United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1996-12-20 monographic deposited born digital 31 p. GA 1.13:RCED-97-16 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-16 P0b002ee18039aa18 f:rc97016 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-16 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-16 RCED-97-16 National forests User fees Fair market value Federal agency accounting systems Cost accounting National recreation areas Administrative costs Licenses Forest management Government collections Forest Service Recreation Special-Use Permit Program Forest Service Graduated Rate Fee System California Idaho Colorado Forest Service Recreation Residence Program Superior National Forest (MN) Panhandle National Forest (ID) Lolo National Forest (MT) Stanislaus National Forest (CA) Pike/San Isabel National Forest (CO) Forest Service Timber Sales Program Letter Report RCED

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Forest Service's management of the recreation special-use program, focusing on: (1) whether the fees currently charged for recreation special-uses reflect fair market value; (2) whether application processing and review costs are recovered; and (3) if fees do not reflect fair market value and costs are not being recovered, why not.<p/>GAO found that: (1) in many instances, the Forest Service is not getting fair market fees for commercial and noncommercial recreation special-use permits; (2) the Forest Service's fee system that sets fees for most commercial uses has not been updated in nearly 30 years and generally limits fees to less than 3 percent of a permittee's gross revenues; (3) in comparison, fees for similar commercial uses of nearby state-held land average 5 to 15 percent of a permittee's gross revenues; (4) fees for holders of recreation residence permits are based on out-of-date assessments of the value of the land and, as a result, fees for many of these permit holders are lower than they should be on the basis of current market conditions; (5) while the Forest Service has been authorized to recover costs incurred in reviewing and processing all types of special-use permit applications since as far back as 1952, it has not done so; (6) on the basis of Service-provided information, GAO estimated that in 1994 the costs to review and process special-use permits were about $13 million, but this would not represent the cost to run the entire program, which also includes activities such as annual billing, conducting inspections, and training staff; (7) Service officials acknowledge that because they do not have a cost accounting system, they do not know the cost of administering all aspects of the special-use permit program; (8) the lack of priority given to the program by agency management and the lack of incentives to correct known problems contribute to the Service's problems in collecting fees and recovering costs; (9) as a result, resources needed to improve known program weaknesses have not been made available; and (10) since additional fees collected would generally be returned to the U.S. Treasury and not benefit the forest, there is a lack of incentive for the Service to dedicate the additional resources to address these issues. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-16/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-16.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-16/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-16.pdf GAO/RCED-97-16 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-16 Letter Report GAO/RCED-97-16; U.S. Forest Service: Fees for Recreation Special-Use Permits Do Not Reflect Fair Market Value; National forests User fees Fair market value Federal agency accounting systems Cost accounting National recreation areas Administrative costs Licenses Forest management Government collections Forest Service Recreation Special-Use Permit Program Forest Service Graduated Rate Fee System California Idaho Colorado Forest Service Recreation Residence Program Superior National Forest (MN) Panhandle National Forest (ID) Lolo National Forest (MT) Stanislaus National Forest (CA) Pike/San Isabel National Forest (CO) Forest Service Timber Sales Program Title 16 Section 460l-6a(c) Title 16 Section 497b Title 16 Section 497 Title 16 Section 572 16 U.S.C. 460l-6a(c) 16 U.S.C. 497b 16 U.S.C. 497 16 U.S.C. 572 Title 31 Section 9701 31 U.S.C. 9701 Public Law 104-333