On June 12, Senator Alex Padilla announced legislation to expand access to nature for Americans; improve the visitor reservation process and experience on federal lands, including national parks; and enhance fee transparency. TheReview and Evaluation of Strategies for Equal Reservations for Visitor Experiences (RESERVE) Federal Land Act received a hearing Wednesday in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR).
The number of visitors to America’s public lands has significantly increased in recent years: the National Park Service reported 325.5 million recreation visits across the country in 2023, an increase of 13 million visits from 2022. Many iconic recreational areas and national parks in California, from Yosemite to Lake Tahoe, suffer from overcrowding, vehicle congestion, limited parking, and degrading natural resources.
The bill would direct the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to study reservation systems across federal lands, including campsites, hiking permits, climbing passes, and other outdoor recreation activities. The report would be due in 18 months and would cover reservation system design, system user demographics, and data availability and accessibility.
The study would also investigate the fee structure and transparency of Recreation.gov, the government’s centralized travel planning platform and reservation system for 14 federal agencies. Specifically, the study would examine how revenue from fees for reservation systems is split between and spent by federal land units, federal agencies, and third-party contractors, as well as how this information can be better communicated to users. It would also evaluate ways to improve the dissemination of information about users’ odds of being approved for a reservation.