
    wise authorize it, “for certain activities or services.” 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (d)(1). This blanket “[p]rohibition on fees for certain
    activities or services” forbids fees, among other things:
    “[s]olely for parking, undesignated parking, or pic-
    nicking along roads or trailsides”;
    “[f]or persons who are driving through, walking
    through, boating through, horseback riding through,
    or hiking through Federal recreational lands and
    waters without using the facilities and services”; and
    “[f]or camping at undeveloped sites that do not pro-
    vide a minimum number of facilities and services as
    described in 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (g)(2)(A).”
    Before enacting the REA, Congress conducted a decade-
    long experiment with collecting visitor fees at national for-
    ests. The Recreational Fee Demonstration Program, enacted
    in 1996, required the Forest Service to select between 10 and
    100 sites where it “shall charge and collect fees for admission
    to the area or for the use of outdoor recreation sites, facilities,
    4
    
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (f)(4).
    ADAMS v. USFS                         1437
    visitor centers, equipment, and services.”5 The Forest Service
    selected several parts of the Coronado National Forest,
    including Mount Lemmon, where it promptly began charging
    an entrance fee for all recreational visitors. In response to
    concerns that fees were being collected from individuals who
    (like plaintiffs) wanted to use undeveloped land, not services
    and amenities, Congress drafted the REA, an “overly pre-
    scriptive” regime designed “to alleviate concerns of those
    who no longer trust certain federal land management agencies
    with the recreation fee authority.” H.R. Rep. 108-790(I),
    108th Cong., 2d Sess. 2004 (Nov. 19, 2004), 
    2004 WL 2920863
    , at *18. Specifically, the REA “made clear that the
    [Forest Service] will not be permitted to charge solely for
    parking, scenic pullouts, and other non-developed areas.” 
    Id.
    [3] After the REA was enacted, the Forest Service drafted
    Interim Implementation Guidelines. Those guidelines inter-
    preted the REA as authorizing the Forest Service to impose a
    standard amenity recreation fee in a “High Impact Recreation
    Area” (“HIRA”), defined as:
    a clearly delineated, contiguous area with specific,
    tightly defined boundaries and clearly defined access
    points (such that visitors can easily identify the fee
    area boundaries on the ground or on a map/sign);
    that supports or sustains concentrated recreation use;
    and that provides opportunities for outdoor recre-
    ation that are directly associated with a natural or
    cultural feature, place, or activity (i.e., waterway,
    canyon, travel corridor, geographic attraction—the
    recreation attraction).
    The Guidelines require a HIRA to meet the same criteria as
    the REA requires for an “area” where the Forest Service may
    collect a standard amenity recreation fee, and add four more
    5
    Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act of 1996,
    Pub. L. No. 104-134, tit. III, § 315(b)(1) (1996).
    1438                           ADAMS v. USFS
    criteria.6 The Guidelines also include the heightened require-
    ment that the six amenities be “located in an integrated man-
    ner so they reasonably accommodate the visitor.”
    Finding that the land adjacent to the Catalina Highway met
    all of the Guidelines’ requirements, the Forest Service desig-
    nated that area as a HIRA. The fee structure there remained
    essentially identical to the one under the Recreational Fee
    Demonstration Program, with one concession to the REA: an
    exemption for visitors who drive through without stopping
    (except at pullouts and overlooks).7 The Forest Service also
    chose to exempt all visitors who enter the Mount Lemmon
    HIRA without a car. Not exempted, however, are visitors who
    6
    These additional criteria are:
    a.   They incur significant expenditures for items such as opera-
    tions and maintenance of recreation facilities, public health
    and safety, educational services, and protection of natural
    and cultural resources.
    b.   They have been analyzed by regional fee boards and
    approved by the appropriate line officer. They will be
    reviewed for [sic] by Recreation RACs [Resource Advisory
    Committees] when established.
    c.   They are not an entire administrative unit such as a National
    Forest, but may include a collection of recreation sites; and
    d.   They typically display one or more of the following charac-
    teristics:
    a.   They are within 2 hours driving time of populations of
    1 million or more;
    b.   They contain rivers, streams, lakes or interpreted scenic
    corridors[;]
    c.   Natural and cultural resources management activities are
    conducted in the area to maintain or enhance recreation
    opportunities; and
    d.They have regionally or nationally recognized recreation
    resources that are marketed for their tourism values.
    7
    
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (d)(1)(F) (“The Secretary shall not charge any stan-
    dard amenity recreation fee . . . [f]or use of overlooks or scenic pullouts.”).
    ADAMS v. USFS                             1439
    drive into the HIRA, park their cars, then picnic, camp, or
    hike in undeveloped areas accessible from the highway. Any
    such visitor who fails to pay the $5 fee and display a valid
    pass is subject to a fine.
    Based on their position that the Forest Service was imper-
    missibly imposing fees on that group of visitors, plaintiffs
    filed a complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, as
    well as reimbursement of fees they had already paid, on
    behalf of a putative class.8 Defendants filed a motion to dis-
    miss the complaint, which the district court granted. The sole
    issue on appeal is the district court’s ruling that Count I
    (alleging that the Forest Service violated § 6802(d)(1) of the
    REA by collecting a standard amenity recreation fee for park-
    ing and hiking, picnicking, or camping in undeveloped areas
    in the Mount Lemmon HIRA) failed to state a claim.
    Defendants argued that the Forest Service’s interpretation
    was entitled to Chevron9 deference, and under Chevron its
    interpretation was reasonable. The district court disagreed that
    Chevron deference was warranted, finding that the Interim
    Implementation Guidelines indicated that the Forest Service
    might not have conducted notice and comment rulemaking.
    The court, however, applied Skidmore10 deference, based on
    its conclusion that the Forest Service had crafted the Guide-
    lines through its “official duty, based upon more specialized
    experience and broader investigations and information than is
    likely to come to a judge in a particular case.” Skidmore, 323
    U.S. at 139. Under this less deferential review, the district
    court nonetheless agreed with defendants that the Forest Ser-
    vice’s interpretation of the REA in the Guidelines was reason-
    able.
    8
    Although the complaint was styled as a class action, plaintiffs had not
    moved for class certification when the district court granted the motion to
    dismiss.
    9
    Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 
    467 U.S. 837
    (1984).
    10
    Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 
    323 U.S. 134
     (1944).
    1440                     ADAMS v. USFS
    Plaintiffs filed a Rule 59(e) motion to reconsider, arguing
    that: (1) the statute was unambiguous, so the district court
    should not have deferred to the agency’s interpretation; (2)
    the court erred in applying Skidmore deference to a statute
    carrying criminal consequences; and (3) even if Skidmore
    review were proper, the court did not correctly apply it. The
    court largely disagreed, but did find that it had erred in failing
    to state that the statute was ambiguous before proceeding to
    apply Skidmore. Finding that the error was harmless, how-
    ever, the court denied the motion.
    STANDARD OF REVIEW
    “A district court’s decision to grant a motion to dismiss
    under Rule 12(b)(6) is reviewed de novo.” Ta Chong Bank
    Ltd. v. Hitachi High Techs. Am., Inc., 
    610 F.3d 1063
    , 1066
    (9th Cir. 2010) (citation omitted). In evaluating a Rule
    12(b)(6) motion, the court accepts the complaint’s well-
    pleaded factual allegations as true and draws all reasonable
    inferences in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Bell
    Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 
    550 U.S. 544
    , 555-56 (2007)
    (citations omitted).
    In evaluating an agency’s interpretation of a governing stat-
    ute, the court conducts the familiar two-step Chevron inquiry.
    At the first step, the court asks “whether Congress has directly
    spoken to the precise question at issue.” Chevron, 
    467 U.S. at 842
    . If it has, the agency (and the court) must give effect to
    Congress’s clearly expressed intent. If, however, the text is
    ambiguous, the court proceeds to step two and considers
    whether the agency’s interpretation was “a reasonable policy
    choice for the agency to make.” 
    Id. at 845
    .
    DISCUSSION
    The REA unambiguously prohibits the standard amenity
    recreation fee structure in place at the Mount Lemmon HIRA.
    The statute provides that the Forest Service “may charge”—
    ADAMS v. USFS                          1441
    ”[e]xcept as limited by subsection (d)”—a standard amenity
    recreation fee “at” four types of locations, one of which is an
    “area” with all of six enumerated amenities. 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (f) (emphasis added).11 The Forest Service “may” also,
    “[e]xcept as limited by subsection (d),” “charge an expanded
    amenity recreation fee”—this is a crucial difference—“only
    for” the “use of” ten different “facilities and services.” 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (g)(2). A standard amenity recreation fee is not,
    like expanded fees, for the use of certain amenities—it is a
    general fee that an agency may charge “at” the four places
    listed in subsection (f)(4). Subsection (d)(1) is a freestanding
    prohibition on collecting standard and expanded amenity rec-
    reation fees “for” a list of eleven activities or services. This
    list of prohibited fees includes those that are: “[s]olely for
    parking, undesignated parking, or picnicking along roads or
    trailsides”; “[f]or persons who are driving through, walking
    through, boating through, horseback riding through, or hiking
    through Federal recreational lands and waters without using
    the facilities and services”; and “[f]or camping at undevel-
    oped sites that do not provide a minimum number of facilities
    and services as described in 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (g)(2)(A).” 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (d)(1)(A), (D), & (E). The statute is abundantly
    clear that a standard amenity recreation fee cannot, under any
    circumstances, be charged for those activities.
    [4] A. The Forest Service is prohibited from charging an
    amenity fee “[s]olely for parking.” 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (d)(1)(A). There is nothing ambiguous about that text.
    If all a visitor does is park, and he is charged a fee, that fee
    is imposed “[s]olely for parking.” If a visitor parks at Mount
    Lemmon, he is charged a fee. If a visitor goes to Mount Lem-
    mon but does not park there, he is not charged a fee. See
    United States v. Smith, 
    740 F. Supp. 2d 1111
    , 1124 (D. Ariz.
    11
    The other three are National Conservation Areas, National Volcanic
    Monuments, and “destination visitor or interpretive center[s] that pro-
    vide[ ] a broad range of interpretive services, programs, and media.” 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (f)(1)-(3).
    1442                        ADAMS v. USFS
    2010) (“It is apparent that Mr. Smith would not have received
    a ticket had he not parked a vehicle, i.e., had a friend deliv-
    ered him to the trailhead and retrieved him the following day.
    Accordingly, what Mr. Smith received was actually a ticket
    for parking, clearly prohibited by the plain language of the
    statute.”). It may often be the case that a visitor, after parking,
    does something else. Then the fee would not be “[s]olely for
    parking,” and so long as the “something else” is not another
    activity for which subsection (d)(1) prohibits an amenity rec-
    reation fee, the agency is free to charge him. But if a visitor
    does nothing other than park, the fee is solely for parking and
    is therefore plainly prohibited by the REA.
    According to the Forest Service’s version of the statute’s
    “plain text,” however, a fee is “[s]olely for parking” only
    “where the other amenities required by REA are absent.” That
    is incorrect. If it were true, a “[s]olely for parking” fee would
    be possible only in places where the REA requires amenities,12
    but then the parking fee prohibition would never limit fees in
    those places, where by definition amenities are present. And
    subsection (d)(1)(A) would never apply to expanded amenity
    recreation fees, because those are permitted only for certain
    “facilities and services.” 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (g)(2). “[A]n agen-
    cy’s interpretation of a statute is not entitled to deference
    when it goes beyond the meaning that the statute can bear,”
    MCI Telecomms. Corp. v. Am. Tel. and Tel. Co., 
    512 U.S. 218
    , 229 (1994), and here, the Forest Service’s interpretation
    so diminishes the entire prohibition on fees “[s]olely for park-
    ing” as to defy the statute’s meaning.
    Because this reading is so illogical, we will consider
    another interpretation of the agency’s position. Perhaps the
    Forest Service is really saying that a fee is “[s]olely for park-
    ing” when imposed in a location where a visitor has no option
    12
    These consist of subsection (f)(4) areas and possibly (f)(3) visitor or
    interpretive centers, defined as providing “a broad range of interpretive
    services, programs, and media.”
    ADAMS v. USFS                       1443
    to do something else, whether or not that “something else” is
    an amenity required by the statute. A parking fee in the Mount
    Lemmon HIRA, therefore, is not “[s]olely” for parking—it is
    also “for” other things, because it is possible that the parker
    might proceed to do something for which subsection (d)(1)
    does not prohibit a fee. This interpretation, however, would be
    sensible only if we ignored the plain meaning of the word
    “for” in the context of the REA.
    Because “for” is, of course, not defined in the statute, we
    must give it “its ordinary or natural meaning.“ Smith v.
    United States, 
    508 U.S. 223
    , 228 (1993) (citation omitted).
    This might seem like an impossible task—according to Web-
    ster’s, “for” has over thirty non-obsolete meanings. Webster’s
    Third New International Dictionary 886 (2002). “Ambiguity,”
    however, “is a creature not of definitional possibilities but of
    statutory context.” Brown v. Gardner, 
    513 U.S. 115
    , 118
    (1994). And the statutory context here—a “[p]rohibition on
    fees for certain activities or services”—allows only one defi-
    nition. 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (d)(1). In common understanding, a
    buyer pays a fee “for” something he chooses to buy, even if
    that “something” is simply an option to do or use something
    (like $17.99 “for” an all-you-can-eat buffet). Consider what
    would happen if a restaurant-goer inspected his bill and
    noticed an unexpected charge. If told that the fee was for ten
    bottles of wine that the patron’s group neither ordered nor
    drank, the patron would rightly be outraged. He would not
    find much solace in a waiter’s explanation that the wine cellar
    contained ten bottles, which the patron could have ordered if
    he wished.
    Moreover, the REA clearly contemplates that individuals
    can go to a place offering facilities and services without using
    the facilities and services and without paying a fee. For exam-
    ple, subsection (d)(1)(D) prohibits fees “for persons who are
    driving through, walking through, boating through, horseback
    riding through, or hiking through . . . without using the facili-
    ties and services.” 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (d)(1)(D) (emphasis
    1444                        ADAMS v. USFS
    added). The statute thus distinguishes between merely recreat-
    ing in an area and actually using an area’s amenities.
    [5] By ignoring the plain text, the Forest Service arrives at
    an interpretation that would enable an end-run around the
    clear statutory restrictions. If the REA gave the agency com-
    plete discretion to dictate a fee’s so-called purpose, then the
    agency could entirely evade the prohibition on parking fees
    by simply declaring that its fees are “for” something else too.
    At any of the places where subsection (f) contemplates recre-
    ation fees, it is possible for a visitor to do something more
    than park a car—take photos of a volcano, make a cell phone
    call, chew a piece of gum—and a visitor must use a facility
    or service to be subject to a subsection (g) fee. Therefore, the
    agency could simply say that its parking fee is also “for”
    those other activities.13 Because the REA has a plain meaning
    that does not lead to an absurd result, we have no need to
    afford deference to the agency’s competing, nonsensical inter-
    pretation. See Lamie v. United States Trustee, 
    540 U.S. 526
    ,
    538 (2004). It is clear that the Forest Service cannot charge
    a fee from someone who does nothing other than park.
    B. It is equally clear that the REA prohibits the Forest Ser-
    vice from charging standard amenity recreation fees for each
    of several activities in which plaintiffs participate after they
    park: hiking without using facilities and services, picnicking
    on a road or trailside, or camping at a site that does not have
    a majority of the nine enumerated amenities.
    [6] First, § 6802(d)(1)(D) clearly prohibits imposing a fee
    “[f]or persons who are driving through, walking through,
    boating through, horseback riding through, or hiking through
    Federal recreational lands and waters without using the facili-
    13
    The only place where parking could be the sole activity is a designated
    developed parking facility—for which the REA authorizes standard ame-
    nity recreation fees only in conjunction with five other amenities. 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (f)(4)(D)(I).
    ADAMS v. USFS                      1445
    ties and services.” 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (d)(1)(D) (emphasis
    added). The agency interprets the conjunction “and” too
    loosely. It claims that its fees comply with the statute because
    any visitor who travels through the HIRA necessarily “uses”
    its security services. But security services are, at most,
    “services”—not “facilities and services.” 
    Id.
     (emphasis
    added). “And” does not mean “or.” Idaho v. Wright, 
    497 U.S. 805
    , 831 n.2 (1990) (Kennedy, J., dissenting) (“The word
    ‘and’ is conjunctive . . . . The Legislature would have used the
    word ‘or’ had it intended the disjunctive.”) (quotation and
    citation omitted); MacDonald v. Pan Am. World Airways,
    Inc., 
    859 F.2d 742
    , 746 (9th Cir. 1988) (Kozinski, J., dissent-
    ing) (“As a linguistic matter, ‘and’ and ‘or’ are not synonyms;
    indeed, they are more nearly antonyms. One need only start
    the day with a breakfast of ham or eggs to be duly impressed
    by the difference.”). The Forest Service points to no “facili-
    ties” that a backcountry hiker necessarily uses.
    [7] The Forest Service also maintains that the latter part of
    § 6802(d)(1)(A), which prohibits fees “solely for . . . picnick-
    ing along roads or trailsides,” clearly permits fees for road or
    trailside picnics that take place within a larger area (delin-
    eated by the Forest Service) if that larger area offers ameni-
    ties. The REA does not say that. It provides simply and
    unambiguously that the Forest Service cannot collect a stan-
    dard amenity fee from someone who picnics on a road or
    trailside, even if that picnic occurs within an “area” that has
    amenities. The Forest Service fails to distinguish—as the stat-
    ute does—between someone who glides into a paved parking
    space and sits at a picnic table enjoying a feast of caviar and
    champagne, and someone who parks on the side of the high-
    way, sits on a pile of gravel, and eats an old baloney sandwich
    while the cars whizz by. The agency collects the same fee
    from both types of picnickers. That practice violates the stat-
    ute’s plain text. “If a visitor drives close enough to [the
    HIRA], parks to have a picnic on the side of the road, and
    then calls it a day, she’ll have paid the amenity fee only for
    picnicking and undesignated parking—activities for which no
    1446                         ADAMS v. USFS
    fee is supposed to be charged under § 6802(d)(1).” Scherer v.
    United States Forest Serv., 
    653 F.3d 1241
    , 1243 (10th Cir.
    2011); see 
    id. at 1244
     (noting, in the course of rejecting a
    facial challenge to a HIRA’s implementation plan, that an as-
    applied challenge might not suffer the same fate).14
    [8] Finally, the Forest Service claims that it may charge a
    fee for any and all camping within the Mount Lemmon HIRA.
    The REA, however, clearly prohibits fees “[f]or camping at
    undeveloped sites that do not provide a minimum number of
    facilities and services as described in subsection (g)(2)(A).”
    
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (d)(1)(E); see 
    16 U.S.C. § 6802
    (g)(2)(A)
    (requiring a “developed” campsite to provide “at least a
    majority” of nine specified facilities and services). The Forest
    Service violates that prohibition by charging visitors who
    camp at sites lacking the required “minimum number” of nine
    “facilities and services.” For example, a camper who pitches
    a tent in a spot without garbage cans, picnic tables, campfire
    pits, bathrooms, and someone collecting fees is required to
    pay a standard amenity recreation fee. That plainly violates
    § 6802(d)(1)(E).
    C. In sum, the statutory language is clear. The Forest Ser-
    vice’s interpretation is thus entitled to no deference. Chevron,
    
    467 U.S. at 842-43
    . As alleged by plaintiffs, the Forest Ser-
    vice’s fee structure at the Mount Lemmon HIRA does not
    14
    Curiously, it was the Forest Service that brought Scherer to our atten-
    tion. The Forest Service cites it in a Rule 28(j) letter arguing that, as in
    Scherer, this is a facial challenge, and plaintiffs must—but cannot—
    establish that “no set of circumstances exists” under which the recreation
    fee for Mount Lemmon would be valid. Akhtar v. Burzynski, 
    384 F.3d 1193
    , 1198 (9th Cir. 2004). This argument was not raised in the district
    court or in the briefs here, probably because it is patently without merit.
    Plaintiffs attack only the application of fees to those who engage in activi-
    ties at Mount Lemmon for which the REA expressly prohibits fees. In
    contrast, the plaintiffs in Scherer sought to invalidate the Forest Service’s
    entire Implementation Plan for the Mount Evans HIRA. Scherer, 
    653 F.3d at 1243
    .
    ADAMS v. USFS                      1447
    comport with the REA’s express prohibition on charging fees
    for parking and then hiking through the HIRA without using
    the facilities and services, camping in undeveloped areas, or
    picnicking on roads or trailsides. The district court thus erred
    in dismissing plaintiffs’ claim.
    CONCLUSION
    [9] For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the REA
    unambiguously prohibits the Forest Service from charging
    fees in the Mount Lemmon HIRA for recreational visitors
    who park a car, then camp at undeveloped sites, picnic along
    roads or trailsides, or hike through the area without using the
    facilities and services. We therefore reverse the district
    court’s grant of defendants’ motion to dismiss Count I and
    remand to the district court for further proceedings consistent
    with this opinion.
    REVERSED and REMANDED.