recreation.gov gets sued

[DixieFlyer]

This is an email that I received from a Tucson hiking group:

National Park Visits Are Surging, and One Firm Is Making Unexpected Millions

Visitors driving into Montana’s Glacier National Park this summer must buy a vehicle pass on Recreation.gov. The pass is free, but visitors pay $2 for the reservation.

Visitors might assume that, like entrance fees, the reservation charges help pay for improving trails or expanding the park’s volunteer program. But a chunk of the money ends up with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.

Booz Allen runs Recreation.gov, the website and app where people book campsites, hikes and permits on public land. The company has a five-year contract that is up for renewal this year. In its bid, Booz Allen used data provided by the government to estimate that over the first five years of the contract, it would get $87 million, and about $182 million over 10 years.

Booz Allen gets paid every time a user makes a reservation on Recreation.gov. That has earned the firm money far beyond its projections. Booz Allen invoiced the government for more than $140 million from October 2018 to November 2022...

This arrangement for Recreation.gov, in which the government and Booz Allen work together on a number of services including a reservation website, contact center and data sharing, has led to criticism from some parkgoers. They have questioned whether the government negotiated a payment structure that is in the public’s best interest...

Critics—including members of a lawsuit against Booz Allen seeking class-action status, and other die-hard National Park visitors—said the government has let a multibillion-dollar company profit by charging for access to public lands. The lawyers said in the suit that the company is “forcing American consumers to pay Ticketmaster-style junk fees to access national parks and other federal recreational lands"...The lawsuit filed in January in Virginia by seven outdoor enthusiasts claims the fees deceive visitors into thinking the money goes directly to aid public lands...

Christine Wong, a 36-year-old physician from Honolulu, said she has applied at least 10 times to visit the popular destination known as the Wave near the Utah-Arizona border in Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. Applying to the lottery for a chance to visit the Wave costs $9, whether the application is successful or not.

Of the $9, $5 ultimately goes to Booz Allen and $4 goes to the Bureau of Land Management, which manages the site, a BLM spokesman said.

Recreation.gov users submitted about 130,000 applications for permits to hike the Wave last year, generating about $648,200 for Booz Allen and $518,600 for the BLM, a BLM spokesman said. The BLM also collected about $35,500 in permit fees from successful applicants, he said.

Ms. Wong said she considered her unsuccessful applications a donation, not a payment to a third party...

read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/national-p ... n-68d4d6d8

[chumley]

Leave it to Grand Canyon to be the cost-effective alternative. FAX permits forever!!!!