Wilderness expansion proposals fall short in Congress

 A long-standing proposal to expand wilderness areas on the Olympic Peninsula by more than 125,000 acres, and to designate 19 new federally protected Wild and Scenic Rivers on the peninsula, fell short of the finish line as the 117th Congress came to a close this month.

President Joe Biden signed a $1.7 trillion government funding bill on Thursday that does not include the Wild Olympics proposal, which environmental groups from Washington lobbied for on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in the waning days of the legislative session.

“The more ambitious package we knew was a possibility fell apart in the final hours,” said Tom O’Keefe, Pacific Northwest stewardship director for American Whitewater, who was part of the state lobbying delegation.

Congress approved some smaller conservation proposals, like designating new Wild and Scenic Rivers in Maine and Connecticut, boosting a long-distance bike trail in Utah, denoting National Heritage Areas in Alabama and Maryland, and placing 1,000 acres of federal land in California into trust for the Karuk Tribe. But the Wild Olympics proposal and other large-scale bills fell short...more

And this from Outdoor Alliance

During the last month, thousands of people reached out to their lawmakers about passing a recreation and lands package and the Outdoor Alliance policy team met in D.C. earlier in the month to advocate for the proposals. Many lawmakers, including leadership negotiating the package, seemed committed to getting these bills across the finish line during the lame duck.

Though it came within an inch of being included, at the 11th hour, the effort to pass the recreation and lands package by the end of the year fell apart in negotiations.

It wasn't all good news, though:

The year-end bill includes significant and greatly-needed funding increases for key recreation and conservation programs at all the Forest Service, National Park Service, BLM, and other agencies. Negotiations over government funding will likely be even more contentious next year in a divided Congress, and we are grateful to House and Senate appropriators who worked tirelessly to reach a bipartisan agreement that will benefit public lands and waters and outdoor recreation moving forward.

And we have this to look forward to:

Conservation bills in particular can take years, even decades, to complete, and every time they get closer to passing, it becomes easier to pass them the next time around. Every time we advocate so hard that these bills approach the finish line, we make the runway a bit smoother for the next time we push.

 While America’s Outdoor Recreation Act didn’t pass this Congress, we are hopeful for the next Congress and will continue to push on it. At some point, the timing is right and the bills we all work so hard for feel like they fly across the finish line. It’s been a huge year for conservation—thanks to your outreach—and we are confident that our continued advocacy will help these long-standing priorities make it across the finish line before too long.