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Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke announced today that, beginning this Veterans Day (Nov. 11), U.S. veterans, members of the U.S. armed forces and their families will be admitted free-of-charge on the holiday to most public lands managed by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture. The administrative fee waiver of entrance and/or standard amenity fees will apply annually on Veterans Day at public recreation lands managed by the BLM, as well as Interior's National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Reclamation, and Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service. “On this Veterans' Day and for those in the future, we would like to return the favor to those who have risked their lives defending our homeland by opening our public lands to them," said Clarke. “I hope that they spend a day filled with recreational enjoyment on the grounds of our national monuments, wilderness lands, and other national treasures." The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, passed by the 108th Congress, overhauled the fee system that governs the National Park System, the National Wildlife Refuge System, the National Forest System, certain public lands administered by the BLM, and recreational lands administered by the Bureau of Reclamation. The act established a new multi-agency pass to cover entrance fees and standard amenity fees on these lands. The target rollout of the new pass is scheduled for January 2007. The Veterans Day waiver of fees will apply annually to veterans and members of the U.S. armed forces.