Recreation.gov: Overview and Issues for Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Oct. 7, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IF12778 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Mark K. DeSantis; Eric P. Nardi |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
For many people looking to experience the country’s
federal lands and waters, their trip begins with a visit to
Recreation.gov. Recreation.gov is a cloud-based website
that offers federal recreation information, trip planning
services, and reservation booking to the public for roughly
4,000 federal recreation areas and more than 120,000
campsites located at national parks, forests, wildlife
refuges, waterways, and other locations. Booz Allen
Hamilton Inc. (BAH), the current contractor, operates the
website and reservation system on behalf of participating
federal agencies. The U.S. Forest Service (FS) administers
the contract for Recreation.gov.
Public reservation systems for federal lands and waters
have been in place since at least the early 1970s as a means
to manage visitation and facilitate use of these resources.
Until the 1990s, federal agencies offering reservation
services generally did so independently, with little
coordination. In 1995, FS and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE) led the first interagency reservation
initiative, known as the National Recreation Reservation
Service (NRRS). In 1997, Park.net Inc. (later renamed
ReserveAmerica Inc.) was awarded the contract to develop
and operate the NRRS. In 1999, Park.net launched
ReserveUSA.com—the first website offering online
reservations and ticket sales for federal lands and waters.
Further efforts to consolidate and streamline federal
recreation data and user experience occurred under the
George W. Bush Administration. In 2002, the Recreation
One Stop (R1S) program was established as part of the
President’s E-Government initiative. R1S refers to a
multipronged, interagency program that oversees federal
recreation reservation and trip planning services. It includes
online booking services (i.e., Recreation.gov),
administration of a joint federal recreation database (known
as the Recreation Information Database [RIDB]), and a
Technology Innovation Fund to allow for responsiveness to
rapidly evolving technologies. As part of the R1S program,
additional federal agencies joined the FS and USACE
contract and consolidated their reservation and booking
systems into one centralized online system. By 2007, this
booking system had been rebranded as Recreation.gov.
