“A bill to ensure access to certain public land, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes definitions for terms used in the Act, including (1) “disability-accessible land” as each square mile of public land assessed as of enactment to have not less than 2.5 miles of authorized roads accessible to motorized vehicles or off-road vehicles; (2) “off-road vehicle” as any motorized vehicle capable of, or designed for, travel on or immediately over land, water, or other natural terrain; (3) “public land” as National Forest System land or land under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior; and (4) “Secretary concerned” as the Secretary of Agriculture (acting through the Chief of the Forest Service), with respect to National Forest System land, or the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to other covered land.
This section directs the Secretaries concerned (i.e., of the Interior for the Bureau of Land Management and of Agriculture for the Forest Service) to prioritize updating travel management plans—which designate roads, trails, and areas open to public motor vehicle use on federal lands to minimize environmental damage—and motor vehicle use plans, notwithstanding any other provision of law (including regulations).
This section directs the Secretaries of Agriculture (through the Forest Service) and the Interior, notwithstanding other law (including regulations), to follow specified requirements—(1) accounting for total length of traversable, approved roads per square mile of public land; (2) complying with road closure restrictions under subsection (b); (3) prioritizing roads providing access to recreation such as hunting, fishing, cultural/natural sites, hiking, camping, and motorized/off-road vehicle use (including electric bicycles and over-snow vehicles); (4) coordinating with federal, state, county, local, and Tribal entities to identify desirable routes ensuring disability-accessible public land; (5) revising routes as needed for changed conditions; and (6) keeping open any road subject to an unadjudicated R.S. 2477 claim (former 43 U.S.C. 932, repealed in 1976, which authorized pre-existing rights-of-way for highways over unreserved public lands)—when developing Forest Service motor vehicle use maps (36 C.F.R. 212.56) and BLM off-road vehicle area designations (43 C.F.R. 8342.3). Subsection (b) restricts road closures by prohibiting net decreases in authorized access on disability-accessible land (absent temporary/emergency roads or health/safety threats met with notice/hearing, new road replacement within one year, NEPA categorical exclusion, and rebuttable presumption favoring open status) and, on non-disability-accessible land, barring additional closures (absent health/safety threats similarly addressed), requiring consideration of reopening roads closed in the prior 10 years (ending on enactment date), and prohibiting closure of roads aiding fuels reduction, wildfire response, or search/rescue. (Thus, the provision limits agency discretion to close roads, mandates alternatives and public processes, and protects potential R.S. 2477 routes.) Subsection (c) authorizes regulations to implement these requirements.
This section clarifies that nothing in the Act (1) prohibits the Secretary concerned from developing new roads or trails on public land for motorized vehicles or off-road vehicles or (2) establishes new roads or trails in a component of the National Wilderness System, an inventoried roadless area, a congressionally designated primitive area, or a unit of the National Park System (other than a National Recreation Area).