RECREATION AND CONSERVATION

The outdoor recreation economy depends on abundant, safe, and welcoming public lands and waters. The health of individuals, communities, and our economy is tied to opportunities for everyone to experience the benefits of parks, trails, and open spaces. We urge Congress and the administration to:

• Protect core conservation laws and reverse regulatory rollbacks.
• Support America’s Outdoor Recreation Act (AORA), a package of numerous recreation bills, which invests in recreation and green infrastructure to enhance access to public lands.
• Continue to support legislation that bolsters the $1.1 trillion outdoor recreation economy and 5 million outdoor recreation jobs in the U.S.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

A stable and predictable federal trade policy is critical to helping outdoor companies lower costs, create U.S. jobs, and fuel innovation. Consistent with a balanced trade policy that supports global value chains and domestic manufacturers, we urge Congress and the administration to:

• Renew the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a developing-country trade preference program and include the addition of a select number of non-import sensitive performance footwear.
• Support the passage of a package of miscellaneous tariff bills (MTBs) that will provide temporary duty relief on certain outdoor products and preserve finished products for future MTB rounds.
• Reorient China 301 tariffs away from consumer goods and support a new process to exclude imports from the China 301 tariffs to provide relief for small and medium-sized businesses.
• Support the development of new trade agreements that promote reciprocal market access, sustainability, and robust and enforceable labor and environmental provisions that match international standards.

EQUITABLE ACCESS TO THE OUTDOORS

Safe, sustained, close–to–home access to the outdoors and nature is vital to people’s physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. However, not everyone has access to nature or outdoor experiences on a regular basis, and therefore cannot experience the scientifically–proven benefits
of time outdoors. We urge policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels to:

• Prioritize expanding safe access to the outdoors to optimize individual and societal health, economic, and social outcomes.
• Recognize and address barriers to outdoor access, such as time, proximity, financial resources, historical or cultural factors, and discrimination.
• Support the development of green spaces in traditionally nature-deprived communities.

FARM BILL

More recently in the farm bill, Congress has started to address the importance of outdoor recreation businesses in America’s rural economies through USDA Rural Development programs. There is a tremendous opportunity in the farm bill being written for passage this year to expand and improve programs that help rural economies better attract and retain outdoor recreation businesses. The full potential of USDA Rural Development programs to build up rural economies through better support for outdoor recreation has only just begun to be explored by the outdoor industry. We support policies that: 

• Update language in numerous rural development grant programs to give preference to projects that bolster the development of outdoor recreation infrastructure.
• Increase or maintain funding for climate resiliency programs authorized in the conservation title and being carried out by USDA, including the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQUIP), Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), and others.
• Require the United States Forest Service (USFS) to develop a 10-year outdoor recreation strategy for national forests under the forestry title.