EXPLORE Act Heads to President Biden’s Desk

Christmas came early for the outdoor community last week when the U.S. Senate passed a sprawling bipartisan package of legislation titled the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act—the EXPLORE Act—designed to enhance access to federal lands for hunters, recreational shooters and other outdoor enthusiasts. As shared by the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, the U.S. government manages approximately 28% of the nation’s landmass for purposes that include the preservation and development of natural resources and outdoor recreation so the bill is now on its way to President Biden’s desk for a signature.

As stated in the bill, “it is the policy of the Federal Government to foster and encourage recreation on Federal recreational lands and waters,” which it facilitates through a range of mechanisms to remove barriers to recreational access and promote this use. If the bill becomes law, the secretaries of Agriculture and Interior will be required to conduct an inventory and assessment of recreation resources on federal lands and to identify underutilized locations suitable for developing or expanding recreation opportunities. A Federal Interagency Council on Recreation would be established with representation from the agencies responsible for administering these lands as well as from state and local partners that would work together in coordinating efforts to improve public access to federal lands and waters.

One of the EXPLORE Act’s provisions is particularly promising for gun owners and comes in the form of the Range Access Act. This legislation would direct the secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to identify and maintain or establish, within five years, at least one target shooting range on every national forest and Bureau of Land Management unit determined to be suitable for that purpose. Ranges would be required to accommodate rifle and pistol shooting and could further include infrastructure for skeet, trap, sporting clays and archery uses. The ranges also would need to remain open to the public except in the case of an emergency closure. The Secretaries also would be required to maintain lists of those ranges and to make them available to the public. The act would allow these ranges to be administered and maintained in partnership with state and local governments, as well as with nongovernmental organizations, including shooting clubs and nonprofit organizations.

In addition, the EXPLORE Act would require the reopening and modernization of overnight camping facilities and the development of programs that increase reactional land use by veterans and youth. The act also would streamline access to permits and remove bureaucratic barriers to the use of federal lands for recreation.

Please check this NRA website for updates as we await word of the EXPLORE Act’s passage.