The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR) commended bipartisan congressional leadership and ORR’s national members for defeating a proposal to sell off millions of acres of public lands in the budget reconciliation process.
ORR President Jessica Turner said ORR firmly stood behind protecting access to public lands and waters for outdoor recreation, investing in infrastructure and securing long-term funding for sustainable growth.
“While we stand ready to work on housing issues that need to be addressed with Congress and the administration,” Turner said, “budget reconciliation was the wrong vehicle for deciding the fate of America’s public lands and the $1.2 trillion recreation economy.”
Turner said selling off public lands was out of touch with public sentiment and could have impacted businesses, jobs, public health and many rural communities.
“ORR and our members spanning the entire outdoor recreation industry are uniquely positioned to forge innovative, bipartisan solutions to issues impacting our public lands,” Turner said, “and keeping public lands and waters accessible and outdoor recreation thriving for generations to come will remain the backbone of this work.”
