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After several court challenges extended over a period of years, a monopoly public lands reservation contract has finally been awarded to Ticketmaster and their parent corporation InterActiveCorp freeing the way for increased commodification of outdoor recreation and further commercialization leisure pastimes. This is a black day for those who value free access to wild nature.
The profound implications of this action will probably not be immediately clear, except to those who have been actively following this issue.
I strongly encourage you to explore the ReserveAmerica website for yourself and then read what Wild Wilderness has reported upon this threat to public lands.
Scott
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10/27/06
National Recreation Reservation System contract to move ahead
By Mary Mosquera - Contributing Writer
Bidder Spherix Inc. agrees to settlement
Recreation enthusiasts should be able to start using federal
consolidated reservation services, possibly as early as next year, the
U.S. Forest Service announced, now that a bidder has settled the legal
argument over the award of the $97 million National Recreation
Reservation System.
Spherix Inc. of Beltsville, Md., agreed to a $6 million settlement to end the contract dispute.
The Forest Service, an agency of the Agriculture Department, twice
awarded the 10-year contract, the last time in June 2005, to
ReserveAmerica, a subsidiary of Ticketmaster.
The Government Accountability Office ruled twice in favor of Spherix in
the company’s protests of the award of the recreation information and
reservation service contract to ReserveAmerica of Ballston Spa, N.Y.
The Forest Service gave ReserveAmerica a start-work order Oct. 20, two
days after the parties finalized the settlement, said Jim Bedwell,
national director of recreation and heritage resources at the Forest
Service.
“Our intent is to move ahead as quickly as possible so people during
late winter and spring are able to make plans for the spring and summer
season,” he said.
The contract will consolidate and expand existing federal reservation
services and offer one-stop shopping for federal recreation areas and
facilities as part of the president’s Recreation One-Stop e-government
initiative.
The reservation service will offer centralized information for more
than 57,000 campgrounds, cabins and parks, and tours of national sites
through a single portal at www.recreation.gov. The sites and facilities
fall under the Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the
Interior Department’s National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management
and Bureau of Reclamation.
Spherix and ReserveAmerica have held separate contracts to operate
reservation services for the National Park Service and the Forest
Service. With the settlement in place, Spherix is expected to continue
operating the National Park Reservation Service until
Ticketmaster/ReserveAmerica is able to deploy its reservations system
over the combined inventory of national parks, recreation areas,
historical sites, and other federal lands.
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- Privatization 
