Earlier today Outdoor Alliance submitted testimony to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. This week the committee held a hearing Regarding Investments in Clean Energy and Natural Resources Projects and Programs to Create Green Jobs and Stimulate the Economy (SD-366).

Outdoor Alliance testimony provided specific recommendations on activiities that could be priortized as part of an economic stimulus package that invests in public lands. These include Forest Service road maintenance and removal, recreational infrastructure improvements, and field staff for public lands agencies (USFS, NPS, BLM, and USFWS).

These priorities will offer a wide range of jobs, offer construction-related jobs, bolster the recreation economy, address ecological degradation of our public lands, can happen right away (i.e. are "shovel ready"), and have high value for society.

We feel that offering federal land management agencies significant economic stimulus funds for the priorities that we have identified will have an immediate and lasting positive impact to the United States economy. We feel that the funding levels suggested at this week’s hearing by the witnesses (Roughly $2-3.5 billion each for BLM and USFS per year, and roughly $1.5 billion for the NPS) represent reasonable balances between the agencies’ needs and their capacities.

To read the Outdoor Alliance testimony click here.

About the Outdoor Alliance: The Outdoor Alliance is a coalition of six national, member-based organizations devoted to conservation and stewardship of our nation’s public lands and waters through responsible human-powered outdoor recreation.  The Outdoor Alliance includes: Access Fund, American Canoe Association, American Hiking Society American Whitewater, International Mountain Bicycling Association, and Winter Wildlands Alliance. Collectively, the Outdoor Alliance has members in all fifty states and a network of almost 1,400 local clubs and advocacy groups across the nation.  Our coalition represents the millions of Americans who hike, paddle, climb, mountain bike, backcountry ski and snowshoe on our nation’s public lands and waters.