[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4451 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4451

  To require the Secretary of the Interior to enter into an agreement 
     with the National Academy of Sciences to carry out a study on 
                 reservation systems for Federal land.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 4, 2024

  Mr. Padilla introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Secretary of the Interior to enter into an agreement 
     with the National Academy of Sciences to carry out a study on 
                 reservation systems for Federal land.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Review and Evaluation of Strategies 
for Equal Reservations for Visitor Experiences Federal Land Act'' or 
the ``RESERVE Federal Land Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Booking window.--The term ``booking window'', with 
        respect to a reservation system, means the time period during 
        which a reservation or lottery entry is available to the 
        public.
            (2) Federal land.--The term ``Federal land'' means--
                    (A) public lands (as defined in section 103 of the 
                Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 
                U.S.C. 1702));
                    (B) National Forest System land;
                    (C) units of the National Park System;
                    (D) units of the National Wildlife Refuge System;
                    (E) sites administered by the Bureau of 
                Reclamation; and
                    (F) sites administered by the Corps of Engineers.
            (3) Recreation activity.--The term ``recreation activity'' 
        includes camping, backpacking, climbing, fishing, hiking, 
        driving, and other recreational opportunities.
            (4) Reservation system.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``reservation system'' 
                means any platform or method used by managers of 
                Federal land to ration recreation activities.
                    (B) Inclusions.--The term ``reservation system'' 
                includes reservation, lottery, metering, pricing, 
                merit-based, and other similar rationing methods via 
                online, telephone, paper, in-person, or other methods.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES STUDY OF RESERVATION SYSTEMS FOR 
              RECREATION ACTIVITIES ON FEDERAL LAND.

    (a) Study.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary, in coordination with the 
        Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Army, acting 
        through the Chief of Engineers, shall, not later than 60 days 
        after the date of enactment of this Act, enter into an 
        agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to carry out a 
        study of reservation systems for recreation activities on 
        Federal land.
            (2) Requirements.--In carrying out the study under 
        paragraph (1), the National Academy of Sciences shall carry out 
        the following:
                    (A) A comprehensive review of the history of 
                reservation systems, such as recreation.gov, including 
                a review of--
                            (i) the studies that led to the 
                        establishment of the applicable reservation 
                        system;
                            (ii) the iterations of the applicable 
                        reservation system over time to meet the needs 
                        of the applicable Federal agency; and
                            (iii) any visitor feedback provided with 
                        respect to the applicable reservation system.
                    (B) Based on available data and existing research, 
                answer the following questions:
                            (i) What are the benefits and challenges of 
                        implementing reservation systems for visitor 
                        management and conservation goals for Federal 
                        land?
                            (ii) What data are available to understand 
                        demand for recreation on Federal land? How can 
                        the data be used to balance visitor management 
                        and conservation goals?
                            (iii) What information is available 
                        regarding Federal land users and reservation 
                        system users? What information is available or 
                        needs to be collected regarding demographics 
                        and characteristics of successful applicants 
                        using the reservation systems?
                            (iv) What best practices should guide 
                        reservation system design, including diversity 
                        of rationing mechanisms and booking windows, 
                        and would promote equal access to recreation 
                        activities? What metrics can be used to record 
                        outcomes of reservation system design?
                            (v) How have fees been collected for 
                        reservation systems over time to meet the needs 
                        of the applicable Federal agency? How are the 
                        revenues from fees for reservation systems 
                        split between, and spent by, Federal land 
                        units, Federal agencies, and third-party 
                        contractors? How is the fee structure 
                        disseminated to users? How could dissemination 
                        of information with respect to the fee 
                        structure be improved?
                            (vi) What are the odds of success with 
                        respect to securing a reservation under 
                        reservation systems? How are the odds of 
                        success disseminated to users? How could 
                        dissemination of information with respect to 
                        the odds of success be improved?
                            (vii) How are data, including data 
                        collected by contractors, on reservation 
                        systems shared with Federal land managers, 
                        researchers, and the public? How can 
                        transparency be improved to inform the 
                        decisionmaking of users of reservation systems?
    (b) Report.--The agreement entered into under subsection (a)(1) 
shall include a requirement that, not later than 18 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the National Academy of Sciences shall 
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that 
describes the results of the study carried out under subsection (a)(1).
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