Special Uses - Fees and Payments

Annual Fee Updates – Calendar Year 2025

09/30/2024

Cross Reference: FSH 2709.11, chapter 30

This document provides the annual schedule for minor cost recovery fees, recreation residences, Adjusted Gross Revenue Brackets for the Ski Area Permit fees, the update for the Implicit Price Deflator-Gross Domestic Product (IDP-GDP) fee schedules, and the 2016-2025 Linear Right-of-Way Rental fee schedule.  This information was published annually as an interim directive (temporary policy) < 2021 in chapter 30 of FSH 2709.11. This information will now be posted on the following public site to be more easily updated and accessible: https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/lands-realty-management/special-uses/fees-payments

Overview and sections Forest Service policy to cross reference

31.31 - Cost Recovery processing and monitoring fee schedule.  The change is updated annually and is based on annual rate of change, second quarter to second quarter, in the Implicit Price Deflator-Gross Domestic Product (IPD–GDP) index.  The change is rounded up or down to the nearest dollar.

 

33 - Recreation residence fees updated each calendar year adjusted annually by a five-year rolling average of the annual IPD-GDP.

36.41 - Cumulative Implicit Price Deflator-Gross Domestic Product, current and historical IPD-GDP adjustment factors used to determine fees for cost recovery, recreation residences, and other land uses, excluding linear rights-of-way.  The Linear Right-of-Way Fee Schedule provides the 10-year schedule of fees for use and occupancy of linear rights-of-way on National Forest System and the Bureau of Land Management managed land.

38.12 - Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) Brackets and Associated Percentage Rates for Use in Determining Ski Area Permit Fee (SAPF) and updates the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for 2024 (for the purpose of calculating the ski area permit holders’ FY 2025 land use fees, rounded to the nearest thousands of dollars).  

31 - ESTABLISHING FEES

31.31 - Cost Recovery

The fees in the schedule are updated annually by using the annual rate of change, second quarter to second quarter, in the Implicit Price Deflator-Gross Domestic Product (IPD-GDP) index.  The Forest Service rounds the changes in the rates either up or down to the nearest dollar (36 CFR 251.58).  IPD-GDP values used to calculate cost recovery fee schedules can be found below in section 36.41.

Processing and Monitoring Fee Schedule for Applications and Authorizations

* Pursuant to 36 CFR 251.58(g), no processing or monitoring fee shall be charged for:

• Applications and authorizations that require one hour or less for the Agency to process or monitor.

• Applications and authorizations for recreation special uses that require 50 hours or less to process or monitor.

• Applications and authorizations for a noncommercial group use (36 CFR 251.51).

31.31 -Continued

• Applications and authorizations to exempt a noncommercial activity from a closure order, except for applications or authorizations for access to non-Federal lands within the boundaries of the National Forest System granted under section 1323(a) of Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3210(a)).

• Applications and authorizations for water systems authorized by section 501(c) of Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA) (43 U.S.C. 1761 and 1761(c)).

• Applications submitted to and authorizations issued by a federal agency under authorities other than Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761–1771); the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 185); the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470h-2); or the Act of May 26, 2000 (16 U.S.C. 4601–6d).

33 - RECREATION RESIDENCE LOT FEES

Cabin User and Transfer Fees are in Section 3024 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2015, signed December 19, 2014 (6 U.S.C. 6214, Public Law No. 113-291). This Act authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an annual fee in accordance with this section for the issuance of a special use permit for the use and occupancy of National Forest System land for recreational residence purposes. A transfer fee will be assessed for the issuance of a new recreational residence permit due to a change of ownership of the recreational residence. 

Use Fees for Recreation Residence Special Use Permit Holders

Note:  The table reflects annual fees charged for recreation residence uses on National Forest System land.  Following the establishment of base fees and fee tiers in 2015, the annual fee for recreation residences is increased or decreased each calendar year based on changes in the Implicit Price Deflator for the Gross Domestic Product, applied on a five-year rolling average (16 U.S.C. 6214 (f)(2)).  The values in the table below are rounded to the nearest whole dollar.  IPD-GDP values used to calculate cost recovery fee schedules can be found in 36.41. The transfer fee is $1,464 for CY2025.

36 - FEE SYSTEMS AND SCHEDULES

36.41 - Determination of Fee

Cumulative Implicit Price Deflator-Gross Domestic Product (IPD – GDP)

Note:  The table reflects the IPD-GDP adjustment factors used to determine cost recovery, recreation residence, and other land use fees, excluding linear rights-of-way.  The year of the fee calculation (in parenthesis) correlates with the IPD-GDP adjustment factor used to calculate fees for that year. Note that 1.026 equates to a 0.97% annual inflation increase.

Linear Right-of-Way Fee Schedule (CY 2016-2025)

Note:  The linear right-of-way fee schedule, used by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, was developed per section 367 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-58).  Counties are assigned to zones based on 80 percent of the land values reported in the 2012 National Agriculture Statics Service census.  In each year of the schedule, fees increase by 2.1 percent – the 10-year IDP-GDP average of years 2004-2013.  Refer to the parent text of FSH 2709.11, section 36.4, for direction on use of the fee schedule in special use authorizations for linear rights-of-ways.

38 - SKI AREA PERMIT FEES

38.12 - Fee Calculation

Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) Brackets and Associated Percentage Rates

for Use in Determining Ski Area Permit Fee (SAPF)