January 3, 2023 – Increasing costs of maintenance and other requirements are driving the need for the USDA Forest Service to reinstate the fee at the Angelina National Forest-Boykin Springs Recreation Area. The new fee will take effect on January 3, 2023.
In 2004, Congress passed the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, which allows the Forest Service to retain 95% of revenue collected at recreation sites and use these funds locally to operate and maintain and improve these sites.
Revenue is reinvested into forest recreation sites in the form of trash pickups, septic and toilet pumping, painting, cleaning, addressing the backlog of deferred maintenance, conducting patrols, maintaining highly used trails, campsites, and more.
Angelina National Forest’s fee change includes adding a day-use fee at Boykin Springs Recreation Area.
The National Forest and Grasslands in Texas hosts numerous fee-free days, and many developed recreation sites on the forest are free for public use. You can find information on fee-free days on our website.
Specifically, the following fee changes have been approved:
Current day use fee $0, New day use fee $5 per day as of January 3, 2023. Annual passes remain available for $30.
A complete list of fee areas can be found on the NFGT webpage at www.fs.usda.gov/recmain/texas/recreation.
The Angelina National Forest conducted public outreach in 2019, receiving comments on the fee proposal. The comments received were taken into consideration when preparing the final fee change proposal. The proposed changes were based on the level of amenities and services provided, the cost of operations and maintenance, and market assessments.
The fee changes came after the Angelina-Sabine Secure Rural Schools Resource Advisory Committee met on October 4, 2022, to approve the proposed fee changes. The Secure Rural Schools RAC members represent a broad array of interest groups to help ensure that the Forest Service is proposing reasonable and publicly acceptable fee changes. The Regional Forester reviewed and approved the final fee changes, which will now be implemented.
For more information, please visit the National Forest and Grasslands website at: www.fs.usda.gov/texas.
