[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 163 (Thursday, August 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52209-52211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-20440]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management,

Fish and Wildlife Service

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-VRP-09328; PXXVPADO515]

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Proposed Fee Schedule for Commercial Filming and Still 
Photography Permits

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Interior; Forest Service, 
Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior and the Department of 
Agriculture propose to adopt a fee schedule for commercial filming and 
still photography conducted on public lands under their jurisdiction. 
The proposed fee schedule would establish land-use fees for commercial 
filming and still photography that are consistent for the National Park 
Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land 
Management and U.S. Forest Service. The fees would be based on sound 
business management principles and would provide a fair return to the 
United States, as required in the law.

DATES: Written comments will be accepted until September 23, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Email: [email protected]; put 
``Commercial Filming Fee Schedule'' in the subject line.

[[Page 52210]]

     Mail: Lee Dickinson, Special Park Uses Program Manager, 
National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW., ORG CODE 2460, Washington, DC 
20240.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lee Dickinson, National Park Service 
at 202-513-7092 or by email at [email protected]. Individuals who 
use telecommunication devices for the deaf may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above 
named individual during normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 
hours a day, 7 days a week. You will receive a reply during normal 
business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public Law 106-206 (16 U.S.C. 460l-6d) 
directs the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to establish a 
reasonable land-use fee for commercial filming and still photography 
conducted on lands under their jurisdiction. The law also directs the 
agencies to recover all costs incurred in connection with commercial 
filming activity. The Department of the Interior (DOI) is publishing in 
today's Federal Register regulations that implement these requirements 
of the law. The fee schedule that we are proposing in this notice would 
establish the amounts of the fees charged by DOI agencies under 43 CFR 
5.8(a) and would provide a fair return to the United States for the use 
of federal lands. The fee does not recover administrative costs, which 
are collected separately.
    Public Law 106-206 states that fees must be based on several 
criteria, including:
    1. The number of days the commercial filming or still photography 
takes place on federal land.
    2. The size of the film crew present on federal land.
    3. The amount and type of equipment present on federal land.
    As used in this notice, the term commercial filming means the film, 
electronic, magnetic, digital or other recording of a moving image by a 
person, business, or other entity for a market audience with the intent 
of generating income. Examples include, but are not limited to feature 
film, video, television broadcast, documentary, or similar projects. 
Commercial filming may include the advertisement of a product or 
service and/or the use of actors, models, sets, or props.
    Still photography conducted on lands managed by the Department of 
the Interior (DOI) or the Forest Service (USFS) requires a permit when 
it involves models or props that are not a part of the site's natural 
or cultural resources or administrative facilities, or when it takes 
place at a location where members of the public generally are not 
allowed, or where additional administrative costs are likely. The land-
use fee for still photography would apply only to still photography 
that requires a permit.

Background

    On December 14, 2000, the National Park Service (NPS) published a 
notice in the Federal Register (65 FR 78186) requesting public comments 
on a proposed land-use fee schedule for commercial filming and still 
photography for all units of the National Park System. The NPS received 
34 comments from the public on the proposed fee schedule.
    In general, respondents stated that charging a fee for each person 
was confusing and that the proposed fees were too high. There were 
additional comments on the proposed implementation of the schedule. 
Respondents proposed charging less for still photography than for 
commercial filming and proposed charging only one fee per day, 
regardless of how many different sites were used, rather than a fee per 
day per location, as proposed by the NPS.
    Shortly after the public comment period closed, DOI decided to 
develop a regulation establishing a single land-use fee schedule for 
commercial filming and still photography for all DOI agencies. DOI 
created a task force to develop the fee schedule that included 
personnel from the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, and the NPS. Representatives from DOI's Office of the 
Solicitor and the Forest Service also served on the task force. To 
enhance consistency in management of federal lands, DOI and the Forest 
Service both anticipated that the Forest Service would adopt the same 
land-use fee schedule for commercial filming and still photography.
    The task force used the proposed NPS land-use fee schedule as a 
starting point for the Departmental fee schedule for commercial filming 
and still photography and considered the comments received on the NPS 
proposed fee schedule. Task force members requested information from 
state, local, and tribal land management agencies and privately owned 
cultural institutions about land-use fees they charge for commercial 
filming and still photography. A task force member attended the 
Association of Film Commissioners International Location ``Expo'' to 
discuss with state and location film commissioners the land use fees 
they charge for commercial filming and still photography. A task force 
member also spoke with representatives of the film and photography 
industry about their experience with land use fees.
    The task force developed separate land-use fee schedules for 
commercial filming and still photography permits. The task force 
modified the NPS proposed land-use fee schedule to establish different 
fee categories for each schedule based on the number of people engaging 
in commercial filming or still photography at a specific site and, in 
the case of the category for 1 to 2 people, the amount and type of 
equipment used.
    A DOI economist conducted cost-benefit and Unfunded Mandates Act 
analyses and a Regulatory Flexibility Act analysis of the NPS proposed 
fee schedule that the task force used in creating the proposed fee 
schedules. These analyses are available on-lineat http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/NPS_Filming_Fees_BCA_FINAL.pdf or by contacting 
Lee Dickinson, NPS Special Park Uses Program Manager, at [email protected] or 202-513-7092.

Proposed Fee Schedules

Commercial filming land-use fee schedule

------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Number of people                            Fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1-3, camera and tripod only...............  $10/day or $250/month
1-5, more than a camera and tripod........  75/day
6-10......................................  150/day
11-30.....................................  350/day
31-50.....................................  650/day
51-70.....................................  1,000/day
over 70...................................  1,500/day
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Still photography land-use fee schedule

------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Number of people                            Fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1-3, camera and tripod only...............  $10/day or $250/month
1-5, more than a camera and tripod........  50/day
6-10......................................  100/day
11-20.....................................  200/day
21-30.....................................  300/day
over 30...................................  450/day
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The land-use fee schedule would be adjusted annually using the July 
12-month, unadjusted Consumer Price Index-Urban (CPI-U), which measures 
the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for 
the 12-month period ending July 31 each year. Changes to the fee 
schedule would be rounded to the nearest dollar.

[[Page 52211]]

    No annual adjustment to the fee schedule would exceed five percent. 
When the annual change to the CPI-U results in an annual adjustment of 
more than five percent, we would add the portion of the adjustment 
exceeding five percent to the following year's schedule.
    Each year we would publish the revised land-use fee schedule in the 
Federal Register by October 1, and the adjustments would become 
effective the following January 1.

Jonathan B. Jarvis,
Director, National Park Service.
David Cottingham,
Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Mike Pool,
Acting Director, Bureau of Land Management.
Thomas L. Tidwell,
Chief, U.S. Forest Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-20440 Filed 8-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-EJ-P