First-of-its-Kind Outdoor Recreation Package Gains Momentum in House

Photo credit: Patrick Hendry

Efforts to pass a package of recreation policy are gaining steam in the House, where Outdoor Alliance members recently testified in the Subcommittee on Federal Lands in support of a number of bills.

The recreation community has been working for years on proposals to strengthen, protect, and expand outdoor recreation opportunities on our public lands and waters. As participation in outdoor recreation grows, it becomes even more important that public land management agencies like the Forest Service, Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management, have sound policies and resources in place that will support sustainable and equitable outdoor recreation access. In March, the Senate reintroduced America’s Outdoor Recreation Act (AORA), and the House Subcommittee on Federal Lands recently held a hearing at which two Outdoor Alliance member groups testified in support of a number of bills included in AORA.

You can read our full letter to the committee (here) detailing our support and concerns about the involved bills. The hearing comprised a number of bills, including:

Biking on Long Distance Trails Act (BOLT)

The BOLT Act will help create more sustainable long-distance mountain biking trails. The bill directs land management agencies to identify existing and potential long-distance bike trails and then work with mountain bikers and other stakeholders to develop and promote these trails. A number of existing trails would benefit from recognition as a long-distance bike trail, including the Ouachita National Recreation Trail in Arkansas and the Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail that runs from the Canada to Mexico border. You can also read IMBA’s full testimony on the bill here.

Protecting America’s Rock Climbing Act (PARC)

Rock climbing in the U.S. has a long history, and climbers have ranked among the most well-known conservationists in the last century. Recent proposals to prohibit fixed anchors in Wilderness has highlighted the need for consistent, common sense guidance around climbing, especially climbing in Wilderness. Some of the most storied rock climbs in the country are in Wilderness—including El Capitan in Yosemite National Park and Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park—and are threatened by the agencies' new interpretation of the Wilderness Act. The PARC Act will safeguard Wilderness climbing, a historic use, by directing national-level guidance on placing and maintaining fixed anchors in Wilderness. The PARC Act would solidify Congress’s intent to allow climbing in Wilderness and would ensure climbers can continue to enjoy sustainable access. You can also read Access Fund’s full testimony on the bill here.

Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation Act (SOAR)

The SOAR Act has been a priority for Outdoor Alliance and its member groups for a decade now. The SOAR Act facilitates meaningful outdoor experiences by updating and streamlining recreational permitting for outfitters and guides, including Outdoor Alliance members like The Mountaineers. Special use permitting, the kind that allows guides to take people out to experience public lands for the first time, uses a dated and challenging system. The SOAR Act would simplify and modernize recreation permitting to make the outdoors more accessible. 

Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development Act (SHRED)

The goal of the SHRED Act is to keep ski area fees within the National Forest system, but as written, the bill unfairly subsidizes the ski resort industry at the expense of other Forest Service recreation program needs. 122 commercial ski areas operate on Forest Service land, effectively converting public land into highly developed private businesses that are increasingly expensive for the public to access. The intent of the SHRED Act is to have the lease fees from these ski areas plugged back into Forest Service recreation management, rather than being deposited into the general US Treasury. This we support. However, the bill would require the Forest Service to spend 60% of these fees on things like ski area permitting and administration, leaving only 40% of the money generated for broader recreation purposes, like avalanche education and forecasting, trail maintenance, and Search and Rescue. Ski area permit fees total in the millions across the National Forest system each year, so the Ski Area Fee Retention Account established by the SHRED Act could be a game-changer for funding outdoor recreation, but only if the bill is tweaked so that ski areas aren’t the primary beneficiary. You can read Winter Wildland Alliance’s full testimony on the bill here.

The House hearing included a few more bills, including the Range Access Act and the Federal Interior Land Media Act. The larger package (AORA) in the Senate, includes substantially more bills, which we talk about in more detail here.  Outdoor Alliance and our partners have worked for years on many of the bills included in this recreation package, and there seems to be strong momentum in both the House and the Senate to pass recreation legislation this year. The outdoor recreation community, including enthusiasts like you, have a key role to play in building lawmaker support for these ideas. Send a message using the easy-action tool below asking your lawmakers to take action and pass America’s Outdoor Recreation Act: