RESERVE Federal Land Act

Review and Evaluation of Strategies for Equitable Reservations for Visitor Experiences Federal Land Act or the RESERVE Federal Land Act

This bill requires the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to jointly enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of federal reservation systems used to book or permit recreational activities on federal land.

Under the bill, federal land generally includes National Forest System land, units of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System, sites administered by the Bureau of Reclamation or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other land owned by the United States and administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Federal reservation systems are platforms used by managers of federal land to manage the quantity, type, distribution, and timing of recreational activities, including permitting, pricing, and lottery systems.

The study must review the history of federal reservation systems, including a review of the considerations that led to the establishment of such systems, iterations of such systems over time, and visitor feedback. The study must also address

• the benefits and challenges of implementing federal reservation systems to achieve management goals for federal land,
• the availability of data on the demand for recreation on federal land,
• how fees have been collected over time to meet agency needs, and
• how federal reservation systems can be improved to reduce missed reservations and increase use in periods of high demand.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov