Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2019 - 9

Wahl says. But in this instance, the whole outattach the package to year-end negotiations,
and pass it into law before Christmas.
door industry leaned in to compromise.
They were wrong, but also right.
The Dingell Act touches on public land afWhat would eventually become the John
fairs in all 50 states. That Jenga tower contains
D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management,
bills that were polished by Congressional staff,
and Recreation Act-a collection of 120 difbut initially primed by hundreds of grassroots
organizations and individuals around the
ferent conservation, recreation, and public
country-in some cases, starting the processs
lands management bills-didn't pass beas long as 10 years ago. As a result of this collecfore the 2018 holidays; the government shut
down instead. But due to the strength of its
tive work, 1,300,000 acres of new wilderness
bipartisan support, Sen. McConnell (R-KY)
are protected, new national monuments have
promised it first priority on the docket within
been designated, land adjacent to Yellowstone
the new year-that is, after the changes in
and North Cascades national parks has been
Congressional leadership.
withdrawn from mining, the Historically
It had taken all summer for the staff of the
Black Colleges and Universities Historic
Senate Energy and
Preservation Program
Natural Resources
is now reauthorized...
Committee and
the list goes on to many
the House Natural
other land manageResources Committee
ment and protection
to find the right balance
designations.
of bills that could pass
Perhaps most imporboth a House and Senate
tantly, the Land Water
vote. The package was so
and Conservation
-LOUIS GELTMAN
meticulously negotiated
Fund (LWCF) was
between Republicans
granted permanent reand Democrats that Wahl describes the final
authorization. When negotiations had gotten
product as "a little like Jenga-if you pull one
tense between political parties and different
block, everything could tumble down."
recreation groups, LWCF was the "the glue
So the switch from a Republican-controlled
that kept people at the table," Wahl says.
Congress to the Democrats threatened the
The eventual sweeping success of the
package's precarious balance, as did the soonDingell Act corrects the perception of a dito-be new Senate Ranking Member, Sen.
vided conservation movement, Geltman
Manchin (D-WV). Wahl, Geltman, and many
says. "Regardless of party affiliation, people
others feared new leadership would want to
want to see important places protected. The
renegotiate. "Usually bills won't carry over in
outdoor industry speaking up, individuthis type of environment," Wahl says.
als speaking up, grassroots organizations
But with Sen. Murkowski (R-AK) still leadspeaking up, I think all those efforts are
paying off," says Geltman. "They're helping
ing the Senate, the package was ushered to the
Republicans see that protecting public lands
floor on good faith, wherein it was put up for a
is a political winner."
vote in the chamber and subsequently passed
Wahl, who recently stepped into a new po92-8, leading to the successful 363-62 House
vote on an identical bill, and the President's
sition as the executive director of Outdoor
eventual, albeit surprising, signature.
Recreation Roundtable, says opening the new
Around the nation, environmentalists, conCongress with the Dingell Act's passage is a bigpicture win for the future, too. "We didn't start
servationists, and recreational land users of all
with [committee] hearings that were divisive;
types-human-powered and motor-powered
we started with a win that everyone got credit
alike-celebrated the Dingell Act's passage.
for. It was a big kumbaya moment that hope"Usually we see recreation communities going
to bat for whatever myopic issues serve them,"
fully set us up for success going forward." O.R.

"REGARDLESS OF
PARTY AFFILIATION,
PEOPLE WANT TO SEE
IMPORTANT PLACES
PROTECTED."

UP NEXT ON
THE DOCKET

Can these public
lands bills also
become laws?
Now that dozens
of public lands'
bills have been
passed into law via
the John D. Dingell
Jr. Conservation,
Management and
Recreation Act,
the slate has been
cleared for a new
crop of ideas, negotiations, and bills to
emerge. Here's what
to look out for next.
Restore our Parks
Act: Led by Sen.
Portman (R-OH),
this act focuses on
securing funding for
the massive maintenance backlog in
national parks.
SOAR Act: This legislation addresses
challenges in the
special-use recreation permit process
on public lands. It
merges two permitting bills (GO Act
and PLROIA Act)
into one bill.
Recreation Not
Red-Tape Act: Rep.
Bishop (R-UT) has
re-introduced this
measure to expand
recreational opportunities across seasons and between
jurisdictions.

CORE Act: This bill
would protect approximately 400,000
acres of public land
in Colorado, including wilderness areas,
and safeguard existing outdoor recreation opportunities.
Another act introduced by Colorado's
congressional leaders would create
741,000 acres of
wilderness, some of
it overlapping with
CORE Act areas.
Wild Olympics
Wilderness and
Wild and Scenic
Rivers Act: Areas
in Olympic National
Forest would be
designated as wilderness, and certain
rivers would be designated as Wild and
Scenic Rivers.
Other ideas in the
works include a tax
on universal outdoor gear to fund
recreation initiatives; a bill establishing the 79,000
acres of WasatchCache National
Forest as the Central
Wasatch National
Conservation and
Recreation Area
in Utah; and a bill
restoring economic
development, recreation, and conservation on Federal
and historic lands in
Northern California.

Summer 2019 / OUTDOOR RETAILER 9
Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2019
