New features make it easier for visitors to discover and explore public recreation areas
WASHINGTON -- President Obama’s administration announced a new design, improved navigation tools and expanded content for Recreation.Gov, the interagency website that guides visitors to 90,000 sites on federal lands such as national parks, wildlife refuges, waterways, forests and recreation areas. These recreation areas include sites within the 78,000 square mile boundaries of the Rock Island District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The redesign of www.recreation.gov is an initial step in a multi-year strategy to engage visitors with enhanced interactive content and more multimedia, mobile, trip-planning tools. The seven million visitors who use the web site every year will be able to make reservations, see readymade itineraries for destination cities, and search for activities on an interactive map.
“With the redesign of Recreation.Gov, we are making it easier for people to plan trips, find outdoor adventures, and explore activities at our public lands across the country, ” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
"Recreation.gov is a ‘one-stop’ Web site to find places that are close to home for a day's fishing, boating, swimming, hiking, and much more. There are so many sites within a short drive of urban areas that people don't know about,” said Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy. “At Recreation.gov people can find parks, swimming beaches, boat ramps, and other places to get away to for a few hours, days, or weeks."
Within the Rock Island District, reservations can be made on Recreation.gov for Corps campgrounds in Iowa and Illinois, which include sites at our reservoirs at Lake Red Rock, Saylorville Lake and Coralville Lake. Reservation can also be made at Mississippi River sites like Grant River, Blanding Landing, Thomson Causeway, Fisherman’s Corner, Clarks Ferry and Shady Creek.
Highlights of the updated site include:
- Explore Trip Ideas: Recreation.gov now features Explore Trip Ideas with interactive maps to help visitors discover points of interest on public lands when planning trips to popular destination cities like Atlanta, Miami, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and more.
- Go Lists: Created to encourage more people to get active outdoors, Go Lists provide highlights of places to go, events, and activities at federal sites across the country with topics including “Day Hikes for Weekend Warriors” and “Civil War 150th Anniversary: Places and Events that Shaped Our Nation.”
- Discover Great American Adventures: More in-depth articles and destination spotlights can be found in Discover Great American Adventures which feature a wide variety of experiences and adventures found only in America.
The Recreation.gov Web site update is a joint initiative between federal agency partners – including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is a key effort under America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, which focuses on supporting healthy outdoor spaces and making them more accessible to Americans.
For more information about recreation opportunities within the Rock Island District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, contact Sue Clevenstine at (309) 794-5839.