Why It Matters: While the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) finished the last Congress on a very strong note with the enacting into law of three priorities that passed Congress in December, there is still significant work that needs to be done for sportsmen and women. CSF hit the ground running on day one of the 119th Congress, and the House of Representatives is now expected to vote on three CSF priorities this week – building off CSF’s strong success in the last Congress, and further demonstrating CSF’s leadership on behalf of hunters, anglers, and other sportsmen and women.
Highlights:
- This week, the House is scheduled to vote on three bipartisan CSF priorities that build upon recent victories for conservation and access.
- It is expected that as early as Tuesday the House will vote on the Modernizing Access to Our Public Waters (MAPWaters) Act as well as the SHARKED Act.
- Later in the week, the House is scheduled to vote on the Fix Our Forests Act, a critical bill to improve forest health while bolstering fish and wildlife habitat.
This week, the House is scheduled to vote on three priorities of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, including the MAPWaters Act, the SHARKED Act, and the Fix Our Forests Act.
The MAPWaters Act, led by Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Member Rep. Blake Moore and CSC Vice Chair Rep. Panetta, requires the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service to modernize and digitize their public water mapping information. This legislation will help sportsmen and women to know not only where they can access rivers and water bodies but also understand regulations on things such as waterways that are open or closed to certain types of watercrafts, horsepower restrictions, aquatic invasive species inspection requirements, and what baits or lures are allowed for fishing, among others.
The SHARKED Act, led by CSC Members Rep. Wittman and Rep. Veasey, would simply establish a non-regulatory task force that would be responsible for making recommendations for improving coordination and communication across the fisheries management community on shark depredation, as well as identifying research priorities and funding opportunities. In recent years, particularly in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, the frequency of sharks intercepting fish being landed by anglers and commercial fishermen has increased substantially.
The Fix Our Forests Act, led by CSC Co-Chair Rep. Westerman and Rep. Peters, would designate fireshed management areas for the prioritization of active management to reduce wildfire risk including increasing acreage limitations on several existing categorical exclusions. H.R. 471 would also establish an interagency office known as the Fireshed Center to promote data sharing and coordination among agencies to streamline processes and comprehensively address wildfire threats to communities. Additionally, among other reforms, the legislation would clarify consultation requirements for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management following the 2015 Cottonwood Environmental Law Center v. U.S. Forest Service decision that has hindered forest management projects, strengthen the Good Neighbor Authority, reauthorize the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, enact reforms to discourage litigation that hinders forest health improvement projects, and codifiy 20-year stewardship contracting.
CSF looks forward to seeing these three priorities pass the House and will continue supporting them through the remainder of the legislative process.
