From the SEMA Washington, D.C., office
Good news: the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee recently held a hearing on H.R. 7979 the Public Lands Access Restoration Act (PLARA), a SEMA and ORBA-supported bill that would restore the presumption that public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are open for all different types of recreation, including motorized use, unless there is a reason for a designated closure.
Your help is still needed: send a letter to your U.S. Representative in support of H.R. 7979.
The bill seeks to restore a long-standing "open unless posted closed" policy for lands managed by the Forest Service and BLM, reversing more restrictive access policies that have been in place since 2005.
U.S. Representatives Jeff Crank (R-CO) and Mike Kennedy (R-UT) recently introduced the Public Lands Access Restoration Act to restore recreational access to public lands unless the land managers are able to justify closures based on resource protection or public safety reasons. The bill increases transparency and accountability in how access decisions are made on BLM and Forrest Service lands and establishes a clearer review process for restricting recreation, with the goal of balancing conservation priorities with recreational use.
SEMA and ORBA strongly support H.R. 7979 and included the following remark in the official press release announcing Reps. Crank and Kennedy's introduction of the bill.
"On behalf of motorized recreational businesses and the millions of off-road enthusiasts who support the industry, SEMA and ORBA thank Reps. Crank and Kennedy for introducing the Public Lands Access Restoration Act," said Karen Bailey-Chapman, the senior vice president of Government and Public Affairs for SEMA. "This bill offers an important policy shift to ensure that BLM- and Forest Service-managed lands are open to motorized vehicles unless there is a justifiable resource protection or public safety need to prohibit motorized access. We strongly support the return to an 'open unless posted closed' policy on public lands."
PLARA would restore and expand recreational access to public lands, which is critical to the local economies of communities throughout the country that depend on recreational tourism. If enacted into law, this bill will support tourism, outdoor businesses and the broader recreation economy, particularly in rural areas that rely heavily on public land use.
The introduction of PLARA adds to ongoing congressional efforts to address access and infrastructure challenges on federal lands, building on recent bipartisan interest in outdoor recreation policy. As the bill moves forward, stakeholders across the recreation and conservation communities are expected to engage closely on its implications for access, land management, and resource protection.
Questions? Want to invite the SEMA team to go off-roading? Contact Juan Mejia, SEMA's Senior Manager of Government Affairs, at juanm@sema.org
This story was originally published on Tuesday, March 31.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock | Reinhardt and Co
