CSC Members Introduce Important Conservation and Access Bills

Why It Matters: Both the Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act and the Keep Public Lands in Public Hands Act were priorities for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) in the 118^th Congress. Unfortunately, these bills did not become law before the 118^th Congress ended. With the 119^th Congress well underway, the introduction of these bills marks an important step forward in the legislative process to ultimately seeing these bills become law.

Highlights:

• Last week, Members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) continued the pro-sporting momentum in Congress by introducing two important bills for sportsmen and women, which includes the Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act and the Keep Public Lands in Public Hands Act.
• Led by CSC Member Rep. Zinke and Rep. Beyer, the bipartisan Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act (H.R. 717), which CSF testified before the House Natural Resources Committee this past September in support of, would codify an important effort to conserve habitat for migratory wildlife across the country.
• The Keep Public Lands in Public Hands Act (H.R. 718), another bipartisan bill led by Rep. Zinke and CSC Member Rep. Vasquez, would establish more Congressional oversight over the disposal of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).

On Thursday, January 23, two important bills to bolster conservation and public lands were introduced by Members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. Both of these bills were priorities for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation in the 118^th Congress and will remain priorities in the 119^th Congress.

The first bill, the Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act, is a critical step forward towards conserving and restoring habitat connectivity for our nation’s wildlife. This legislation seeks to codify the highly successful Secretarial Order 3362 that sought to conserve big game migration corridors and winter range across 11 western states; however, this legislation broadens this scope across the entire country  and all wildlife species that migrate or move as part of their annual cycle would be eligible for funding. Importantly, this legislation respects the rights of private landowners while providing these important stakeholders with voluntary options to expand conservation across their lands as they see fit.

The Keep Public Lands in Public Hands Act requires Congressional approval for the sale or transfer of publicly accessible lands that are greater than 300 acres and water accessible lands that are greater than five acres. Under current law, Congress does not need to provide oversight over the sale or transfer of parcels of FLPMA identified parcels regardless of size. This legislation establishes an important threshold to maintain public access for sportsmen and women while recognizing that smaller, less recreationally important lands are suitable for disposal. This legislation does not prevent or prohibit the transfer or sale of public lands nor does it undermine important land transaction programs that help increase access such as the Federal Lands Transaction Facilitation Act. Rather, this legislation establishes an important threshold to ensure that important recreational lands and water are scrutinized and approved by Congress before being sold or transferred.

CSF looks forward to working with the bill sponsors to see these priority pieces of legislation pass Congress and become law in the 119^th Congress.