The fee demonstration  program authorized the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife  Service, National Park Service, and the Forest Service to experiment with  new ways to administer existing fee revenues and to establish new  recreation entrance and user fees. According to the Department of the Interior’s latest estimates,  the deferred maintenance backlog for its participating agencies ranged  from about $5.1 billion to $8.3 billion. Table 1 shows the Department’s  estimate of deferred maintenance for its agencies participating in the  Recreational Fee Demonstration Program. Although the Park Service has used some of the  revenues generated from the fee demonstration program to address its  high-priority maintenance needs, without accurate and reliable data, it  cannot demonstrate the effect of fee demonstration revenues in improving  the maintenance of its facilities. In  September 2003, we reported that the Forest Service (like the Park  Service) had no effective means for measuring how much of the fee  demonstration revenues it had spent on deferred maintenance or the  impact that the fee program had had on reducing its deferred maintenance  needs. Furthermore, the agency has not developed a  process to track deferred maintenance expenditures from fee  demonstration revenues. 3283 would provide participating agencies with a permanent source  of funds to supplement existing appropriations and to better address  maintenance backlogs. Furthermore, by making the program permanent,  H.R. 3283 could provide participating agencies like the Forest Service with  an incentive to develop a system to track their deferred maintenance  backlogs. 3283 Provides Agencies Additional Flexibility in Distributing Collected Fee Revenues

The existing fee demonstration program requires federal land management  agencies to maintain at least 80 percent of the fee revenues for use on-site. H.R. 3283 provides the agencies with  flexibility to reduce the percentage of revenues spent on-site down to 60  percent. In contrast, we warned that sites outside the  demonstration program, as well as demonstration sites that did not collect  as much in fee revenues, may have high-priority needs that remained  unmet. To address this imbalance, we suggested that the Congress consider  modifying the current requirement that 80 percent of fee revenue be  maintained for use by the sites generating the revenues to allow for greater  flexibility in using fee revenues. Our prior work has pointed to the need  for more effective coordination and cooperation among the agencies to  better serve visitors by making the payment of fees more convenient and  equitable while at the same time, reducing visitor confusion about similar  or multiple fees being charged at nearby or adjacent federal recreation  sites. H.R. First, the act would standardize the types  of fees that the federal land management agencies use. Second, it would  create a single national pass that would provide visitors access to  recreation sites managed by different agencies. Third, it would allow for  the coordination of fees on a regional level for access to multiple nearby  sites. H.R. 3283 Would Provide Interagency Coordination on the Regional Level

H.R. H.R. While the fee demonstration program provides funds to increase the  quality of the visitor experience and enhance the protection of resources  by, among other things, addressing a backlog of needs for repair and  maintenance, and to manage and protect resources, the program’s short  and long-term success lies in the flexibility it provides agencies to spend  revenues and the removal of any undesirable inequities that occur to  ensure that the agencies’ highest priority needs are met.
Why GAO Did This Study

In 1996, the Congress authorized an experimental initiative called the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program that provides funds to increase the quality of visitor experience and enhance resource protection. Under the program, the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service--all within the Department of the Interior--and the Forest Service--within the U.S. Department of Agriculture--are authorized to establish, charge, collect, and use fees at a number of sites to, among other things, address a backlog of repair and maintenance needs. Also, sites may retain and use the fees they collect. The Congress is now considering, through H.R. 3283, whether to make the program permanent. Central to the debate is how effectively the agencies are using the revenues that they have collected. This testimony focuses on the potential effect of H.R. 3283 on the issues GAO raised previously in its work on the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program. Specifically, it examines the extent to which H.R. 3283 would affect (1) federal agencies' deferred maintenance programs, (2) the management and distribution of the revenue collected, and (3) interagency coordination on fee collection and use.

What GAO Found

H.R. 3283 would provide agencies with a permanent source of funds to better address their maintenance backlog, and by making the program permanent, the act would provide agencies incentive to develop a system to track their deferred maintenance backlogs. According to the Department of the Interior's latest estimates, the deferred maintenance backlog for the Interior agencies participating in the fee demonstration program ranges from $5.1 billion to $8.3 billion, with the Park Service alone accounting for an estimated $4 to $7 billion. Likewise, the Forest Service, the other participating agency, estimates its total deferred maintenance backlog to be about $8 billion. GAO's prior work on the Park Service's and Forest Service's backlog has demonstrated that neither agency has accurate and reliable information on its deferred maintenance needs and cannot determine how much of the fee demonstration revenues it spends on reducing its deferred maintenance needs. Furthermore, some agency officials have hesitated to divert resources to develop a process for tracking deferred maintenance because the fee demonstration program is temporary. H.R. 3283 would allow agencies to reduce the percentage of fee revenue used on-site down to 60 percent, thus providing the agencies with greater flexibility in how they use the revenues. Currently, the demonstration program requires federal land management agencies to maintain at least 80 percent of the collected fee revenues for use on-site. This requirement has helped some demonstration sites generate revenue in excess of their high-priority needs, but the high-priority needs at other sites, which did not collect as much in fee revenues, remained unmet. GAO has suggested that the Congress consider modifying the current 80-percent on-site spending requirement to provide agencies greater flexibility in using fee revenues. H.R. 3283 would standardize the types of fees federal land management agencies may use and creates a single national pass that provides visitors general access to a variety of recreation sites managed by different agencies and allows for the regional coordination of fees to access multiple nearby sites. GAO's prior reports have demonstrated the need for more effective coordination and cooperation among the agencies to better serve visitors by making the payment of fees more convenient and equitable while reducing visitor confusion about similar or multiple fees being charged at nearby or adjacent federal recreation sites.