The Forest Service has failed to answer senators' questions about recreation.gov's finances/Kurt Repanshek file

Months after they wrote Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland regarding a private company being paid tens of millions of dollars to manage the website that serves as a national portal for accessing recreational activities on federal lands, Sens. Chuck Grassley and John Barasso are still waiting for answers.

For years there have been complaints about the site managed by Booz Allen Hamilton, LLC, and the challenges of reserving a campsite in the National Park System or landing a permit for river running or climbing a mountain. There also have been many complaints, and at least one lawsuit, about the fees that one can encounter at that portal.

Back in February the Traveler reported on the lawsuit, which alleged that recreation.gov is cluttered with unauthorized and possibly illegal “junk fees” that potentially generate hundreds of millions of dollars for a government contractor hired to operate the site. That lawsuit reportedly was dimissed last week at the request of the plaintiffs.

In their May letter, the senators asked "why a private company is needed to manage the website and why they’ve been allowed to extract these fees from visitors."

"Our country’s great sights and parks belong to the people," the senators pointed out in that letter. "As such, they deserve to know who is profiting from the fees associated with their use and enjoyment and the extent of that profit."

Grassley and Barasso also asked the two departments to detail:

• How much Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., is paid to manage the web portal; 
• Whether the fees added onto reservations are specified in the U.S. Forest Service's contract with Booz Allen; 
• How much Booz Allen has charged the public in transaction fees; 
• Whether the agencies and bureaus approve individually the amounts Booz Allen charges for each transaction fee. If not, how have the agencies and bureaus overseen the determination of the amounts to be assessed for transaction fees?
• And what steps the two agencies have taken to inform the public about the fee structure "Booz Allen benefits from."

While the senators received a reply from the Agriculture Department, which manages the contract, in early August, in their own follow-up letter on August 24 [attached below] they said it "failed to answer six out of eight questions, and it did not dispute reporting regarding $140 million being invoiced to the government."

Furthermore, the senators added, the one-page letter from U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore "failed to answer either in full or in part:

"1. How much taxpayer money did the U.S. Forest Service pay Booz Allen to assume operation of Recreation.gov? Provide all records. 

"2. [D]o the agencies and bureaus approve individually the amounts Booz Allen charges for each transaction fee? If not, how have the agencies and bureaus overseen the determination of the amounts to be assessed for transaction fees? Provide all records. 

"3. Since 2017, how much money in transaction fees and related charges has Booz Allen charged the public? Provide annual totals by department or bureau. 

"4. How much money was paid to Booz Allen in regard to processing fees to access Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area, prior to the required notice-and-comment period being completed? Will there be a refund for all charges? If not, why not? Provide all records. 

"5. What steps have USDA and USFS taken to better notify the public of the fee-structure Booz Allen benefits from? Provide all records.4 

"6. How many information technology (IT) personnel does USDA and USFS employ? "

While Moore told Grassley and Barasso that the website "is not funded by taxpayer dollars," the senators noted that "taxpayers pay surcharges when ordering tickets on Recreation.gov, which are ultimately paid to Booz Allen through the U.S. Treasury as part of its contractual agreement with USFS. We would therefore appreciate clarification with respect to the statement that Recreation.gov 'is not funded by taxpayer dollars.'"

The Forest Service chief also failed to provide records showing the dollar amounts recreation.gov users pay in fees, the fee schedules set by agencies that use the portal, the amount of fee revenues collected, the amount sent to Booz Allen Hamilton, and the amount sent to the land-management agencies.

"It appears that the rest of the outstanding questions were simply ignored. The American people have a right to know the answer to each question we asked because the answers involve their parks and their money," wrote the senators, who asked for a response by September 7.

So far, no response had been received, according to Grassley's office.