S.Amdt. 2567

SA 2567. Mr. PADILLA submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle H of title X, add the following:

SEC. 10__. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES STUDY OF RESERVATION
SYSTEMS FOR RECREATION ACTIVITIES ON FEDERAL
LAND.

(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(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.
(b) 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?
(c) Report.--The agreement entered into under subsection
(b)(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 (b)(1).
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