House PASSES bill to protect 1.3 Million Acres & 1200 River Miles

UPDATE 2/12: A bonanza of bills to protect 1.3 million acres of public lands and more than 1200 river miles passed out of the House on Wednesday, February 12. The final vote tally was 225 to 182, and you can see how members voted here.

After last year’s incredible public lands package, we're working hard to keep the momentum up and protect a number of key landscapes. This bill brings together six long-standing efforts that Outdoor Alliance, our partners, and the outdoor community like you have worked on for years.

Thank your representatives

The package is called the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act, and it includes protections for the Wild Olympics in Washington, the central coast and the redwoods in California, and Wilderness throughout Colorado. Outdoor Alliance, our partners, and people like you have been instrumental in developing and supporting these protections. They include:

(H.R. 2546) – Colorado Wilderness Act of 2020 (see map)
(H.R. 2250) – Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act (see map)
(H.R. 2199) – Central Coast Heritage Protection Act (see map)
(H.R. 2215) – San Gabriel Mountains Foothills and Rivers Protection Act (see map)
(H.R. 1708) – Rim of the Valley
(H.R. 2642) – Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

Click to read Outdoor Alliance’s testimony on the package.

You can learn more about what Outdoor Alliance has said about these bills by clicking on the letter at right or reading former blog posts here, and check out information from the House Natural Resources Committee here. These bills reflect a lot of careful consideration to protect climbing, mountain biking, and other recreation, in particular through ensuring that Wilderness boundaries are carefully and appropriately drawn. The bills protect outstanding outdoor recreation across the West, from parts of the Trinity Alps in California, to Castle Peak in Colorado, to climbing on Mt. Ellinor, Mt. Washington, and Jefferson Peak in Washington.

We’re stoked about this package, which is the result of a lot of hard work from our crew of policy experts and comes on the heels of a historic victory with last spring’s public lands package.

You helped us see this package across the finish line in the House. Now, you can use the tool below to send a message to your lawmakers in the Senate expressing support for more protected public lands and waters. And it’s not just outdoor recreation or the places themselves that stand to benefit – more protected land and water is also a key way to protect the climate.

We’ve made it simple to send a message to your lawmakers about the bill: