Outdoor recreation groups meet with Bush team

By Derrick Crandall, American Recreation Coalition

Nearly 30 key representatives of the recreation community met for two hours recently with four key Bush-Cheney Transition Team coordinators. The meeting was the first held by the Interior and Agriculture coordinators with outside interests and was successful from both our standpoint and the Transition team's. I want to congratulate all of the ARC member representatives who took part for raising important substantive issues well, and for delivering a great deal of information in a very short time.

The Transition team responded well to a number of the messages we offered, from revival of Take Pride in America to re-emphasizing the importance of visitor access to federally-managed lands, from building upon last year's Land and Water Conservation Fund successes to better coordination of all federal assistance programs. They also underscored interest in upcoming meetings and events.

Outdoor Recreation: a positive force across America:

Benefits of outdoor recreation include:

• $400 billion+ in annual economic activity and an economic lifeline for countless communities
• 78% of adults participate at least monthly, and 58% recreate at least monthly as a family activity
• vital force for mental, physical and spiritual health
• a prime lure for visitors from overseas
• a growing factor in travel and residency patterns
• perceived by the public as valuable in addressing other key societal concerns, including problems with education, substance abuse, parent/ child communications, and childhood obesity
• public lands are a recreation magnet, with 40% of all Americans reporting they visited a federally-operated recreation site during the past year. Federally-managed lands and waters&emdash; one-third of the U.S. surface&emdash; attract two billion visits annually and constitute the nation's Natural Health and Fitness Centers.
• a vital force in developing an environmental ethic which embraces both use and protection: a right to enjoy the legacy of their Great Outdoors&endash;- and a responsibility to enjoy that use appropriately.
• a tool to communicate the resource management tasks and skills of federal agencies.

Recommendations:

• Address the multi-billion dollar O&M and capital investment needs on federal lands, especially recreation facilities and roads providing public access.
• Renew efforts to connect Americans and the lands and waters that are their outdoor legacy through Take Pride in America and the new "Ranger for a Day" program.
• Embrace the recommendations of the National Recreation Lake Study Commission.
• Revitalize the Recreation and Wildlife Challenge Cost-Share Programs.
• Better coordinate and give higher priority to federal assistance to state and local recreation and land protection programs through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Programs, TEA-21 tools including transportation enhancements and the Recreational Trails Program and other similar programs.
• Re-emphasize visitor services as a priority in the management of all federal lands and waters.
• Reduce planning and regulatory burdens which inhibit responsiveness and insulate federal agencies from the public.
• Embrace the concept of the national recreation fee demonstration program and propose a Phase II effort, encouraging innovation and continuing to treat these fees as supplementary to appropriations.

For more information on the Bush-Cheney Transition Team see the website at: http://www.bushcheney.com.

For more information on federal programs and legislation see the American Trails website at www.AmericanTrails.org

Thank you for visiting the American Trails website: http://www.AmericanTrails.org

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