Five Recent Wins for the Outdoors
Image: William Woodward
Great outdoor recreation experiences and conservation values, including protecting our climate, are inextricably interconnected. The administration has been making big moves recently to address climate change, conserve the outdoors, and to directly improve and expand outdoor recreation opportunities.
Since Outdoor Alliance released its report “A Vision for Protecting Nature: How Natural Climate Solutions Can Benefit the Climate and Outdoor Access” in the spring, the administration has made a few big win-win decisions that benefit outdoor recreationists and the climate.
These policy ideas, rulemakings, and land protections from the White House, Interior Department, and the Forest Service offer overlapping benefits for the outdoors, for the climate, and for outdoor recreationists and the outdoor recreation economy. With outdoor recreation demand increasing and the effects of climate change intensifying, there is no time to waste, and with a lot of legislation stalled in Congress, the administration’s bold action on the outdoors is especially critical.
Here are the five biggest win-wins for outdoor recreation and the climate:
The BLM Public Lands Rule
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages 245 million acres of public land that include some of the most beloved recreation destinations, from Moab to the Rogue Wild and Scenic River to the Upper Missouri River Breaks. While BLM lands are managed for multiple use, the BLM has many tools to prioritize development on its land but very few to prioritize conservation. The proposed Public Lands Rule offers tools like a conservation leasing program, which would allow leasing to restore public lands, and more adept targeting of restoration work. If finalized, the Public Lands Rule would be enormously influential for protecting the conservation and recreation values we love on BLM lands.
Two big recreation initiatives
As outdoor recreation becomes increasingly popular and increasingly in demand, land managers have struggled to keep up. At two of the biggest land management agencies, there are exciting initiatives underway to better meet the needs for outdoor recreation now and into the future. At the BLM, the recently-released Blueprint for 21st Century Outdoor Recreation aims to prioritize and support outdoor recreation to meet increasing demand. The Forest Service has also launched a project to improve recreation across our National Forests. Its Reimagine Recreation program aims to invest in recreation across our National Forests, and Outdoor Alliance and our partners have been working closely with Forest Service leaders to ensure the program meets the needs of outdoor recreationists.
Oil and gas reform
Oil and gas leasing is both a climate issue and an outdoor recreation issue. A number of recent high-profile conflicts between oil and gas leases and beloved outdoor recreation destinations have accelerated the need to modernize our leasing process. This fall, Outdoor Alliance and Public Lands Solutions released a report sharing a number of ideas for how Interior can update its oil and gas lease processes, and shortly after, Interior released a proposed rule that would overhaul the oil and gas leasing program in an attempt to reduce conflicts and balance development with other uses. Finalizing this rule would move us toward a more climate resilient future and ensure that development does not happen on top of campgrounds, trails, or other valuable recreation destinations.
Making climate resilience a part of our National Forests
National forests are the home of outstanding recreation opportunities and are also deeply affected by climate change, including drought, wildfire, and flooding. The Forest Service is exploring how to make national forests more resilient to climate change, and to harness the power of national forests, including stands of old growth, to help fight climate change. The Forest Service recently completed a comment period on its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, where Outdoor Alliance submitted comments toward the goal of protecting outdoor recreation and protecting forests in the face of climate change. The Forest Service has the compelling opportunity to dial up protections for old growth forests as well as think through adaptations to climate change that will provide benefits for years to come.
More protected public land through national monuments
Protected public lands and waters are important to the vast majority of Americans, and Congress has passed bipartisan legislation protecting millions of acres over the last few years. Yet many critical landscapes remain unprotected, and with legislation moving more slowly through Congress, the administration is also using its power under the Antiquities Act to protect threatened public lands and waters, including the Grand Canyon, Camp Hale, and the Castner Range. These new National Monuments offer outstanding outdoor recreation experiences, conserve valuable natural resources, and build climate resilience.
While Outdoor Alliance is still hopeful about moving key pieces of legislation ahead this Congress, including America’s Outdoor Recreation Act, the administration and our land management agencies are wasting no time in improving how public lands and waters are managed to address demand for outdoor recreation, to improve climate resiliency, and to balance appropriate development with long-term protections for outdoor activities and public lands.
Next week, Outdoor Alliance is bringing a crew of our advocates to our offices in Washington DC and to meetings with the White House, the Forest Service, the BLM, and congressional offices to discuss these initiatives and how outdoor recreationists can shape their success moving forward.
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