A friend of mine sent me this and I thought it would be a good idea to post it here...

Purpose: Newly available pass to public lands, campgrounds, parks, etc...

Title: America the Beautiful - National Parks & Federal Recreational Lands Military Pass

Link:https://store.usgs.gov/militarypass

 

I have the pass for Service Connected Disabled Vets. It's GREAT. .The pass along with our DAV State Parks (Oregon) Pass has saved us so much when camping or accessing Federal and State Fee areas, including campgrounds. A couple of years ago the USFS changed the rules and doesn't allow them to be used on group / multi-party camp sites and they never could be used for 2nd cars at the camp site.

Now that they have opened passes up to Gold Star and all Vets it provides the access to a broader reach of the Veteran family..

One word of caution for a "hiccup" that we have discovered....and it really causes me heartburn (I'm trying to keep it polite).
These passes are not honored at some Day Use areas that are managed for the Federal Agency by private vendors. I've yet to find a day use area managed by the Federal Agency that has not honored the pass. Just the ones managed by the private vendors.
One example is the Vendor, American Land and Leisure. They manage a lot of campgrounds in Oregon for the USFS and some private entities. The pass will get you half off individual camp sites in Federal Campgrounds under managerial lease to American Land and Leisure. However, if you are using the day use area of these sites, such as the picnic or boat launch area, the day use fee could quite possibly apply. Some specific examples we have found are USFS Campgrounds Santiam Flats, Hoover Campground (Picnic, Boat Ramp & Handicap Fishing Pier), Cottonwood Campground (Picnic, swimming, boat launch) and Southshore Campground (Picnic, swimming and Boat launch)

Anyway, just a heads up to the Vets or Gold Star Family's that may be new to the Federal Recreation Passes.