I've had a similar experience.

When I stopped at a National Forest campground to get water - water from a pump installed by the forest service on forest service property - the campground host said I would have to pay a day use fee.

I told him where he could put his water and that I would report his actions. Down the road, I stopped in at the nearest ranger station. The USFS employee apologized and said that they had lots of problems with contractors and campground hosts - because they did not know USFS policies or chose to ignore them.

My pleas to get rid of campground contractors and go back to USFS management probably fell on deaf ears.