Time to apply for non-commercial permits to run the Green (above) or Yampa rivers through Dinosaur National Monument/Kurt Repanshek

If you've got the gear, the skills, and the desire, now is the time to enter your application for permits for a private river trip through Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado on either the Green or Yampa rivers.

The lottery period for high-season permits on the two rivers runs through 10 p.m. MST on January 31. The lottery allows boaters to compete for the 300 permits that are available for the high-use season. In recent years, the monument has received nearly 7,000 applications for the available permits. Boaters can either apply at www.recreation.gov or they can download the application form from the monument website and then mail the completed application to the monument with a postmark before the deadline. Late applications will not be accepted. This will be the final year that the monument will accept paper applications.

As with last year, boaters can file only one application, but they may choose up to four possible launch date/river choices on the application. The Yampa and Green rivers are combined in one drawing system. Applicants will be notified by email on February 16, 2016, if their lottery submission was successful. Winners have until 10 pm Mountain Standard Time on February 28 to accept their launch date and pay for it or it will be revoked.

On March 1st at 8 a.m., all unclaimed high use multi-day, Split Mountain day use, and low use season multi-day permits will become available on recreation.gov. Preference will no longer be given to those who applied but failed to secure a river permit through the lottery system. Boaters who are able to acquire a permit online will have to immediately pay the $185 multi-day permit fee or $20 daily fee and an application fee of $15 to secure their permit. The application fee is required regardless of whether or not the boater applied for the lottery.

For more information on the river permit lottery or permit process, visit www.recreation.gov or the river permits section of the monument website. For river flows and available permits, please call the automated river phone line at (866)825-2995. Remaining available permits are issued first-come, first-served, through recreation.gov. If you have additional questions, you can also call the river office at (970) 374-2468 8 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday.