Tourism Research Links

Managing Commercial Recreation on Public Land

[Prepared by Neil Curtis, REM Graduate Student]

Government Agency Websites

  1. British Columbia Assets and Lands Corporation - Commercial Recreation Strategy, Sea to Sky Corridor http://www.bcal.bc.ca/home.htm BCAL is the British Columbia Assets and Land Corporation, a provincial agency responsible for the tenuring and marketing of Crown Lands, the 92 percent of the province which is publicly owned. The website includes an overview of the organisation's operations, including information about the commercial recreation program http://www.bcal.bc.ca/for_business/commercial_recreation
  2. British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks - Crown Lands Branch http://www.elp.gov.bc.ca/clb. A major role of the Crown Lands Branch is to develop policy, procedures, standards, and legal tenure documentation relating to the management, administration and disposition of Crown land. The website includes a link to the text of the Commercial Recreation on Crown Land policy http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/clb/crec/finalcbr.htm and also includes a link to the Commercial Recreation Strategy for the Sea to Sky Corridor http://www.elp.gov.bc.ca/clb/planning/lmr/bcassets.htm
  3. USDA Forest Service - Recreation, Heritage and Wilderness Resources http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation. This part of the USDA Forest Service website is rather rudimentary, but does include a link to the Outfitting and Guiding Directory, which covers tenuring of public lands for commercial uses http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/permits/outfitting.htm
  4. USDA Forest Service - Recreation, Wilderness, Urban Forest and Demographic Trends Research Group http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/trends/. The Outdoor Recreation and Wilderness Assessment Group studies outdoor recreation and wilderness demand and related social for application in public land management. The useful website includes a link to the results from the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/trends/fsoutrec.html
  5. USDA Forest Service - Policy Analysis http://www.fs.fed.us/policy/. This otherwise rudimentary part of the Forest Service website includes a link to an interesting article, "Public recreation lands / private recreation enterprise: Policy issues from a historical perspective" http://www.fs.fed.us/policy/public_recreation_lands.htm
  6. Bureau of Land Management http://www.blm.gov/nhp/index.htm. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, administers 264 million acres of America's public lands, located primarily in 12 Western States. The website gives a comprehensive overview of the organization's activities, including information about Land Use Authorizations: Leases and Permits http://www.blm.gov/nhp/what/lands/realty/permits.htm

Recreation Industry Websites

  1. Canadian Parks and Recreation Association http://www.cpra.ca. The Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA) is the collective voice for recreation and parks in Canada, with a diverse, community-based membership ranging from community volunteers and front-line service providers to senior managers and elected officials. The website gives a comprehensive overview of the organization's activities.
  2. American Recreation Coalition http://www.funoutdoors.com/. The American Recreation Coalition is a Washington-based non-profit federation of more than 100 private sector organizations. Its volunteer leaders run the nation's most prominent recreation companies and recreation-related associations. The extensive website includes numerous links to other recreation-oriented websites, as well as reports such as "Outdoor Recreation In America 2000: Addressing Key Societal Concerns" http://www.funoutdoors.com/Rec00/index.html
  3. National Forest Recreation Association http://www.nfra.org. The National Forest Recreation Association represents and serves as advocate for businesses offering quality outdoor recreation opportunities to the public on federal lands and waters across the United States. The site includes a good list of links to other outdoor resources, as well as a direct link to Laws and Regulations Governing Recreation Special Uses on the US National Forest System.
  4. Outdoor Recreation Coalition of America http://www.orca.org/. ORCA is a trade association with products and services that support the business of outdoor recreation, focusing on the human-powered outdoor recreation (HPOR) industry. The website gives an overview of the various activities undertaken by the organization.