What Congress Is Doing About Recreation.gov: Bots, Fees and the RESERVE Act

Published October 10, 2026

Frustration with Recreation.gov has reached Congress. Lawmakers have raised concerns about bots, fees and whether the reservation system is fair to everyone. Here's where things stand.

The RESERVE Act

Senator Alex Padilla of California introduced the RESERVE Federal Land Act (Review and Evaluation of Strategies for Equal Reservations for Visitor Experiences). It wouldn't change Recreation.gov directly. Instead, it would direct the National Academy of Sciences to study reservation systems across federal lands, including fairness, fees, who's using the system and how data is shared, and recommend improvements.

• It passed the Senate in December 2024 but didn't pass the House before the session ended.
• Padilla reintroduced it in May 2025.

The 2026 push against bots

On June 29, 2026, Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico wrote to the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the Recreation.gov contract. He wrote that "bots appear to be rapidly securing permits and reservations at release times, shutting out the public," and that campsites and river launches can look fully booked while sitting unused. He asked the Forest Service to adopt a policy banning automated systems from getting permits on Recreation.gov, and offered to work on legislation if the agency needs more legal authority to enforce it.

Fees

Members of Congress have also questioned the fees Recreation.gov adds to reservations, which go to the private contractor that runs the site rather than to the government. See Recreation.gov fees explained.

The bigger opportunity: the next contract

The contract to run Recreation.gov expires on September 30, 2028, and the Forest Service started the process of choosing what comes next in 2026. The rules written into that contract, on bots, fees, data access and whether outside websites can ever book federal campsites, could matter more than any single bill. See who runs Recreation.gov.

States are acting too

California passed its own law in 2023 to fight campsite hoarding and resale. See AB 618 explained.

In the meantime

Whatever Congress does, sold-out campgrounds still have cancellations every day. Wandering Labs watches for them and alerts you when a site opens up, and you book it yourself on the official site. Create a free alert.