The House Appropriations Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee proposed a bill to cut public lands and waters funding.
Outdoor Recreation Roundtable President Jessica Wahl Turner said the budget cut is “a step in the wrong direction.”
The House Fiscal Year 2025 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Act includes a 3% cut to the Department of the Interior compared with last year’s budget. Wahl Turner said recreation-related agencies need a 3% budget increase just to keep pace with inflation.
She said the budget cut “does not take into account the need for additional funding to support increased visitation and the cost of extreme weather events on our natural resources.”
The bill was passed by the subcommittee Friday.
The decision occurred on the heels of Wahl Turner’s Op-ed published last week, which encouraged the nation to increase the outdoor recreation sector’s budget.
Wahl Turner detailed recreation funding needs from the association’s “Recreation Funding in America: Current Results and Future Insights” report. The study unveiled that the sector contributes 14 times more to the U.S. economy compared with its allocated federal spending.
“We urge Congress to reject these proposed cuts,” Wahl Turner said, “and recognize the substantial economic, health and environmental benefits that robust funding for outdoor recreation provides.”
