Changes to reservation process and a proposed fee increase of permitted Group Picnic Areas Rock Creek Park and Fort Dupont Park

Since 1949, the National Park Service has had an agreement with the District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) to manage the group picnic area reservations on National Park Service property at Rock Creek Park and Fort Dupont Park. DPR has asked the NPS to begin to assume the management of the reservation process for these NPS sites. The NPS will be moving the reservation process to Recreation.gov, a convenient website used by many national parks and thousands of park visitors across the country. The transition to Recreation.gov will be effective March 1, 2014. We are working with DPR to ensure that the transition is a smooth one for all park visitors and Washington Area residents.

The reservation fee for a group picnic area has not changed since the early 1990's. The National Park Service proposal will bring the fee in line with the price for similar group picnic areas in the Washington Metropolitan Area, and will provide options for full-day and half-day rentals. The proposal is to phase this increase over the next three years starting in the summer of 2014 with an increase to $25/half day. Additional increases will occur in 2015 at $45/half day, and 2016 at $65/half day. The additional revenue will improve the condition of the picnic areas and the level of service provided to visitors.

We are inviting comments during a 30-day public comment period through January 10, 2013.

Document Content:

Map of Rock Creek Picnic Areas   (1.4 MB, PDF file) Map of Fort Dupont Picnic Areas   (259.4 KB, PDF file) Poster from Public Meeting - How to comment and next steps   (4.9 MB, PDF file) Poster from Public Meeting - Accessing Recreation.gov   (4.2 MB, PDF file) Postser from Public Meeting - Proposed Increase and authorties   (2.6 MB, PDF file) Handout from public meetings   (47.9 KB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.