Outdoor recreation businesses and associations, including the RVDA, RVIA and the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR), are calling on Congress to enact legacy legislation for the outdoors by passing a first-of-its-kind recreation package.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee leaders Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) introduced the Outdoor Recreation Act today. The senators said the bill would increase and improve outdoor recreation opportunities across the nation.
Among the key legislative parts are:
- Direct the Interior Department and Forest Service to establish a pilot program for public-private partnership agreements to modernize campgrounds on federal land.
- Directing the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to consider ways to improve recreation when developing and revising land management plans.
- Providing technical and financial assistance to local businesses, including hotels, campgrounds, and restaurants, to support visitation.
- Direct the Forest Service to issue guidance for recreational climbing in designated Wilderness Areas and require the Forest Service and BLM to designate new shooting ranges on national forests and BLM land.
- Aim to modernize recreation sites by directing agencies to work with the Rural Utilities Service to construct broadband internet infrastructure at certain recreation sites.
- Direct the federal land management agencies to identify opportunities to extend the time period recreation areas on federal land are open to the public during shoulder seasons.
“My bipartisan Outdoor Recreation Act will support our state’s strong and growing outdoor recreation economy while providing an economic boost to our local communities,” Manchin said.
“Our bipartisan legislation will help modernize public campgrounds, establish shooting ranges on national forests and ensure increased access to America’s public lands,” Barrasso said. “The bill will also leverage private funding to create new recreational opportunities on our public lands.”
RVIA President and CEO Craig Kirby said RVIA applauds campground modernization and job growth efforts, in addition to initiatives that open opportunities to live an active outdoor lifestyle.
“This legislation comes at a critical time as RVing is growing more and more popular, particularly with younger and more diverse Americans and will lead to more camping opportunities while creating good paying jobs in the outdoor recreation sector, many of which are found in rural communities,” said Kirby. “The bill’s gateway community assistance for outdoor recreation businesses and campgrounds, responsibly extending shoulder seasons, and bringing much needed broadband to front country campgrounds is a priority for the $114 billion American-made RV industry and will be critical to continuing to attract the next generation of park stewards and outdoor recreation enthusiasts.”
With the introduction of The Outdoor Recreation Act on Nov. 18, ORR is seeking a recreation package to include the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation (SOAR) Act, the Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development (SHRED) Act, the Modernizing Access to Public Land Act (MAPLand Act), and the Recreation Not Red Tape Act (RNR), among other legislation.
“The industry is feeling a sense of urgency behind moving these important bills that would help manage already existing conserved lands and waters in order to support businesses recovering from COVID-19, and now impacted by wildfires and drought,” the coalition wrote in a letter to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “(These bills) ensure better access to the outdoors for all Americans, mitigate the impacts of climate change and ever-increasing visitation in some areas on the outdoor experience and create jobs by supporting rural economies and communities.”
ORR President Jessica Wahl Turner said the coalition has seen outdoor recreation bolstering local communities’ economies across the nation, employing millions of Americans and contributing to the physical and mental health of Americans before, during and eventually after the pandemic.
“We need these common-sense bills to help get more people get outside, while protecting our natural resources now and for generations to come,” Turner said. “These bills, if passed, will ensure the outdoor recreation industry can keep doing what we do best – contribute to healthy people, places, economies, and communities.”
Turner pointed to other industry sectors of similar size, noting frequent packages bolstering those industries.
“The outdoor recreation industry needs to be the same,” Turner said. “The bills we are asking for in this package do not cost taxpayers anything – they are simply better tools and streamlined policies for agencies to help get more Americans better access to the outdoors.”
Click here to read ORR’s letter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
