CCC in DC- Public Lands Advocacy

The Outdoor Alliance organized several meetings with congress members and one panel discussion surrounding federal staff cuts, outdoor recreation economy, funding federal workers in public lands, and potential of public land sell offs. CCC's Executive Director was able to join several meetings with law makers, including the offices of Senator Tillis and Represenative Edwards (NC-11), as well as the House Appropriations Committee and House Minority Committee on Natural Resources. Our collective goal was to be a voice for public lands in the wake of federal staff cuts and decreased public lands protections. 

Staffing Shortages and the Outdoor Economy, Panel Briefing, Capital Room: 

Click here to watch the full panel 

Panelists included:

Representative Gabe Vasquez, of New Mexico and House Sponsor of ‘Public Lands in Public Hands’ Bill

Louis Geltman, Outdoor Alliance’s VP of Policy and Government Relations

Betsy Robblee, Conservation and Advocacy Director at The Mountaineers

Ryan ‘Cal’ Callaghan, Meateater Director of Conservation, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers national board member

Mike Reardon, Executive Director at Carolina Climbers Coalition 

The Panel was a one hour talk with each of us giving our perspectives on federal lands in our areas. The audience included members of the Outdoor Industry Association as well as many staffers from House and Senate members. Themes included:

-Robustly staffed and resourced land management agencies are essential to supporting the outdoor recreation experience and the outdoor recreation economy

-A quality recreation experience requires staff beyond people with “recreation” in their title: planners, -ologists, etc.

-Agency capacity unlocks a huge amount of outside resources that can be brought to bear on public lands stewardship. Investments in agency staff have a huge ROI, in part because of this. Conversely, a shortage of agency staff is wildly inefficient because it bottlenecks outside resources.

-Interplay with fire and disaster recovery efforts. On-the-ground agency staff are critical to fire risk mitigation and suppression. There are also important efficiencies in considering recreation infrastructure and fire risk reduction in tandem.