Washington, D.C.—After waiting nearly a year for requested information, Los Padres ForestWatch has filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the U.S. Forest Service for failing to publicly disclose documents related to a private company’s management of campgrounds across Los Padres National Forest. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), which guarantees prompt access to public records.
In August 2019, ForestWatch submitted a formal request to the Los Padres National Forest Supervisor’s Office in Goleta pertaining to a controversial permit that the Forest Service issued in 2016 to Parks Management Company. The permit authorized the company to take over management of 52 campgrounds, trailheads, and day use areas throughout the Los Padres National Forest in Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and western Kern counties. This “concessionaire” permit was opposed by many conservation groups and forest visitors because it allowed the company to increase fees by as much as 300% at most of the forest’s recreation sites. The privatization permit and associated fee increases were issued with very limited public notice.
The ForestWatch request, submitted under FOIA, sought copies of various records related to the concessionaire permit. The purpose of the request was to help determine whether Parks Management Company is in compliance with its contractual agreements, whether the company is performing the requisite maintenance and improvements to recreation sites, and whether the Forest Service is providing adequate oversight.
The FOIA requires a response from the agency within 20 working days. After this deadline passed, ForestWatch inquired about the status of its request and was surprised to learn that it had been forwarded to the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Regional Office in Vallejo, California for processing. ForestWatch was informed that theirs was number 17 of 19 total requests in the regional office’s FOIA queue and that Los Padres National Forest staff were already “pulling the records” that had been requested.
Nearly a year after the original filing, none of the requested records have been provided to ForestWatch, prompting this federal court action. The lawsuit—Los Padres ForestWatch v. U.S. Forest Service, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia—seeks an order directing the Forest Service to immediately make the requested records publicly available, as required by FOIA.
The Forest Service’s response to the lawsuit is due within thirty days.
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