The U.S. Forest Service’s decision not to eliminate substantial camping discounts to seniors this week will no doubt please recreation vehicle owners such as Dean Lang, of Sandy.

Others, including Orem concessionaire American Land and Leisure that operates 400 campgrounds in 11 states, are not quite as pleased.

Forest Service chief Tom Tidwell announced Wednesday his decision not to implement changes to fees charged to holders of Golden Age and golden Access Passports and Senior and Access Passes at agency campgrounds operated by private concessionaires.

“Each year more than 175 million people enjoy recreational opportunities on national forests and grasslands and that includes more than 15 million visits to our campgrounds,” said Tidwell. “Particularly in these difficult economic times, it is very important to maintain affordable access to our national forests and grasslands, giving people easy ways to recreate and find respite in the great outdoors.”

The decision leaves in place a 50 percent discount for pass holders. The proposed change would have reduced that to 10 percent less than full price. During a 60-day public comment period on the proposal, the Forest Service received more than 4,000 comments.

Lang, who was camping at Zion National Park before the decision was made, said he had been following the debate on recreation-vehicle online forums. He said losing the discount would have been a “bad deal” after working all his life.

“It’s expensive enough with the cost of fuels, an RV and equipment,” he said. “This is one of the ways of still getting out to enjoy the country.”

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About a year ago Kampgrounds of America — KOA Kampgrounds — came up with this crazy idea about parking some “silver bullet” Airstream trailers at their facilities and letting campers rent them like hotel rooms.

With fabulous hotel rooms up and down the Strip, would people really want to camp in an Airstream trailer when in Las Vegas? KOA worked a deal with Airstream, considered the Cadillac of the travel-trailer, to place 10 of its 25-foot Flying Clouds on KOA’s 366-space RV park at Circus Circus.

“Even in Las Vegas, there are some people who just like to camp out,” Shane Ott, then president and chief operating officer of KOA, said at the time.

Ott considered Las Vegas to be a perfect startup location because 4 percent of KOA’s most loyal customers reside in the greater Los Angeles area and he thought Southern California campers would embrace the Circus Circus Airstreams.

“We look at this as the best of both worlds,” said Ott, who is now a campground liaison for the parent company of Airstream. “You can enjoy the benefits of camping. You can grill outside, right next to where you’re staying. You can meet up with people who share that lifestyle. There’s a well-stocked convenience store in the campground and, if you want, you can just walk over to the hotel for your entertainment.

“And then, when you’re done for the day, you’ve got very comfortable accommodations.”

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