Senate Takes Big Step Towards Recreation Package
A climber in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. Photo credit: Brook Anderson. Southern Paiute land.
After years of build up, the Senate is moving into gear as Congress considers a potential package of bills focused on improving, protecting, and enhancing outdoor recreation.
Last week, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on a number of bills that Outdoor Alliance has helped craft and support, including the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation (SOAR) Act and the Recreation Not Red-Tape Act (RNR), and there’s a lot to be excited about. There are also a few problematic elements and pieces that we think could be improved, and Outdoor Alliance and our member groups will continue to work with lawmakers to ensure the final bills create sustainable, equitable access to the outdoors and do not come at the expense of conservation values.
Among the included bills are:
S. 1229, the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation (SOAR) Act
The SOAR Act is the product of years of thoughtful input from conservation organizations, facilitated access providers, and others, and seeks to update and improve how land managers offer permits for public land access for facilitated experiences, like educational youth outings.
S. 1874, the Recreation Not Red-Tape Act
Outdoor Alliance has worked closely on the Recreation Not Red-Tape Act, which would improve outdoor recreation on public lands and waters, including by adding recreation to the mission of land management agencies, extending seasonal recreation opportunities, improving the availability of recreation passes, helping land managers accept volunteer stewardship help, and more. Perhaps most importantly, RNR directs land managers to identify and inventory outdoor recreation assets and would provide a new tool to conserve outdoor recreation opportunities on public lands and waters and make sure that land managers give recreation more consideration. You can read American Whitewater’s excellent summary of the bill here.
S. 3264, Biking on Long-Distance Trails Act
The BOLT Act directs land managers to identify and help create long-distance bike trails. You can read more about the bill on IMBA’s website.
S. 2887, the Outdoors For All Act
The Outdoors for All Act will help create more outdoor recreation opportunities, from parks to green spaces, in historically marginalized and low-income areas, by ensuring dedicated funding for a program called the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP).
S. 3266, the Outdoor Recreation Act
The Outdoor Recreation Act includes some great elements, including around climbing management and incorporating recreation more thoroughly into planning processes, but it also has some opportunities for improvement. One particularly problematic element is the section on travel management, which needs significant revision to ensure it doesn’t upend important regulations that help minimize the impacts and conflicts that can come from poorly managed motorized recreation. We’ll continue to work to help refine this one, and we’re hopeful of a good outcome.
S. 1269, the Environmental Justice in Recreation Permitting Act
Given the country’s history of discrimination (Americans of color were explicitly exclude from many National Parks until 1964), people of color have not had fair opportunity to participate in outdoor recreation. Facilitated access (like through guided or instructional trips) can be an important on-ramp, and this bill directs land management agencies to study how the permitting process can better facilitate more equitable outdoor access.
S. 2258, the Parks, Jobs, and Equity Act
This bill would invest in local parks and green spaces and direct resources to communities hit hard by COVID-19 by providing emergency funding for local parks.
You can read our full testimony letter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee here. Outdoor Alliance is working closely with lawmakers on this package, and we’ll provide updates as they are available.