§6232 Fees for Occupancy and Use of National Forest System Lands and Facilities by Organizational Camps

Summary

The Secretary must charge an annual land use fee for each organizational camp. The fee is 5% of (the number of acres the camp is allowed to use times the county’s per-acre market value from the most recent Census of Agriculture by the National Agricultural Statistics Service). The fee is adjusted each year using the compounded rate of change between the two most recent Censuses. The fee must be lowered based on how many attendees are people with disabilities or children at risk, and then the remaining fee can be cut by up to 60% based on how many attendees take part in organized, supervised youth programs that focus on outdoor recreation and character or citizenship building. Sponsorships or scholarships cannot be counted when calculating those reductions. The fee cannot be cut below a minimum amount equal to the Secretary’s average yearly cost to manage a camp permit in that National Forest Region. If a camp uses a government-owned facility on National Forest land, the Secretary must also charge a facility fee equal to 5% of the facility’s value; that fee cannot be reduced or waived. If the camp earns money from uses that are not meant to introduce youth or people with disabilities to outdoor experiences and natural resource education, the Secretary must charge an extra fee equal to 5% of that revenue. A separate federal rule about fee waivers and reductions applies to these fees, except it does not allow lowering the minimum land use fee or the facility fee.