For years, we've highlighted the comment periods with the biggest impact on recreation access through our action alerts. But the truth is that our small but mighty team can't cover every proposal or bill, and there are a lot of them.
Sometimes the smaller proposals are the ones that affect you most.
Finding them is hard. Each agency posts its comment periods on its own website, and Congress keeps its bills on another. Tracking everything that affects your trails means checking dozens of sites, each with its own layout and its own search. Today, we're changing that with our new Comment Tracker.
What is BRC's Comment Tracker?
The Comment Tracker is a new tool from BlueRibbon Coalition at blueribboncoalition.org/comment-tracker. It lists open public lands comment periods from the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, the National Park Service and state agencies, along with public lands bills in Congress, and it lets you comment on them from the same page. It's interactive, filterable and searchable. Want to see only the Forest Service? Filter the rest out. Only care about your state? Select it.
At launch, the tracker lists 45 open comment periods in 29 states and Puerto Rico, plus nationwide proposals, and 297 bills in Congress (as of November 12, 2026).
Find your fight: filter by state, agency, use and impact
New proposals are checked every day and added to the tracker when they’re announced. Some proposals are listed without BRC's official position or talking points, using only the language from the proposal itself. For the most important ones, our team reads the documents and adds a plain-language summary and talking points, along with BRC's position where we've taken one.
To help you fight your fights, some of the features include:
- State filter: pick one state or several. The tracker remembers your picks on your device, and you can add nationwide rules and bills to the mix.
- Agency filter: BLM, Forest Service, National Park Service, state agencies or Congress.
- Use filter: 19 topics, including OHV / Motorized Access, Camping, Over-Snow, E-Bikes, Mountain Bikes, Hunting and Fishing, Rockhounding, Climbing, Route Closures and Travel Plans, Wildfire and Fuels Mitigation, and Recovery and Reopening.
- Impact filter: our access impact rating lets you see everything, medium and high, or high only.
- Search: type a county, forest, park, field office or bill number. Try Kane, Dixie or H.R. 1234.
The filters stack. Ask for BLM proposals tagged OHV / Motorized Access with a medium or high impact rating, and that's all you see. You can also flip to the map to see pins on the project areas, check the Closing Soon strip, or sort by closing soonest, biggest access impact or newest.
How to comment without leaving the page
Hit Take Action and the comment form opens right there. Depending on the proposal, it sends your comment to Congress and Regulations.gov, emails it to the agency in your name, or gives you a plain-language summary, talking points and a link to the agency's official comment page. For bills, it opens a letter to your members of Congress.
Put the talking points in your own words. Agencies give more weight to personal comments.
Want a heads-up before the next deadline? Sign up at the bottom of the page and we'll email you when a new comment period opens or a bill moves in your state, with our take on what's at stake. We never sell your information, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Why your comment matters
A comment period is your chance to put facts in front of the agency. It's also the record a judge looks at if the decision ends up in court.
The courts expect you to show up early. In Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen (2004), the U.S. Supreme Court held that people challenging an agency under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the law that requires agencies to study the effects of major decisions, must structure their participation so it alerts the agency to their position. The challengers in that case never raised alternatives in their comments, so the Court held they had forfeited that objection. The Forest Service's objection process works the same way. You can only file an objection if you submitted timely, specific written comments during a designated comment opportunity, and your objection has to build on what you said there.
So a comment that names the route, the trailhead or the way you use it gives you, your club and our attorneys something to point to later. A silent record gives all of us nothing.
Why BRC built it
We've fought for access to public lands since 1987, and when a decision lands in court, we're often the ones arguing it. Brass Legal Center at BlueRibbon Coalition is our in-house litigation arm, with 12 active cases and appeals covering more than 1,900 miles of trail. We know what a record needs because we're the ones who have to win with it.
That's why the tracker follows our casework. Recovery and Reopening, for example, covers closures after fire, flood or resource damage and the projects that decide whether those routes reopen, the ground we cover in our NEPA Jail work. It's also why we read the data behind these fights, like our analysis of nearly 110,000 federal wildfire records.
We also keep the tracker honest. We rate the access impact of every item. Anything rated High or Medium shows up only after BRC staff review it, and it carries our summary and talking points. Lower-impact comment periods show the agency's own details and a label saying we haven't fully reviewed them or taken a position yet. You can always tell which is which. And you can always add your own comments, whether you agree with us or not.
Frequently asked questions
What is the BRC Comment Tracker?
It's a tool at blueribboncoalition.org/comment-tracker that lists open public lands comment periods from the BLM, the Forest Service, the National Park Service and state agencies, plus public lands bills in Congress. You can filter by state, agency, use and access impact, and comment from the same page.
How often is the Comment Tracker updated?
New comment periods are added every day, and bills are updated weekly from Congress.gov.
How do I comment on a public lands proposal?
Find the proposal, hit Take Action and follow the steps. Depending on the proposal, your comment goes to Congress and Regulations.gov, to the agency by email in your name, or to the agency's official comment page with a summary and talking points to get you started.
Does BRC have a position on every proposal in the tracker?
No. Proposals rated High or Medium for access impact are reviewed by BRC staff and carry a summary and talking points, along with our position where we've taken one. Lower-impact comment periods show the agency's own details and a label saying we haven't fully reviewed them.
What if a comment period is missing?
Tell us. Use the form at the bottom of the tracker page, and we'll add it to our review queue.
This is just the beginning
We've tested the tool extensively, but this is only the launch. Try it at blueribboncoalition.org/comment-tracker. If you find a bug, tell us. If we're missing a proposal, tell us. Have an idea for a feature? Tell us. We plan to grow the Comment Tracker over time.
Our members and supporters made this possible
A tool like this takes daily work: sweeping agency sites, updating bills, reviewing the highest-impact proposals and keeping the comment forms running. Our team is small but mighty, and this was only possible because of our individual members and donors. If you appreciate this work, please consider a tax-deductible donation or becoming a member today, so we can keep building projects like this and defending your right to ride.
