Modernizing Access to Our Public Land Act

Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3113, the Modernizing Access to Our Public Land Act, or MAPLand Act.

Access to America's lands is critical. Driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing more people hunt, fish, hike, and bike than ever before. Recreating on these lands creates fond memories, improves the physical and mental health of Americans, and contributes significantly to our economy.

Each year, outdoor recreation across the country injects $887 billion into our economy. These dollars support communities in Utah and nationwide, contribute to high-paying jobs, and connect us through our shared hobbies and interests.

There are roughly 640 million acres of land in the Federal estate. Of these, more than 9 million acres in the Western United States have no permanent legal means of access.

Land users understand firsthand the shortage of information that exists on which lands are opened, how they can be accessed, and more. In fact, tens of thousands of important land access files are currently outdated or only in paper form, filling up cabinets in office building basements. This just simply isn't good enough for the 21st century.

This lack of access to crucial information prevents us from enjoying all that our lands have to offer, and it makes it more difficult for the hardworking employees at our land management agencies to do their jobs.

It is time to fix these problems by modernizing the data behind our Federal lands. My bill, H.R. 3113, the MAPLand Act, will do just that.

Madam Speaker, this bipartisan and bicameral commonsense legislation will help our Federal land management agencies work together better by creating shared data standards and improving the digital information available to all who visit our lands.

Making this information more detailed and accessible in the digital age is one of the many reasons why this bill enjoys such broad support. This is about helping families spend more time together outside, about improving the way that our government works, and about fostering and sharing the joy of the great outdoors.

I am grateful to Ranking Members Fulcher and Westerman and Chairmen Neguse and Grijalva for cosponsoring the MAPLand Act and helping drive it forward.

I am also grateful for staff members and stakeholder groups who worked closely with my office at all hours on this important effort that will bring our lands into the 21st century. This has truly been a collaborative effort that will reverberate for years to come and one that I have been proud to be a part of.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support my legislation, and I hope my colleagues in the Senate will consider and pass this important bill expeditiously.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3113, the ``Modernizing Access to Our Public Land Act,'' or the MAPLand Act, which will make it easier for every American to access data for outdoor recreation possibilities.

It directs the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to jointly develop and adopt standards to ensure compatibility among federal databases for the collection and dissemination of outdoor recreation data related to federal lands.

The Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, and the Corps of Engineers must digitize and publish geographic information system mapping data that includes:

federal interests, including easements and rights-of-way, in private land;

status information as to whether roads and trails are open or closed;

the dates on which roads and trails are seasonally opened and closed;

the types of vehicles that are allowed on each segment of roads and trails;

the boundaries of areas where hunting or recreational shooting is regulated or closed; and

the boundaries of any portion of a body of water that is closed to entry, is closed to watercraft, or has horsepower limitations for watercraft.

The MAPLand Act's stipulations will provide essential information to all Americans who wish to spend time on our beautiful public lands.

Because of the provisions in this bill, Americans will have the most up to date information about the trail they wish to hike, stream or lake they wish to fish on, or regulations of grounds on which they wish to hunt.

This ensures that all Americans will be safe while exploring our great outdoors, making this legislation's passage of the utmost necessity.

This bill would also allow our agencies to manage and plan more effectively while also reducing the potential for access-related conflicts between recreators and private landowners. Simply put, this legislation promises to help more people get outdoors.

Currently, more than 9.52 million acres of land in the West lack permanent and legal access points for public use, and information on these lands is still kept on paper files.

Approximately 5,000 of the Forest Service's 37,000 recorded easements have been digitized and uploaded to an electronic database. The MAPLand Act would help give federal land management agencies the resources they need to digitize these files for public use, as well as require these agencies to provide information on seasonal vehicle restrictions on public roads and trails, hunting boundaries, and watercraft restrictions.

Madam Speaker, it is for these reasons that I strongly support H.R. 3113, the MAPLand Act and therefore urge my colleagues to support this legislation as well.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3113) to require the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to digitize and make publicly available geographic information system mapping data relating to public access to Federal land and waters for outdoor recreation, and for other purposes, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3113, the Modernizing Access to Our Public Land Act, or MAPLand Act, introduced by my Committee on Natural Resources colleague, Representative Blake Moore.

Our committee has long focused on sportsmen's access to public lands. I am pleased that shortly after I became chair, we were able to pass the bipartisan John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which included an entire title on sportsmen's access.

The MAPLand Act would build on that law, as well as the investments made by the Great American Outdoors Act, to help ensure that hunters, anglers, and all Americans can more easily find information and resources to help facilitate public lands access.

Representative Moore's bill would direct the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers to jointly develop and adopt standards to ensure database compatibility for the collection and sharing of outdoor recreation data related to Federal lands.

Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Moore for championing this bill on behalf of everyone who enjoys our public lands, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I concur with Ranking Member Westerman and urge support of the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I also rise in support, along with Chairman Grijalva, and I thank him for his support of H.R. 3113, the MAPLand Act, offered by the ranking member of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Mr. Blake Moore of Utah.

This bill directs the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers to jointly develop and adopt interagency standards for the collection and dissemination of outdoor recreation data on Federal lands.

Our Nation's outdoorsmen and -women are increasingly reliant on digital mapping and GPS technologies to hunt, fish, and enjoy other recreation activities on our Nation's complicated patchwork of Federal lands. Unfortunately, inconsistent and incomplete digital mapping data frequently prevents the public and Federal land management agencies from maximizing the full benefits of these technologies.

Mr. Moore's bill requires our Federal land management agencies to digitize records of easements and rights-of-way across private lands so the public will have a better understanding of Federal land access points and ensure that Americans recreating stay safe and avoid trespassing.

Outdoor recreation is vital to our Nation's economy, and the way we expand outdoor recreation is to expand access.

Madam Speaker, I commend Mr. Moore for his hard work on this important legislation to modernize our Federal land management records, and I urge adoption of the measure.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore).

Madam Speaker, I encourage adoption of this commonsense bill. It will be very beneficial to provide better access to our outdoor recreation areas, and I think it would also be a great benefit to Americans.

Madam Speaker, I urge adoption, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 3113, which was received from the House.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.