Washington DC –

Yesterday (December 19, 2024), The United States Senate passed H.R.6492, The Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act, or simply known as The EXPLORE Act.

HPRS owner and race director John Lacroix has volunteered a tremendous amount of his time to the Coalition for Outdoor Access (COA) Policy Committee, which played a pivotal role in the writing of, and lobbying for passage of, the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation (SOAR) Act. John, along with individuals from Runners for Public Lands, were the only trail running representatives/organizations a part of this process. John, representing HPRS and the entire nation of trail and ultramarathon runners, has been a part of this process for the last three years.

The act provides improvements that will have positive effects on the sport of trail and ultrarunning, which include:

• A modernized electronic permit application system which race directors will use to apply for and receive Special Use Authorizations (permits) streamlining the permitting process.

• Brings the Forest Service, the BLM, and the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation under the same umbrella for uniform permitting and simplified rules.

• The issuance of one permit, and one permit administrator, when an event crosses over multiple federal land/agency jurisdictions and districts.

• Simplified and “common sense” permit fee calculations and a redesigned cost recovery process that is fair to permittees (RDs) and the land manager that will ultimately change the permit fee structure, taking it off a revenue-based system and switching it to a per-person based system (unclear if this will raise or lower permit fees at this time.. assumption is lower)

• More flexibility for race participant capacities and eliminates the cost burden of any environmental studies that in some cases have been passed on to the race director.

From John: I’m so very proud of the tremendous effort we put in behind the scenes at HPRS. At the beginning of 2024, I was at the Colorado State House celebrating the passage of SB-58, which fixed Colorado’s Recreational Use Statute (CRUS), ensuring the balance of landowner rights, and protected public access to recreation on private and public lands. Now, we end the year celebrating the passage of the EXPLORE and SOAR Acts on the Federal level; acts which will protect events that transpire on our federal lands, make permitting of those events easier, and make cost recovery more beneficial for our land managers and race directors alike.

I have certainly received quite the education over the last three years by being involved in these bills. I have engaged with our congressional and senate leaders on both the state and federal level. I have lobbied hard to ensure that our sport, race directors and runners alike, can continue to enjoy the many benefits of the activity we love without wading through legal threats and increased red tape. I do fear that our work isn’t done, and perhaps another fight sits over the horizon.

Even with President Biden signing this bill in to law (still to come), we do not know what the new administration may do to unravel these efforts that have spanned over a decade in some cases. The fact that these bills were all bipartisan helps. I am anxious about the future but do hope that the passage of this act terminates language about a new USFS cost-recovery proposal that could have increased permit fees by 400% and will lead to the re-funding of our federal partners so that the work included in these bills can be conducted.

We’re not out of the woods yet, with current USFS funding issues and a looming government shut down, there is a lot yet to be done. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating this tremendous step forward; while also standing-by as we ask for the help of race directors and runners alike with the work still to come.

To see the full text of the EXPLORE Act: CLICK HERE

About the EXPLORE Act

“The EXPLORE Act is a wide-reaching piece of legislation that will improve the lives of outdoorsmen and women while also expanding access to America’s public lands and waters. The legislation will:

• Improve public land access for sportsmen and women.
• Modernize technology to improve visitor experiences, like increasing broadband connectivity and creating digital passes.
• Streamline the permitting process and reduce fees for small businesses that depend on public land access.
• Protect rock climbing in iconic places and create new long-distance bike trails.
• Restore campgrounds and modernize infrastructure.
• Support gateway communities by addressing housing shortages and outdated infrastructure.
• Improve accessibility for military service members, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and kids.

The legislation is supported by a host of outdoor-oriented organizations, including advocates for hunting, fishing, horseback riding, recreational boating, camping, rock climbing and more.”[1]

About the SOAR Act

“Organized groups like outfitters, guides, outdoor education organizations, college and university programs, and volunteer-based clubs are required to have a permit to take people to national parks, national forests, and other federal lands for things like hiking, climbing, and water sports. These permits have different names depending on the agency but are generally referred to as “outfitter-guide permits.” The permitting process used by the agencies to issue outfitter-guide permits is outdated, overly complex, and time intensive. As a result, federal land management agencies are often unable to issue permits for guided outdoor recreation activities – even when the activities are within carrying capacity limits already established for the landscape. The unintended consequence is fewer people get to enjoy outdoor recreation activities, local economies don’t receive the benefit of outdoor recreation visits, and there are fewer advocates for the preservation of public lands.

To solve these problems, Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation Act (SOAR Act). The bill was originally introduced in the Spring of 2019 and was reintroduced in 2021 and 2023. Identical bills were introduced in the House of Representatives in the same years. This bipartisan legislation makes changes to the outfitter and guide permitting systems of the federal land agencies to make permits less complicated for land agencies to administer and easier for outfitters and guides to acquire.” [2]

“Bill Highlights:

• Reauthorizes outfitter and guide permitting authority for the Forest Service, the BLM, and brings the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation under FLREA so those agencies can keep permit fees;
• Authorizes agencies to issue one permit when a trip crosses multiple agency boundary, an authorization that includes NPS Commercial Use Authorizations and other agency permits;
• Reauthorizes permit fees and allows use for permit administration and simplifying processes as well as for previously authorized purposes;
• Eliminates fees based on goods and services delivered and consumed off federal lands and authorizes a flat, per person fee to simply permit calculations;
• Authorizes temporary permits to help facilitate access for new uses and provides for conversion to long term permits when appropriate (does not require conversion);
• Sets important deadlines for simplifying and revising permitting processes and regulations, a goal the Forest Service adopted internally but has never been able to deliver on;
• Provides more flexibility for use of permitted capacity by qualified service providers;
• Reforms cost recovery in the Forest Service and the BLM by giving a 50-hour credit for each permit when a group of permits is renewed and provides exceptions to the cost recovery requirement, a practice that the agencies have adopted although it is not authorized in their regulations;
• Prohibits the use of waivers for gross negligence, requires indemnification of agencies by permit holders and allows waivers for ordinary negligence.” [3]

[1] https://naturalresources.house.gov/legislative-priorities/explore.htm

[2] https://accesstheoutdoors.com/soar-act/

[3] https://www.americaoutdoors.org/soar-act-summary/