What’s the Explore Act? A year later, the bipartisan bill is still rolling out

Last month, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act.

The Explore Act, as it’s known, was first-of-its-kind legislation written to support outdoor recreation across the country and, at a time of political division, the result of a true bipartisan effort.

Despite those achievements, it’s one of many laws — significant or less so — that were somewhat lost in the tidal wave of news stories that washed over the country last year.

“Access to America’s beautiful public lands and waters is part of what makes our country the greatest nation on earth. These incredible resources should be shared by all Americans, and expanding access and recreation opportunities is the kind of bipartisan work that we’re here in Congress to do,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., in a statement when the bill passed the House.

“This seminal piece of legislation will modernize visitor experiences, increase accessibility for veterans and service members, create new opportunities and trails for climbers and bikers, and support small businesses and gateway communities that depend on access to our public lands.”

By facilitating more Americans recreating in the country’s many parks, one might think that the bill would be more well known or celebrated. Especially in those communities that are adjacent to or affected by the outdoor recreation economy — like many in the Intermountain West — that have the most to gain.

The bill won’t just generate more opportunities for Americans to get out there, either. It also invests in infrastructure and streamlines both permitting and inter-agency communication, and subsequently aims to stimulate the massive, yet still growing outdoor economy.

As of last published government records, that $1.2 trillion sector is worth nearly as much as the oil and gas industry and more than farming or mining. Just like how those respective industries benefit from legislation, the Explore Act represents a similar effort by Congress to support one of America’s most important industries.

A view from the outdoor industry

Jessica Turner, president of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, a trade organization representing the full breadth of the outdoor industry, worked passionately with lawmakers and stakeholders to get the bill passed. She was thrilled to celebrate its anniversary and testified at the hearing.

“We did something awesome a year ago,” Turner said. “I read through the whole bill again as I was preparing to testify — it’s really long — and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I forgot about that, I forgot about that.’ There’s so much good stuff in here."

She described it as “the best bill I’ve ever read,” and was freshly reminded that there is something in it for everyone — states, cities, municipalities and private companies. Turner added that, “You can see why Democrats and Republicans like it.”

Turner said that the anniversary celebration is also a call to action. Not to Congress, per se, but from Congress to the agencies responsible for rolling out the bills many provisions.

“One year in, the Explore Act is already delivering real progress,” Turner said in her testimony. “But much work remains.”

What is the Explore Act?

The bill passed through both the House and the Senate unanimously. It was sponsored by Westerman and Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Sens. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo.

The final package was the amalgamation of several similar bills working their way through Congress, and was signed by President Joe Biden in the final days of his presidency.

The 84 pages of provisions cover a dizzying amount of ground. Everything from modernizing technology so that outdoor enthusiasts have better access to wifi, digital recreation passes and new platforms so that the various land agencies can share and monitor visitor data. It also updates the permitting process and reduces fees for a wide variety of small businesses that are tied to public lands.

Some of its more tactile changes include challenging the parks to innovate their offerings — find ways to get folks to explore less travelled parts — so as to reduce overcrowding. There are provisions that direct land management to assess the needs of gateway communities for housing and municipal infrastructure and then directs the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture to provide funding to act on those needs.

Turner, however, brought up a few specific provisions that stood out to her.

“There’s a whole section that the agencies (the USDA and the DOI) should prioritize recreation and search for more high-use recreation areas, and then plan and structure them accordingly,” she said. “That in and of itself is groundbreaking.”

Another thing caught her attention are provisions made for veterans, which ensured each land-use agency had a liaison with veterans organizations.

“Chairman Westerman’s office worked with a lot of vets and disability groups, which I give them a ton of credit for,” Turner said. Those liaisons then make sure that “there’s integration between Park Service programs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs with outings and clubs for veterans coming back.”

There’s a career workforce opportunity built in as well, she said.

Still, not all provisions of the bill have been implemented.

What is left to do?

“It is a huge bill, it’s the biggest recreation package, the first package of this sort that we’ve ever had. So, I guess my expectations weren’t that much higher than where we are now because I know how big it is,” Turner said. “But that doesn’t mean, I think we should be further along.”

There is so much that the bill addresses that Turner thinks it might take years for all the information to trickle down to all the land-use managers, outfitters, guides and communities that it affects.

For example, there have been instances of confusion with climbing bolts — old laws and new laws contradict each other — and it’s just going to take time for climbers and park rangers to be Explore Act knowledgeable.

Turner’s biggest hope — and the area where the bill’s implementation has struggled the most — is with technology.

“We need to keep pushing really hard on the tech side, the data side,” Turner said. “That’s the space probably that needs the most attention, because if you get it right, you unlock everything, right?”

Better, more accurate and up-to-date data on wildlife and visitation would allow land managers to make better, more informed decisions. If people are having better experiences, they’re spending more time in gateway communities and the whole economy does better.

“That all happens with unlocking data,” Turner said. “But to figure out how to unlock that and (create) interoperability, along with privacy concerns that agencies have ... That is a mammoth task.”

If that weren’t hard enough, recreation is not always a priority for Congress or for presidential administrations.

“Obviously we can’t do this exercise, but in a different administration and a different time, would this bill be farther along or not? I don’t know,” Turner said. “I don’t think it’s like a clear answer because we’ve just never done anything like this. And recreation has never been prioritized by any president. It’s really just not the thing ... we’re kind of like the underdogs anyway.”

Underdogs who seem for now, at least, to be on the road to having their day.

At the hearing, Turner said in her testimony that, “the Explore Act has given us the tools, the mandate, and the momentum ... Success will now be measured by whether we act with urgency equal to the opportunity before us.”