The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania owns and manages 2.2 million acres of State Forest land. Under state law, these public lands operate under a legally mandated multi-use charter designed to balance timber production, watershed conservation, and diverse public outdoor recreation.

Despite this vast public footprint, DCNR provides fewer than 1,000 designated motorized roadside campsites across the entire state.

While demand for outdoor recreation, vehicle camping, overlanding, and rooftop-tent camping has surged over the past five years, DCNR’s campsite inventory remains frozen. Outdoor enthusiasts face extreme artificial scarcity:

 Delaware State Forest (District 19): Manages approximately 84,000 acres in the Pocono region, yet offers only 29 designated motorized campsites—an average of one campsite per 2,896 acres.

 Michaux State Forest (District 1): Spans 85,500 acres, offering only approximately 24 designated motorized campsites—one site per 3,562 acres.

 Entire State Forest System: Across 2.2 million acres, the ratio averages one legal motorized campsite per ~2,400+ acres.

This artificial bottleneck forces millions of Pennsylvania residents and regional visitors to fight over the exact same handful of numbered wooden posts months in advance.

The Reservation Failure and the "Walk-In" Catch-22

The physical shortage of sites is severely worsened by an unmonitored reservation system and an administrative contradiction between DCNR’s contracted vendor and field enforcement:

1. Speculative "Ghost" Bookings: Because permits for primitive roadside sites carry zero to nominal administrative fees, users routinely block-book multiple adjacent sites for entire weekends to manufacture privacy, or hold sites speculatively and fail to show up. There is currently no check-in requirement, meaning sites sit completely vacant all weekend while showing fully booked online.

2. The "Walk-In (W)" Enforcement Trap: On the afternoon of arrival (typically around 4:00 PM), ReserveAmerica locks out advance web reservations and flips unclaimed campsites to a status of "W" for "Walk-In" (First-Come, First-Served). In a developed State Park, a camper simply registers at a contact booth or an entrance honor box. On State Forest land, however, there are no gatehouses or kiosks, and District Forestry offices are closed after 4:00 PM on Friday and all weekend.

3. Criminalizing the Public: Under Pennsylvania administrative law (17 Pa. Code § 21.117), motorized camping without an official, department-issued permit in hand is strictly prohibited. This creates an impossible Catch-22: The state's booking website publicly advertises the site as open for "Walk-In" use, but the state provides zero physical or digital mechanism to obtain the required permit after business hours. If a DCNR ranger patrols that gravel road at dusk, the camper is treated as an illegal squatter, facing immediate eviction and summary criminal citations for occupying a site the state's website labeled open.

Law-abiding Pennsylvanians who drive hours into the forest are forced to turn around and leave empty campsites because the state's reservation software does not communicate with field enforcement reality.

What We Are Calling For

We, the undersigned Pennsylvania citizens, taxpayers, and public-land users, petition DCNR leadership and the Bureau of Forestry to implement the following administrative reforms:

1. End "Ghost Reservations" and Fix the "Walk-In" Contradiction

 Mandatory 24-Hour Digital Check-In: Require permit holders to confirm their intent to occupy the site via SMS or email 24 to 48 hours prior to check-in.

 Auto-Release at 6:00 PM: Any reservation unconfirmed by 6:00 PM on the arrival date must automatically forfeit and revert to on-the-ground, walk-up availability.

 Eliminate the After-Hours Permit Trap: DCNR must deploy an automated after-hours digital self-registration tool (e.g., QR-code registration at site posts via mobile portal) or install physical self-serve honor registration stations on primary forest access corridors so campers can legally claim vacant "W" sites after 4:00 PM without facing citations.

 Repeat No-Show Penalties: Implement an administrative block on accounts that reserve and abandon two or more sites in a single season without prior cancellation.

2. Expand Numbered Campsite Inventories in High-Pressure Districts

 Instruct District Foresters—starting with high-impact districts like Delaware (District 19) and Michaux (District 1)—to survey secondary forest roads and designate a minimum of 50 to 100 new numbered roadside pull-off sites per district.

 Place these new sites along secondary, gated-access spurs to reduce congestion on primary travel roads and give campers genuine separation.

3. Pilot "Designated Dispersed Road Corridors" (The USFS Model)

 Adopt modern, multi-use forestry frameworks already proven across U.S. National Forests by piloting dispersed roadside camping corridors along select, low-maintenance gravel timber roads.

 Allow self-contained vehicles (carrying portable sanitation and adhering to strict Leave No Trace rules) to pull off within 30 to 50 feet of designated forestry corridors for up to 72 hours without requiring a permanent wooden post.

4. Establish Meaningful Safety Buffer Zones Around Campers

 Modernize Pennsylvania's outdated 150-yard firearm discharge buffer around officially designated, occupied motorized campsites to a minimum of 300 to 500 yards. Stationary campers, families, and vehicle occupants deserve a real safety buffer from active shooting lanes.

Pennsylvania’s public forests belong to all citizens of the Commonwealth. It is time for DCNR to modernize its reservation management, resolve the "Walk-In" regulatory trap, hold no-show bookings accountable, and expand legal access for the growing community of vehicle and primitive campers.

Sign this petition and share it with fellow outdoor enthusiasts, campers, and overlanders across Pennsylvania.