Senate bill would make it easier for Americans enjoy public lands

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2019 ---- To make it easier for the public to enjoy the nation’s public lands, Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) have introduced the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation (SOAR) Act of 2019.

By improving the systems federal land management agencies use to issue permits, this bill would make it easier to get approval for activities led by guides in national parks, forests and other public lands. Currently, those systems are slow and cumbersome. The SOAR Act would allow nonprofit outdoor leadership organizations, colleges and universities and outfitter-guide businesses to have more opportunities to take people out on public lands for hiking, boating and other activities. 

Statement by Paul Sanford, National Director of Recreation Policy, The Wilderness Society
 “Some of the current permit policies need to be improved to help people, especially those in underserved communities, to visit, enjoy and appreciate our nation’s treasured public lands. Love of the outdoors is a widely shared value, underscored by the bipartisan support for this bill in Congress.”  
    
The SOAR Act of 2019 would do the following: 
•    Increase recreational access by directing the agencies to improve the process for issuing recreation permits (eliminating duplicative processes, reducing costs, shortening processing times and simplifying environmental review). 
•    Increase flexibility for outfitters, guides and other outdoor leaders by allowing them to engage in activities that are substantially similar to the activity specified in their permit. 
•    Make more recreation opportunities available by directing the agencies to offer more short-term permits and create a program for sharing unused permit service days between permit holders.
•    Improve system transparency by directing agencies to notify the public when new recreation permits are available and requiring the agencies to provide timely responses to permit applicants.
•    Simplify the permitting process for trips involving more than one land management agency by authorizing the agencies to issue a single joint permit covering the lands of multiple agencies.
•    Reduce permit fees and cost recovery expenses for small businesses and organizations by excluding certain revenue from permit fee calculations and establishing a simple 50-hour cost recovery fee exemption for permit processing.
•    Provide new protections for Forest Service permit holders by recognizing seasonal demand fluctuations and waiving permit use reviews in extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the permit holder (wildfire, etc.).
•    Help control liability insurance costs for permit holders by allowing them to use liability release forms with their clients. 
•    Reduce barriers to access for state universities, city recreation departments and school districts by waiving the permit indemnification requirement for entities that are prohibited from providing indemnification under state law.

The Wilderness Society, founded in 1935, is the leading conservation organization working to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places. With more than one million members and supporters, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect 111 million acres of wilderness and to ensure sound management of our shared national lands. www.wilderness.org.   

Contacts:
Michael Reinemer, 202-429-3949, michael_reinemer@tws.org 
Paul Sanford, 202-429-2615, paul_sanford@tws.org