On March 3, 2004 American Whitewater submitted testimony to Senator Larry Craig’s Subcommittee on Forests and
When AW learned of the hearing, AW Board Member Adam Cramer and National Policy Director Jason Robertson contacted the comittee and submitted written testimony at the hearing; this testimony is attached to this email.
The very good news is that Senator Craig, in the first 30 seconds of his opening statement addressed AW’s interests directly and asserted that private (or non-outfitted public) access to public lands managed by the USFS and BLM would be protected.
Later, towards the end of the hearing, the Siera Club raised an issue related to temporary access to public lands. We are looking into this issue and trying to learn more.
You can review the text of the bill at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:s.01420. If this does not work, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ and enter “S1420” in the Bill Number search field. AW’s testimony is provided below.
AW’s Testimony on S1420
The Honorable Larry E. Craig
Chairman of the Subcommittee on Forests and
Outfitters Policy Act of 2003 (S. 1420)
Dear Senator Craig,
Thank you for providing this opportunity to submit testimony to the Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management in regard to the Outfitter Policy Act of 2003 (S. 1420).
American Whitewater, a national 501.c.3 non-profit organization, appreciates the opportunity to describe our support for this legislation. As described below, our support is conditioned upon the ultimate inclusion of Sections 17 and 7.C.
Section 17 serves to protect the citizen’s non-outfitted legacy and traditions of use of non-outfitted citizen use of
Section 7.C. ensures that agencies retain the authority to change outfitted allocation in response to management plan modifications and related changes to applicable laws. Inclusion of this section secures future opportunities for non-outfitted public access, and provides clarification to land managers about the scope of the bill.
We thank you for including these clear protections for the public.
It is apparent to us that the bill is not intended to impede the public’s ability to engage in private recreational use of public lands. However, there is no guarantee that, if enacted, the bill will not have unintended consequences regarding non-outfitted recreational access to public lands. If moved forward for a vote, we respectfully request that the Subcommittee, in its written report, detail the sponsor’s intentions to protect non-outfitted public access while also providing for improved management of, and increased accountability for, outfitted activities by which the public gains access to and occupancy and use of federal lands.
Sincerely,
National Policy Director
American Whitewater