In a letter sent yesterday to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, Outdoor Industry Association expressed opposition to a plank in the party platform approved at its nominating convention last week that advocates certain federal public lands be turned over to the states.
OIA’s letter states that America’s public lands and waters are the very foundation of the outdoor industry and essential to the $646 billion outdoor recreation economy. They claimed to “oppose legislation and other policy initiatives at all levels of government that seek to enable or facilitate” the transfer of federal public lands to the states.
“Our nation’s public lands and waters belong to all Americans,” said OIA Executive Director Amy Roberts. “Though states often do a fine job of managing their land and water, we oppose the idea of turning over our shared public lands because the threat that these places could be sold off to the highest bidder to temporarily finance state and local budgets is very real.”
OIA frequently works with members of both political parties in Congress on policy agenda, including public land issues like full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, adequate resources to fight devastating wildfires and better access to the outdoors on federally managed land.
“In contrast to the proposal of state takeover, we propose a balanced approach to addressing the multiple interests and uses on our public lands and a pledge to work with any policymaker or any party who supports that approach,” they stated.
The letter concludes: “The answer is not to turn these lands over to states, disguised as better management, but is instead to continue to seek improvements in the practices and processes that lead to conflict in the first place. The outdoor industry stands ready to partner with and lead those who are willing to join us in that belief.”
You can review OIA’s letter in full here.
