Recreation Resource Advisory Committee - Organization and Links

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The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are working with two types of advisory committees that make recommendations on recreation fee proposals:

1. Advisory committees established for other purposes (such as BLM Resource Advisory Councils)
2. Forest Service established Recreation RACs

All of these committees either have amended their existing charters to include making these recommendations or, in the case of the Forest Service established Recreation RACs, have a charter (108 KB PDF) specifically for that purpose.

This map shows how states are grouped and which states use which advisory committees. Below the map is a detailed description of each advisory committee.

FOREST SERVICE ESTABLISHED RECREATION RACs

Eastern Recreation RAC - Covers the eastern states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.

• Eastern Region Recreation RAC Web Page
• For more information on this Recreation RAC contact Eastern Regional Office.

Southern Recreation RAC - Covers the southern states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico.

• Southern Region Recreation RAC Web Page
• For more information on this Recreation RAC contact Southern Regional Office.

Pacific Northwest Recreation RAC - Covers the states of Oregon and Washington.

• PNW Recreation RAC Web Page
• For more information on this Recreation RAC contact Pacific Northwest Regional Office.

Pacific Southwest Recreation RAC - Covers the state of California.

• California Recreation RAC Web Page
• For more information on this Recreation RAC contact Pacific Southwest Regional Office.

Colorado Recreation RAC - Covers the states of Colorado and Kansas.

• Colorado Recreation RAC Web Page
• For more information on this Recreation RAC contact Rocky Mountain Region.

BLM RESOURCE ADVISORY COUNCILS

National Forests and BLM districts are working with certain BLM RACs to review and make recommendations on recreation fee proposals. Each state listed below has one or more BLM RACs. Click on the links below to visit web pages about those RACs and to view their current membership and agendas.

Arizona: Arizona BLM RAC

Idaho: Boise District BLM RAC, Coeur d'Alene BLM RAC, Idaho Falls BLM RAC, and Twin Falls BLM RAC.

Montana: Central BLM RAC, Eastern BLM RAC, and Western BLM RAC.

Nevada: Mojave-Southern Great Basin BLM RAC, Northeastern Great Basin BLM RAC, Sierra Front-Northwestern Great Basin BLM RAC. Nevada BLM RACs

New Mexico (in addition these National Grasslands are also working with this RAC; Black Kettle, McClellan Creek, and Rita Blanca): New Mexico BLM RAC.

North Dakota and South Dakota (Except for Black Hills National Forest): Dakotas BLM RAC.

Utah: Utah BLM RAC.

EXISTING ADVISORY BOARD

One National Forest is using an already established advisory board:

Black Hills National Forest and Oglala National Grassland are using Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board

NOT USING AN ADVISORY BODY

In consultation with the governors of the states of Alaska, Nebraska and Wyoming, the Secretary of Agriculture decided not to establish a Recreation RAC.

IT IS A RESULT OF LISTENING

To help develop a workable committee system to carry out these advisory duties, the Forest Service and BLM held 11 listening sessions in Idaho, Oregon, California, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Washington, DC in June and July of 2005. The agencies heard from key partners, organizations, and existing BLM and Forest Service Resource Advisory Council members. A consistent theme of those meetings was controlling the costs of the committees and the effective use of existing advisory committees.

After these public meetings, numerous conversations with congressional staff, internal agency analysis, and legal review, the Forest Service and BLM established the Recreation RAC organization detailed above that has been approved by both the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture.