Reporting Accomplishments for the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act Second Triennial Report to Congress; DD: 01/05/2009

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
http://www.blm.gov

November 12, 2008

In Reply Refer To:
2930 (250/172) P

EMS TRANSMISSION 11/19/2008
Instruction Memorandum No. 2009-023
Expires: 09/30/2010

To: All Washington Offices and Field Offices

From: Assistant Director, Renewable Resources and Planning

Subject: Reporting Accomplishments for the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act Second Triennial Report to Congress DD: 01/05/2009

Program Area: Recreation and Visitor Services

Purpose: The purpose of this Instruction Memorandum (IM) is to request a summary of recreation fee project accomplishments within the Recreation Fee Program during fiscal years 2006, 2007, and 2008 respectively as a requirement of the Recreation Enhancement Act (REA) Second Triennial Report to Congress 2008.

Policy/Action: The field offices are to report to the Washington Office, the accomplishments within the Recreation Fee Program as required in REA. The Recreation State Leads for each state will be responsible to coordinate these submissions by having the Fee Project Managers complete the Recreation Fee Program Summaries (Attachment 1) and uploading them to the SharePoint address at http://teamspace/sites/recfee-report. For any questions or concerns about SharePoint, please refer to http://teamspace/sites-oc/ea/sptraining/default.aspx

Time Frame: Recreation Fee Program Summaries should be uploaded to the shared drive by January 5, 2009.

Budget Impact: Minimal to none.

Background: The REA, enacted by Congress in December 2004, authorized the U.S. Forest Service (FS) within the Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service (NPS), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) within the Department of the Interior to charge fees on Federal recreation sites which meet certain criteria and reinvest a majority of the revenues into enhancing the site. Section 9 of REA requires the Secretaries of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture to submit triennial reports on REA to Congress by May 1, for the 10 year life of the Act. The Departments developed these reports jointly in response to Congress’s directive. The report:

Highlights the status of the REA program implementation for federal recreational lands and waters, including budgetary data.
Provides examples of projects funded using such fees.
Provides examples of future projects and programs using such fees.
Evaluates the REA program.
Highlights each agency’s current accomplishments and planned future projects using REA revenues.
Manual/Handbook Affected: None.

Coordination: This IM was coordinated with the following agencies: FS, NPS, FWS and BOR. The REA is an interagency effort.

Contact: If you have any questions concerning this IM, please contact Bob Ratcliffe, Chief, Division of Recreation and Visitor Services, at 202-452-5040 or Anthony Bobo, Jr., Recreation Fee Program Manager, at 202-452-0333.

Signed by: Authenticated by:
Dwight Fielder Robert M. Williams
Acting, Assistant Director Division of IRM Governance,WO-560
Renewable Resources and Planning

1 Attachment
1 - Bureau of Land Management Recreation Fee Program Summary (3 pp)