Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness

What this funds

Table FS-47. Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness Details Table (thousands of dollars) Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness - Justification of Changes 2026). The FY 2027 Budget supports a Forest Service focus on high-use recreation sites and work with communities and public-private partnerships to pursue efficient, collaborative approaches to offering recreation opportunities on NFS lands. Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness - Status of Programs The Recreation Program administers recreational access for over 193 million acres of NFS areas, trailheads and day-use areas; 220,000 miles of fishable streams; and 122 ski areas. The Heritage program streamlines compliance with historic preservation laws while protecting more than 500,000 cultural resources. The Wilderness and Wild & Scenic Rivers Program manages more than 36.6 million acres of Congressionally designated wilderness areas and over 5,200 miles of Congressionally designated wild and scenic rivers. National Forests and Grasslands receive an average of 164 million recreation visits annually for hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and other activities. Spending by recreation visitors supports over 155,100 jobs in local forest communities and contributes over $15.8 billion to the Nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To sustain and grow this level of use, the Forest Service is simplifying the permitting process for outfitters and guides, maintaining and encouraging strong collaborations with partners and volunteer groups, and working to meet the recreational desires of the public, who seek year-round activities on NFS lands. In FY 2025, the Forest Service expanded Recreation.gov to over 145 new facilities, streamlining recreation management, increasing revenue, and improving visitor access and planning. Innovations such as the Scan and Pay service, a feature within the Recreation.gov mobile app 6, and digital wallet technology enhanced convenience and reduced staff burden, August 2025. Recreation.gov now supports more than 32 million user accounts and 9.39 million reservations to date. The platform advanced cybersecurity compliance by implementing Multi-factor Authentication and improved customer experience through tailored outreach, campground availability recommendations, and upgraded mobile and In FY 2025, the Forest Service Volunteer Program demonstrated both impact and efficiency, volunteer safety, expanded public outreach, and drafted a new Desk Guide that will be used for onboarding and training. Legal updates ensured policy alignment, while over 80,000 new Strategic partnerships, improved recognition efforts, and targeted training fostered community engagement and trust, reinforcing the program's scalability and stewardship Modernizing Access to Our Public Land Act In alignment with the Modernizing Access to Our Public Land (MAPLand) Act, the Forest Service is working in close partnership with fellow federal agencies--including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Geological Survey--to advance a unified approach to geospatial data standardization supportive of public recreation access. The joined forces are developing MAPLand-compliant data standards for recreation sites, easements, roads, trails, and designated areas, fostering a shared framework which In FY 2027, the Forest Service will focus efforts on prioritizing high-value recreation opportunities to visitors on NFS lands and implementing priorities in the Expanding Public

Extracted from Forest Service, p. 59. Verbatim; nothing here is paraphrased.

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Answers come from the figures on this page and nothing else. These dollars are parsed from Agriculture (USDA)'s Congressional Justification and are approximate — confirm anything that matters against the cited page.