News Category: Public Lands

Why It Matters: The Wyoming Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife, and Cultural Resources Committee’s upcoming meeting will shape legislation for the 2026 short session, impacting outdoor recreation, wildlife conservation, and some hunting license updates. Public input on proposed bill drafts is critical to ensure these policies reflect Wyoming’s values and priorities. Highlights: Several bill drafts were…

(June 29, 2025) – Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the language to dispose of certain federal lands across 11 western states was committed to be removed from the Senate budget reconciliation bill, delivering a big win for sportsmen and women across the nation. Since the proposal was first made public, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) has…

(June 26, 2025) – Washington, D.C. – Earlier this week, the Senate Parliamentarian determined that the mandate to sell-off at least 2 million acres and up to 3 million acres of federal public lands under the Senate budget reconciliation bill, as originally proposed and written, was incompatible with rules of the U.S. Senate and cannot be included…

(June 12, 2025) – Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee released their provision of the budget reconciliation bill, the large and comprehensive bill that has been consuming most of the oxygen in the nation’s capital for much of the 119th Congress. Included in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s…

(May 15, 2025) – Washington D.C. – From mule deer and pronghorn on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in the West to wild turkeys and trout on U.S. Forest Service (USFS) lands in the east, for many of us, America’s federal public lands are the bedrock of our access to our sporting traditions. For…

Why It Matters: America’s federal public lands face a significant headwind of deferred infrastructure maintenance (roads, bridges,  trails, campgrounds, etc.), which can ultimately limit access for sportsmen and women. This legislation will help provide federal land agencies much-needed financial resources to turn the corner on deferred maintenance. Highlights: Last week, Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Member…

Why It Matters: The western states have been long celebrated by the outdoor community as being a mecca for outdoor recreational opportunity thanks in part to the vast amounts of state and federal land open to the public. Over time some states have become segmented into a patchwork of public and private land. This leads…

Why It Matters: Across the country, hunters, anglers, recreational shooters, and trappers shoulder the responsibility of funding state fish and wildlife agencies through the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF). However, due to constantly increasing staffing and programmatic costs, supplemental funding sources outside of the traditional ASCF model are critical to these agencies’ ability to…

Why It Matters: Federal public lands offer critical opportunities for sportsmen and women to participate in our time-honored traditions of hunting, fishing, trapping, and recreational shooting. Despite this, in late 2024, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sought to ban recreational shooting across the entirety of the 1.3-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument (BENM). Thanks to…

Why It Matters: Recreational shooting is a longstanding and highly popular activity on our federal public lands. For many sportsmen and women, including target shooters, public lands are the only venue that they can participate in our time-honored outdoor traditions. Furthermore, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) intent to close the entire 1.3 million acres…

Why It Matters: The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, which grants authority to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to acquire public land, is up for reauthorization and will be a focal point of the Badger State’s upcoming legislative session. Access to public lands and waters that are open to hunting and fishing is critical for the…

Why It Matters: Year after year, many states are seeing large influxes of new residents, and with that, the need for more housing and expanded services continues. Expanded urbanization and development require land, and sometimes that comes at the expense of state lands that were once utilized by not only hunters, anglers, and trappers, but…