From January to September 2022, permit fees for The Wave amounted to $958,020. Of this amount, Recreation.gov made $876,582. The park? $81,438.
To protect the sensitive landscape around The Wave, the Bureau of Land Management set up a lottery to limit access. It costs $10 to enter the lottery, none of which goes to the BLM. These $10 go right into Recreation.gov’s pockets — which is managed by Booz Allen Hamilton, a 12 billion dollar government and military contractor. The BLM on the other end collects a $9/person fee, but only on successful applications. Because The Wave lottery has a 3% success rate, you can imagine how Recreation.gov can make over 10 times more money than the BLM.
This is not a unique situation. For all lotteries managed by Recreation.gov, Recreation.gov charges $6 to $10 per application while parks only charge successful applicants.
The Wave Lottery
Jan-Sep 2022 revenue
$10
per lottery application goes to recreation.gov.
$9/person
per
successful
lottery application goes to the park.
Angels Landing Lottery
Jan-Sep 2022 revenue
$6
per lottery application goes to recreation.gov.
$3/person
per
successful
lottery application goes to the park.
Half Dome Lottery
Jan-Sep 2022 revenue
$10
per lottery application goes to recreation.gov.
$10/person
per
successful
lottery application goes to the park.
Yosemite Lottery
Jan-Sep 2022 revenue
$10
per lottery application goes to recreation.gov.
$6/person
per
successful
lottery application goes to the park.
Enchantment Lottery
Jan-Sep 2022 revenue
$6
per lottery application goes to recreation.gov.
$5/person/night
per
successful
lottery application goes to the park.
Mt. Whitney Lottery
Jan-Sep 2022 revenue
$6
per lottery application goes to recreation.gov.
$15/person
per
successful
lottery application goes to the park.
Mt. Rainier Lottery
Jan-Sep 2022 revenue
$6
per lottery application goes to recreation.gov.
$20
per
successful
lottery application goes to the park.
North Cascades Lottery
Jan-Sep 2022 revenue
$6
per lottery application goes to recreation.gov.
$20
per
successful
lottery application goes to the park.
Yellowstone Lottery
Jan-Sep 2022 revenue
$10
per lottery application goes to recreation.gov.
$5/person/night
per
successful
lottery application goes to the park.
If you want to maximize your chances of winning the lottery, have a look at my analysis of The Wave, Mt. Whitney, Half Dome, and Enchantment lotteries.
Some permits like Yosemite, Mt. Whitney, Enchantment, Mt. Rainier, North Cascades, and Yellowstone allow you to book outside of the lottery. Permits run out quickly, but you can use Outdoor Status to notify you when we find canceled permits.
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The charts where created using historical reservation data from Recreation.gov.
