Outdoor Alliance's Work in 2020
While 2020 had some real challenges, the outdoor community came together to achieve some historic successes, including securing permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and $1.9 billion dollars a year for five years for deferred maintenance on not just National Parks, but also National Forests, BLM lands, and other public lands.
The outdoor community also came together to defend the iconic Slickrock trail in Utah from being leased for oil and gas development. Our efforts to stop inappropriate oil and gas leasing also led to 86,868 acres being withdrawn from oil and gas sales, including around Moab.
While we were unable to pass 4 million acres of protection through both chambers of Congress, we did pass these bills through the House and are hopeful they will be at the top of the list of unfinished business for the next Congress.
We continue to advocate for protecting our National Forests through Forest Planning, with teams working across 8 states to protect 18.2 million acres.
Along with REI and other industry partners, Outdoor Alliance launched the Recreate Responsibly campaign, which has reached more than 200 million people in an effort to create safe, welcoming, and sustainable environments for outdoor recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Outdoor Alliance has also worked to build momentum toward equitable access bills, hosted two town hall meetings with California congresscritters, shared 492 datasets about outdoor recreation, and built momentum toward climate solutions that we hope to see across the finish line in 2021.
All of this was thanks to incredible outreach and advocacy from the outdoor community, which sent more than 150,000 messages to legislators and decision makers this year.