A Commercial Use Authorization (CUA) is a business permit with the National Park Service. It authorizes you to conduct commercial activities and to provide specific visitor services within a national park. We will only issue CUAs for activities that:
are an appropriate use of national park areas;
will have minimal impact on park resources and values; and
The application fee is $300. This is a mandatory, one-time, non-refundable fee submitted when applying for a CUA in the online system.
The National Park Service is authorized to recover, associated management and administrative costs associated with CUAs. The CUA fee covers the costs of processing and administering your application as well as overseeing the operational, safety, and environmental requirements stipulated in the permit.
Application Fee: The online CUA system implements a standard CUA application fee. This is a mandatory, one-time, non-refundable fee submitted when applying for a CUA. The application fee is credited toward the determined management fee due for each activity during the submittal process.
For the first application submitted during a CUA season, the applicant will pay a $350 application fee. That same applicant will pay a $250 application fee for each subsequent application submitted to the same NPS unit during the same CUA season.
Management Fee: Effective January 1, 2024, SEUG will implement a new fee structure for Commercial Use Authorizations (CUAs), consistent with the service wide effort to adopt a market price system to recover the costs associated with managing this growing program. Management fees are based on a percentage of the gross receipts earned for authorized commercial activities conducted in the park during the operating year.
Management Fees are calculated using the amount reported under Gross Receipts (question 8) on the NPS 10-660 Form. “Gross receipts” represents the total amount of all revenues received from services a CUA holder is permitted to offer within the park.
The percentage of gross receipts for services will be calculated by:
Businesses with gross annual receipts of $250,000 or less will pay 3% of their gross receipts.
Businesses will pay 4% of gross receipts for amounts between $250,001 to $500,000, this is in addition to the 3% for gross receipts under $250,000 listed above.
Businesses will pay 5% of gross receipts for the amount of gross receipts over $500,000.01; this is in addition to the amounts listed above.
How Do I Apply for a CUA?
As part of a larger effort to streamline and modernize the National Park Service (NPS) Commercial Use Authorization (CUA) program, the NPS has developed on online system designed to process CUA applications and collect required CUA reports.
2025 applications are currently being accepted. Applcations will stop being accepted October 1, 2025.
You may use the following link to access the website where you can apply for a CUA: https://cua.nps.gov/
All required documents and payments need to be submitted through this online system.
Please carefully read the application to review conditions, required documents, and insurance requirements.
What Are The Reporting Requirements?
CUA holders are required to submit an annual report for every CUA held. The report is due at the end of your operating season.
The report provides the park with visitation statistics, reportable injury data, and a record of annual gross receipts.
If you obtained your 2024 CUA through the NPS online system, you will submit your annual reports directly through the system when notified starting in February. Annual reports are due by February 28, 2025 for Hiking - backcountry, Camping - backcountry, Photography Instruction, Art Instruction, and Transport (non-tour) - road CUA holders.
If you obtained a Road-Based Commercial Tour CUA in 2024, please fill out the Annual Report below and submit it along with your application for 2025. Please submit one form for each CUA. If you will not be applying for a 2025 CUA, please email your Annual Report to the address at the top of the form. Annual reports are due by January 31, 2025 for Road-Based Commercial Tour CUA holders.
Please use the form to report trips for the year and fill out one form for each CUA you held. You must input the data into this Microsoft form: https://forms.office.com/g/brR4f5W6wG
Millions of visitors come to the Southeast Utah Parks each year and seek out knowledgeable guides to aid them in their experience. As a commercial guide, it is your responsibility to keep the members of your group safe while also providing a worthwhile experience. Please ensure all tour guides watch this video before taking guests into the park.
Biological soil crust forms the most common ground cover in Moab, UT, and the surrounding area. This living crust retains moisture, prevents erosion, and contributes nutrients to desert plants. Biological soil crust is very fragile and takes decades to form. When hiking, always walk on marked trails, rock, or in sandy washes. Footprints and tire tracks break the bonds holding the crust together and can last for years. All vehicles and bikes must stay on designated roads. Never drive or ride over roadside vegetation or soils.
LEAVE NO TRACE
Plan Ahead and Prepare
Travel on Durable Surfaces
Use wash bottoms and Slickrock when traveling off-trail.
Do not walk through undisturbed soil crust or vegetation.
Do not follow unofficial trails. Travel on designated trails only.
Dispose of Waste Properly
Make all efforts to use the toilet at the trailhead prior to heading out
The parks of the Southeast Utah Group contain sacred areas and the ancestral homeland of over thirty traditionally associated American Indian tribes. The parks also contain sites important to descendants of non-indigenous immigrant settlers. Help the National Park Service preserve the cultural heritage of these communities by following these eleven simple rules — just like when you visit your grandma's house.
Visit only where you are invited. In order to ensure the survival of these places, the park can only allow public visitation at cultural sites that can withstand the cumulative impacts caused by such traffic. When in doubt, please inquire at a park's visitor center about which sites are approved for public visitation.
Don't go where you haven't been invited. When you encounter a site that is not on the public visitation list, enjoy it from a safe distance but do not enter or walk across the site. National Park Service regulations prohibit the public from entering these sites because they are either too fragile to enter or culturally taboo to visit. Please consider the challenges faced in protecting such resources, and the injury caused by the careless disregard of house rules. Help protect the sense of wonder experienced when encountering an unlisted site by not taking or posting site coordinates or geotagged photographs on social media.
Keep your feet off the furniture and never rearrange it. Cultural sites, even those designated as places to tour, are very fragile. Walk carefully and stay on established trails or durable surfaces like exposed bedrock. Don't rearrange rocks on a site, even if they appear to be displaced. Avoid leaning or sitting on walls of any height.
Look but don't touch. Oils from your skin damage pictographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (rock carvings). Never deface rock writing or grinding areas by scratching or rubbing the rock surface. It is illegal, destroys irreplaceable information about the past, and is disrespectful to others. Graffiti is vandalism!
Eat outside, not in the living room. Eating in archeological sites is strictly prohibited because crumbs attract rodents that may nest within the site. Make sure that you pick up and carry out all of your trash and garbage.
Don't steal anything. Many indigenous people understand these places to still be in use by their ancestors, so please don't wreck their houses or take their possessions. Leave all artifacts—including small fragments of pottery and stone chips—right where you find them. Don't collect historic cans, bottles, or other evidence of cowboy or mining camps. We appreciate your help with keeping the parks tidy but do not "clean up" any trash that could be older than 50 years.
No slumber parties. Camping or sleeping in or near archeological sites damages them and leaves a mess. Smoke from campfires stains walls and cliffs, and the charcoal can contaminate earlier site deposits.
Don't pee or poop in the parlor... or any other room. Never dig into the ground. Doing so might disturb fragile archeological deposits or destroy features and is illegal without an archeological permit. Human waste left at archeological sites is unsightly, and unsanitary, and could contaminate cultural deposits used in archeological research. Remember to dispose of waste at least 200 feet from archeological sites, dry washes, camps, trails, and water. Or better yet, pack it out!
Listen and learn from your host. Ask questions like: Why were people here? How did they interact with the land? What did they eat or drink? Bring any questions you have back to the park's visitor center.
Join the Neighborhood Watch. Let a ranger know if you see a disturbance on a site that looks fresh and manmade, or if you see someone digging, defacing park resources with graffiti, surface collecting, or metal detecting. Do not approach people engaged in illegal activities; instead, take pictures if possible and report your observations to a ranger as soon as you can.
Most importantly – BE RESPECTFUL. Many sites are sacred or culturally important. Think about how you'd like someone else to act around your ancestors or when visiting your home or place of worship.
Heat, intense sunlight, low humidity, and high elevation require you to adapt to harsh desert conditions. Carry and drink at least one gallon of water each day per person; more if involved in strenuous activities. Avoid overexposure to intense sun. During hotter times of the year, save strenuous activity for mornings or evenings.
Storms and flash floods can hit suddenly and without warning. During a lightning storm avoid lone trees, cliff edges, and high ridges. Return to your vehicle if possible. Crouch low to the ground. Flash floods can occur without warning. Never try to cross a wash during flood conditions.
Winter temperatures drop well below freezing. Hypothermia is a hazard in fall, winter, and spring. Carry warm, dry clothing, and be prepared to spend a night out. Carry storm gear and a flashlight. Snow can cover rock cairns, making route finding nearly impossible after a storm. Extra traction devices for shoes are highly recommended when snow and ice cover the Slickrock.
Be careful near cliff edges, especially when conditions are wet or icy. Avoid loose rock. Remember, Slickrock is easier to climb up than down.
Stay with companions in the backcountry; separation can mean getting lost. Carry a map and compass and know how to use them. Do not count on a cellular phone to summon help, as cellular service will not reach many areas of the canyon country. If you become lost, stay where you are and wait for the rescue. Wandering will endanger your life and make finding you difficult.
Sample Acknowledgement of Risk Form
CUA holders may not require clients to sign a waiver of liability statement or form, insurance disclaimer and/or indemnification agreement. They may request or require clients to sign an acknowledgement of risk statement or form prior to participation. You can download a sample. [178k Accessible PDF]
CUA Suspension, Revocation, or Denial
CUA holders and their employees are required to meet the conditions of the CUA while operating within Southeast Utah Group parks. Failure to meet these conditions may result in CUA suspension, restriction, revocation or application denial. Review the Southeast Utah Group Commercial Use Authorization Revocation Policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Fees depend on the type of service you offer.
Road-Based Commercial Tours CUA holders:
Pay the commercial tour entrance fee each time you enter the park. Annual and lifetime passes do not apply.
Current entrance fees (per vehicle) based on vehicle size:
Vehicle capacity of 1 to 6 passengers: $25 + $15 per person, not to exceed $40
Vehicle capacity of 7 to 25: $40
Vehicle capacity of 26+: $100
Hiking - backcountry, Photography Instruction, Art Instruction, and Transport (non-tour) - road CUA holders:
Pay the park’s per-person entrance fee for your clients; participants may use valid annual or lifetime passes.
Current entrance fees:
$15 per person
Please allow 30 working days to process a CUA application. Camping - backcountry CUAs may take up to 60 days to process. Applications are processed in the order they are received.
Questions
For questions or additional information, please contact the Commercial Services Office: email us.
