Making federal land publicly accessible (S. 556)

What is S. 556?

(Updated March 15, 2018)

This bill would make land owned by the government more easy for the public to access. Land owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or the Forest Service would be required to have a way for the public to access the land for certain activities. Those activities would include hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting. 

Basically, if someone wanted to go hunting on federally-owned land, the BLM or Forest Service would have to give the hunter a way to do so legally. The exception to this rule is that if the federal agency decides to close the land, they aren't required to provide access.

The bill also has some miscellaneous provisions. Specifically, it:

• Requires that federal land and waterways are made more accessible for film crews of five people or less;
  
• Stops the National Park Service from banning people from transporting bows and crossbows in National Parks, assuming those people meet certain requirements; and
• Reallocates money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to ensure the public can access federal land for hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities.

Argument in favor

Argument opposed

Impact

People who want to use federal public land; the BLM; the Forest Service; the National Park Service.

Cost of S. 556

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

"For too long, access to our public lands for hunting, fishing, recreational shooting, and other outdoor activities has been restricted at the whim of the federal government. My bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act that was passed as part of the broad energy bill instructs federal agencies to facilitate the expansion of access to our public lands by declaring that our lands are ‘open unless closed.’ The Senate’s approval of this measure is a big step forward to allowing long-held traditions to be passed down from generation to generation without the federal government getting in the way."

"public lands would be “open unless closed” to hunting and fur trapping, regardless of whether they’re compatible with other land uses or threatened or endangered species, and closing lands would require a burdensome bureaucratic process. On top of that, the bill would force land managers to prioritize hunting and trapping above other outdoor activities, effectively excluding a large proportion of the American public from enjoying our national spaces, including in designated “wilderness areas."