The Outdoor Policy Forecast for 2022
Sedona, Arizona on the Coconino National Forest. Photo credit: Holly Mandarich. Hopi, Sinagua, Yavapai, and Apache land.
Every year, our policy team sits down to discuss some of the outdoor community’s policy priorities for the coming year and to forecast what we expect to happen in Congress and the administration.
While we can read the tea leaves, it’s always a bit of a gamble trying to guess what policymakers will do in a given year. That said, we have a few predictions for what might move forward this year, what we think could get across the finish line, and where the outdoor community’s voice can make the biggest difference:
1. Build Back Better. We hammered on about this a lot at the end of last year. Congress negotiated endlessly about this massive package, and Senator Manchin appeared to crush our hopes at the end of December. However, he’s recently indicated that he wants the bill’s climate policies to pass, and we—and Congress—are far from giving up. The bill includes generational investments in the Forest Service and other land management agencies, and we will be advocating aggressively to see funding for climate resilience and public lands and waters across the finish line through this package, which would make huge strides in addressing climate change, wildfire, trail maintenance needs, and restoration efforts.
2. 30x30 and other climate efforts. There is a lot the outdoor community can do to help mitigate the effects of climate change while enjoying the co-benefits of more protected land and water and intact landscapes. 30x30, the effort to protect 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030, is at the top of the list, and we expect the Biden-Harris administration to move forward in creating a promised conservation atlas, among other things, this year. There’s also the possibility of other legislation or administrative rules that would improve climate outcomes and benefit outdoor recreation, from reforms for oil and gas leasing, to investments in renewable energies, to making public lands carbon neutral.
3. Wildfires will be in the spotlight. The last few years have been punishing for wildfires and the attendant smoke has affected people across America. We expect to see renewed focus on how to manage and mitigate wildfires, from funding for Indigenous fire stewardship practices to support for fire mitigation in the Forest Service.
4. Equitable access to public lands and waters. The Biden-Harris administration has directed all government agencies to identify how they are upholding barriers to equity and work to address them. The Department of the Interior is already working to assess and improve equitable access to our country’s public lands. A number of initiatives, including the Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E. initiative, are likely to heat up.
5. A long-awaited recreation package. In December, the Senate held a hearing on a collection of policies focused on improving and protecting outdoor recreation. The hearing included bills Outdoor Alliance has worked on for years, from the Recreation Not Red-Tape Act to the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation (SOAR) Act. We expect these bills to move forward in both chambers, and we may even see them across the finish line by the end of the year.
6. A big public lands package. For a few years, Outdoor Alliance and our partners have been working to advance a package of land protections, including protections for key landscapes in California, Colorado, Washington, Arizona. We expect that Congress will want to pass some kind of package of landscape protections, likely in the lame duck session between the midterm elections and the end of the calendar year, which should be a spicy way to close out 2022!
Midterm elections are in November, and there’s a strong possibility that seats will shift in Congress to move power in at least one chamber from Democrats to Republicans. That means the end of the year offers a narrow window where Congress is most likely to pass legislation. In both single-party and divided Congresses, Outdoor Alliance has been able to achieve significant legislative victories, and we are confident in our ability to advance the bipartisan conservation priorities of the recreation community. You can help be a part of wins this year by signing up to get action alerts where we give you up-to-the-minute beta for when your voice can make a difference in protecting the places you love.