May 2012
In November 2003, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) began waiving recreation use fees for active service personnel on temporary leave from duty in Iraq for the duration of the operation. Today, we continue to waive day use and camping fees for active service military personnel and their dependants.
We accept at Corps managed recreation areas either the Department of the Defense Identification Card or Common Access Card (CAC) or the America the Beautiful Federal Recreation Pass Program new Interagency Annual Pass for Military as proof of eligibility for free day use and when leave orders to support Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) are presented, for free camping.
Camping fees will be waived on a walk-up and space available basis, as well as for reservations made through the National Recreation Reservation Service call center at: 1-877-444-6777.
However, fees will not be waived for on-line reservations made through Recreation.gov.
References:
FAQs:
Q. What are the qualifications for the waiver?
All active military personnel (reserve or otherwise) and their dependents qualify for this benefit.
Active military members
In order to qualify for a fee waiver the active military member must present the following:
- A Department of Defense ID (CAC Card) verifies that the person is an active member of the U.S. military
or
- ATB Annual Pass for Military
In order to qualify for the camping fee waiver the active military member must present the following in addition to the CAC Card or ATB Annual Pass for Military:
- Mid or post-deployment (reintegration) leave orders from duty in a hostile fire zone to include Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and other deployments to support the Overseas Contingency Operations.
Dependants
In order to qualify for a fee waiver the dependant of an active military member must present the following:
- A Department of Defense ID (DD Form 1173) that identifies the dependant and his/her sponsor. Dependants may not use any other type of ID to obtain a pass.
- The sponsor is the active military member. The family member eligible to receive the benefits is the dependant.
Q. Do we accept the America the Beautiful – the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Interagency (ATB) Annual Pass for Military?
Yes, the holder and their dependents qualify for this benefit and fees will be waived.
Q. What recreation use fees are waived for the military?
The Corps will waive all day use fees regardless of duty location and if the military member meets OCO leave status eligibility, camping fees are waived.
Q. Are there exceptions to the day use fee waiver?
Yes, the waiver does NOT apply to special facility, special activity or special event permit fees. The waiver does NOT apply to the Corps Annual Pass ($30) purchases.
Q. Are there any exceptions to the campground fee waiver?
Camping fees will not be waived for on-line reservations made through Recreation.gov. The waiver will only apply to camping fees on a walk up and space available basis, and for NRRS reservations made through the call center.
Q. Why aren’t camping fees waived when making an online reservation?
Recreation.gov website is currently not programmed to accept waivers.
Q. Will information about the waiver be advertised on the Recreation.gov website?
No. We don't want to advertise it through the NRRS website since the waiver does not apply to internet reservations.
- Agency FAQs/SOPs
- Worksheet for Waivers - SharePoint
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