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Articles: USFS
The Outdoor Americans with Disabilities Act, a bill BRC helped write to keep existing roads open, goes before a Senate committee on Wednesday, July 29. The same agenda carries wilderness bills that would permanently ban motorized use across millions of acres. Contact your senators today to support the Outdoor ADA and oppose the new designations.
A new federal recreation monitoring program under the EXPLORE Act will decide how OHV riding, dispersed camping, and snowmobiling get counted on public lands. BRC supports better data but is telling the agencies that visitation counts must never become a standalone excuse for closures or permit systems. Submit your comment before the July 29 deadline.
New public database documents 273 forest and fuels-reduction projects delayed, reduced, or killed by litigation, and over $34.4 million in taxpayer-funded attorney fees.
Recreation projects that improve access to public lands, from trail systems to OHV facilities, often sit stuck in federal permitting for years before construction can start. H.R. 9248, the Recreation Permitting Improvement Act, would fix that by giving recreation projects the same predictable timelines Congress already provides to other infrastructure, without cutting environmental review. BRC Executive Director Ben Burr testified in support of the bill on July 1. Contact your members of Congress today and tell them to support H.R. 9248.
Oregon’s Blue Mountains forests are being rewritten for the first time since the 1990s, and one alternative would recommend 34,000 new wilderness acres and lock in 722,000 roadless acres where OHVs and mechanized use are banned outright. The choice between access and closure is on the table right now. Use the form below to submit your comment and stand up for access.
Oversized national monuments have locked up millions of acres of public land and set the stage for road closures, OHV restrictions, and lost access. A June 2026 court ruling in a case BRC helped bring confirmed these designations can now be challenged and reduced. Take action today and tell Congress, the Administration, and the courts to bring these boundaries back in line with the law.
Snowmobilers rode National Forests for decades until Subpart C turned winter access into a paperwork permission system where riding outside lines on a map is prohibited. Congress never ordered this rule, and the agency already has full authority to close areas where actual damage occurs. Sign BRC’s action alert telling the Forest Service to rescind Subpart C and restore common-sense winter access.
The Rio Grande National Forest is deciding where snowmobiles can ride across 1.84 million acres in southern Colorado, and the lines drawn now will be permanent. BRC supports Alternative 3 with key route additions from Alternative 4, but the draft plan contains wilderness buffer zones, arbitrary snow depth rules, and a contradictory preferred alternative that need fixing. Submit your comment before July 29 and tell the Forest Service to keep this terrain open.
After the 2025 fires that burned nearly 150,000 acres near the North Rim, hazardous trees and fire damage continue to block access across the Kaibab Plateau. The Forest Service is proposing to remove the danger and protect roads and trails from future closures. Back the plan by submitting your comment to the Forest Service before June 20.
The Department of the Interior just opened a nationwide review of Wilderness Study Areas, the same outdated policy that has locked millions of acres in wilderness-style limbo for decades without a vote from Congress. BRC petitioned for this reform months ago, and now your voice can push it across the line. Submit a comment to the Interior Department supporting WSA reform before the August 14, 2026 deadline.