SAN BERNARDINO –To implement a settlement reached by plaintiffs and the U.S. Forest Service, a district court has vacated a 2014 ruling that affected the U.S. Forest Service’s ability to enforce recreation fees at standard amenity recreation fee sites in the Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland National Forests in southern California.
On May 19, 2016, the district court granted a joint motion by the plaintiffs and the U.S. Forest Service to accept the settlement agreement, which resulted in the 2014 judgment being vacated.
Standard amenity recreation fee sites provide amenities such as designated developed parking, picnic tables, toilet facilities, security, interpretive signs
and trash receptacles for public use. Under the settlement agreement, the U.S. Forest Service will continue to enforce recreation fees at standard amenity recreation fee sites.
Forest visitors parked in standard amenity recreation fee sites in the four southern California national forests must display a valid recreation pass. Information on valid recreation passes, such as the Adventure Pass and the America the Beautiful–the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass, can be found at http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/r5/passes-permits/recreation.
Visitors do not have to display a valid recreation pass if they park outside these sites.

About the U.S. Forest Service:

The mission of the US Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world. Public lands the US Forest Service manages contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year through visitor spending alone. Those same lands provide 20 percent of the nation’s clean water supply, a value estimated at $7.2 billion per year. The agency has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 80 percent of the 850 million forested acres within the United States, of which 100 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.