ACCESS & PERMITTING COMMITTEE: MID-YEAR REPORT


Access & Permitting Committee
Mid-Year Report (January - July 2019)

Committee Chair, Pat Langendorfer and Committee Chair-Elect, Ryan Murphy

Committee Overview
The Access & Permitting Committee provides advice and recommendations to the AORE Board of Directors and National Office on matters relating to access to public lands and waters for university outdoor programs, military outdoor programs and community recreation programs. This includes:
 

You can visit our Access & Permitting page to earn more about our association's commitment to these issues as well as download our Member Toolkit - a resource created to aid members in the area of access to federal lands. [GET STARTED]

Committee Updates (Q1 - Q2)
It’s been a wild year for public land management. The Access & Permitting Committee has been doing its best to bring the membership the latest and greatest in information about accessing our public lands. The PLROIA legislation that was brought forward last year has been joined with another related bill and reintroduced as the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation Act (SOAR) Act. This important initiative is designed to streamline the permitting process for guides & outfitters, including solving the issue of indemnification, providing an avenue for joint permitting for trips which cross agency boundaries, delivering guidelines to simplify the application process, and generally making federal land permitting more user-friendly.

Committee volunteers look forward to bringing more resources to AORE membership this year. Plans include developing step-by-step tutorials for permitting with the National Parks, National Forests, and BLM. We encourage members to reach out with questions, concerns, and ideas. Together, through our collective insights, we can all help ensure that our federal lands are operated in the most ethical, compliant, and beneficial way so that they support our programming efforts rather than hindering them.

OTHER READING:

Check out AORE’S advocacy work with the SOAR Act, which will increase access to public lands for all and improve the ability of AORE members to plan and execute their programs. [Read More]

AORE's partner, The Wilderness Society (TWS) just helped to release a new public lands curriculum that is free to download and use by those working in our industry. Find out more about this incredible resource today!

Want to learn more about Committee Member Paul Sanford’s advocacy efforts on behalf of AORE as well as his overall experiences as an association member and volunteer? Check out this special member interview with Paul in our newsroom!