Congress Continues to Promote Land Access

New legislation, the Recreation Not Red-Tape Act, focuses on streamlined permitting to access public lands.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

On July 26, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representative Rob Bishop (R-UT) introduced the “Recreation Not Red-Tape (RNR)” Act (S 1633/HR 3400), legislation that expands the scope of the National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act (PL 114-245), which was signed into law in late 2016.

While the RNR focuses on streamlined permitting to access public lands, the bill includes provisions that would authorize the Department of the Interior, through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to enter into cooperative agreements with private parties to promote the role of volunteers in trail maintenance. The bill also authorizes the USDA and BLM to develop an interagency trail management plan that will assure uniform maintenance standards for trails crossing jurisdictional lines between the two agencies.

The Trails Act outlines a detailed program including goals and timetables by which the USDA will leverage private partners to clear trails long overdue for maintenance. Unlike the RNR Act, which applies to both the BLM and USDA’s National Forest System (NFS), the Trails Act focuses only on trails under the jurisdiction of the NFS.

Bishop and Wyden worked closely on the bill to emphasize key issues—especially outdoor recreation permit streamlining—that will likely attract bipartisan support. Republican staff with the House Natural Resources Committee, the committee of jurisdiction for federal land issues, are encouraging American Horse Council and allies to help drive cosponsors for the legislation, which currently has none. Committee staff also state that the Subcommittee on Federal Lands will conduct a markup in late September or October, giving members the opportunity to offer technical corrections and amendments to the text

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

The American Horse Council was organized in 1969 to represent the horse industry in Washington before Congress and the federal regulatory agencies. It is a nonprofit corporation that represents all segments of the equine industry.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
313 votes · 313 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!