Go nats. Were here today talking about good things, reclation. And im going to keep my comments bereave because i know colleagues have been very engaged in this and a couple of you want to make some opening comments as well. But we have three pieces this morning that were kring, s 1665 which is sim pli fooigs access act. Senator hien lak calls it the sore act. I like the acronym. S1723, the ski area fee retention. We all love skiing. Already. Extraordinary. Cant wait. S1967, the reclation not red tape act from senator widen. This hearing is building off one that we held in march where we focused on improsk access ichb structure and permitting to meet the demand on our federal lands. The proposals that were looking at today i think are a good start in addressing those issues. Senator hien wick and widen have put forward legislation to streamline the systems in place to process permits for our outfitters, guides and nonprofits. Senator gardners bill would help facilitate the private investment to meet the demands for four seasons at ski areas. All of these represent the significant role that its playing in our economy. According to the bureau, outdoor reclation accounted for 2. 2 of gdp. 427 billion. This includes not only impact to sectors like outfitting and guiding but all of the associated impact as well. Lodging, transportation, restaurants. In my state we see a big impact from rec ration. We welcomed about 1. 7 million cruise ship visitors. This is in a state of about 720,000 people. We certainly feel that impact. Its exciting but sometimes its a little bit overwhelming. At the menden haul glashl visitor center, youve got hundreds of people who want to get into the facility every day but the facility is designed to hold a frackths of that. Forest service is developing a master plan to respond to the increased visitation but its a challenge. I was with senator lee this past friday. We had a field hearing out in moab and we had an opportunity to go to Arches National park. And to see the pressures, everybody wants to get into the park, how do we accommodate and facilitate . Our outfitters and guides are also trying to respond. He williski and back skreent ski guides wants to go into new areas near hanes but theyre being delayed, a lack of the capacity at the agencies, these are all things that we hear about. So what were trying to do is to ensure that our federal land managers have the resources and the flectsibility needed to respond to increasing and changing demand. Again, i appreciate tcolleagues work on these. Senator manchin, i know a couple of the members would like to make introductions. If i can, i would like to dover my good friend senator widen. He has a finance meeting coming up. Thank you, senator manchin and chair merkowsky. I dont want to make this a bouquet tossing contest. But i warrant nt to thank you fr courtesy and i appreciate your leadership on the recreation issues, the work we try to do up here. I think we all understand every member here, particularly westerners, we understand that this recreation effort senator heinrichs bill and mine are very compatible, are clearly a boost both for our quality of life in the west and for our economy and a chance to bring americans together for better health. So i really appreciate this. My bill with congressman bishop r and r recreation, not red tape, is basically one that kind of updates the policies from yesteryear because in yesteryear that was not the big economic engine it is today. Thats point one. Number two, weve got an oregonian lee davis here. He knows a lot about recreation. He was responsible for the outfitter and guide permit with the most useder days in the state of oregon. And he also helped create an Oregon State Office of outdoor rec raigts. Lee, im going to run back and forth and ive had the courtesy of the chair and Ranking Member. But claegds we are talking to the gold zandard when you hear from my fellow oregonian. Im not interested in starting a big controversy but i want to talk through the chair and vise chair in the days ahead. That is colleagues, we all know because we read the paper, about these wildfires that are just ravaging the west. There are a host of issues that were going to have to tackle. And i just want to put two up on the boards. One of them is climate change, and i think theres some ways that we can work collaboratively on that. And second is collaboration. Which is what we tried to stress on the ground. Thats what fire borrowing is all about. Thats what stewardship has been all about. If we want to have colleagues wonderful places to recreate, were going to have to do something to get an update of the policies for fighting fire. Were going to lose some of those places. Madam chair and the vice chair, look forward to working with you on both fronts. Thank you. Thank you. Senator manchin. Thank you for holding the hearing. I want to thank all of you all for being here today. I commend the sponsors of the bills for exploring innovative ways to improve Outdoor Recreation. Thats been a powerful economic driver in states across the country and my home state of West Virginia is no exception. Its been wonderful. Ive seen firsthand the jobs that its brought to rufl areas in West Virginia. Out door recreation generates 2 of our Gross Domestic Product. And 3 of our workforce is employed in the outdoor sector earning over 688 million in salaries. This is a top i can near and dear to my heart. I believe we must ensure the idea is being discussed will grow the economies of rural communities. All three bills attempt to do that and will have impacts i believe in the states not only with their being introduced for all of us especially in West Virginia. Senator gardners bill will provide assistance at ski areas. We will be hearing from mr. Mcguire about the ski industry, we have two in West Virginia that use Forest Service land. A third is now for sale. But it will be back up and running. I look forward to the discussion about ways we can be better partners with the ski industry. The appropriate rev knew from fees and a fair return to the taxpayers. We will be discussing a bill by other senators that will provide assistance to those leading backpacking trips on federal land. And widens bill which establishes a system of National Recreation areas. West virginia wads home to the first National Recreation area designate the to the United States in 1965 which is the spruce knob sen eka recreation area. These facility the ability to enjoy public lands while supporting the economies. Following this hearing, we will get to work with our colleagues on a recreation package. That will be the same as the bill were zudiscussing. It will grow bids in rural communities. Coming from alaska and West Virginia we have experience in our states and with that as a basis we have been developing additional ideas for inclusion in the forthcoming package. One of the areas that i have been exploring is how to better support gateway communities. Those are the communities that are next to the recreation destination where visitors eat and they sleep before or after enjoying the sights that they come to visit. Hat field Mccoy Charles system testified before our Committee Earlier this year about how difficult it was to establish businesses in the gateway communities. Mr. Lusks system hosts 50,000 riders annually but 87 are nonWest Virginian meaning they need hotels where they can eat. I am sure in my colleagues home states it continues to be difficult to establish the infrastructure that is needed. So i look forward to working with chairman mccould yousky and my colleagues as we assemble a booirkts partisan recreation package. I want to thank the witnesses. And madam chairman, thank you. Thank you. Senator gardner, i know you had wanted to make interdurkss and briefly speak about your bill. You wanted to make introduction and senator heinrich youve got a bill up here ive given everybody an opportunity. I was going to say i want to hear from our wit witnesses. Senator gardner then braus oe. Thank you. Ill be quick. Very pleased to have before the committee fellow Brendon Mcguire who is Vice President for affairs at veil. Vail reports is headquartered in colorado where its name sake was started in 1962 by veterans of the 10th Mountain Division. Its grown into a success story. They are all linked together by its industry leading epic season pass Available Online and around the country . And all linked together by that allows skiers to access local destination ski reports. Brendon, former staffer, and as chair mckowsky can attest to, great guy to be in the mountains with. Thank you very much to be here today. I think youve got 86 acres open at keystone right now. Wow. Amazing. Senator brass oe. Im pleased to help you welcome aaron banon to our committee today as a witness. He and i share the hometown of casper wyoming. And we share a love of the precious Natural Resources wyoming has to offer. He spent more than a decade with the National OutdoorLeadership School where hes been extraordinary in terms of being an advercat for outdoor education, efficient permitting. When you think about public lands, an sel adams, Teddy Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt carried a gun, all of them saw the land, they were all arrived at the same conclusion. We need to preserve and protect and pass on these resources and allow others to enjoy them. He and i have had many conversations ways to avoid permitting process key component of our state economy. Much of the recreation occurs on public lands managed by federal agencies. Its important that we combine thoughtful evaluation of the impacts with an effective and efficient permitting process that encourages exploration of these landscapes. I look forward to the expertise that youre going to share with the committee and i want to congratulate you. I know monday youll be starting work with the american outdoors as executive director. I look forward to continuing to work with you in your new role. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Most of you have been introduced, but i will provide my welcome to each of you. Well start of the discussion here this morning with an individual whos been before the committee. Weve had many dealings with kris french. He is the deputy chief of the National Forest system in the u. S. Forest service. We thank you for the many, many efforts that you have made and i know youre spending a lot of attention and time on alaska related issues. Thank you for your leadership. Nick ki has ket is with the committee. Shes the acting director for conservation lands and partnerships. We thank you for being here and look forward to your comments. Brendan mcguire has been introduced and welcomed. It is always good to have somebody that can be again speaking with a firsthand relationship to the industry that he represents and he certainly does and we welcome you to the committee. Mr. Lee davis has been introduced. Were pleased that you are with us from oregon. Welcome to the committee. And to mr. Aaron bannon, we appreciate what you will provide. We ask you to try to keep your comments to about five minutes. Your full statements will be included as part of the record approximately we will have an opportunity for questions afterwards. Im going to excuse myself just for a couple of minutes to go introduce an amendment. Ill be back in about five. We will lead off with mr. French. Thank you. Thank you very much, madam chair, vice chair and members of the committee. I appreciate the opportunity today to talk about our views on these three bills. The recreation not red tape act, the sim pli fooigs Outdoor Recreation act and the ski area fee retention act. When i glance back on my 30 years, i started as a recreation technician. Now i think about my role as deputy chief, i realize i have always had a passion for connecting people to our lands and its where i take my family. I ski in those rezbloertsz. I know the one they closed. It was hard to see that happen. Thats good. And i use many of the Services Provided by our outfitter guides. You know, when i look at this, i think that anything that we can do to improve our ability to better serve our Recreation Community and our Recreation Partners and enhance those experience connecting folks to our public lands, thats a good day. Outdoor recreation is a significant use of our forest system. The number of visits to the National Forest system rose from 143 million in 2009. That was at 150 million. Recreation on lands sustains more proifbt sector jobs than any other program and provides the single largest stimulus for local gateway communities. Recreation on National Lands contributes more than 11 billion to americas Gross Domestic Product and supports more than 148,000 full and parttime jobs most in those communities. Outdoor recreation opportunities and amenities are ranked as one of the reasons people move to rural towns and can be a leading contributor to local communities. At the Forest Service we administer more than 30,000 recreation special use authorizations. In particular the Forest Service manages 122 ski area permits and approximately 8,000 outfitter and guide permits. These enable priefblu private sectors and institutions to lead a wide variety of things, white river rafting, big game hunting, Youth Education trips, scenic jeep tours. For many of these, this represents the first introduction that many folks have to the outdoors and the outfitter and guides that they employ are often Small Businesses that generate jobs and income. We also manage nearly 159,000 miles of trails, the largest Trail Network in the nation. We host over 60 of the countrys ski area visits and are proud to provide a respite for the fast paced life, as well as opportunities for boating, fishing, hunting and hiking. Usda supports these goals to improve lands. The recreation not red tape act and the sore act will come Employment Agency efforts to streamline, reduce inefficiencies and provide a higher level of service to our partners. The act will increase available Resources Available to i am prove the administration and experience on our ski areas. Outdoor recreation provides millions of americans rich opportunities to connect with their lands and heritage. The usda Forest Service is honored to serve and enormously values this opportunity to work with congress to improve the lives and live lihoods through Outdoor Recreation. Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to provide testimony and i look forward to working together on these important bills. Thank you, mr. French. Miss haskins. Good morning, chairman mccould yousky and manking member. I am acting assistant director for National Conservation lands and Community Partnerships at the bureau of Land Management. Thank you for inviting me hered to today to testify on s1967 and s1665, the sore act. These bills which amend the enhancement act aim to improve the efficiency and reduce the costs for applying for special recreational permits. They authorize single joint permits for multiagency trips. The department supports the goals of both of these bills. Federal Land Management agencies oversee about 640 million surface acres, including public lands mjd by the blm, the u. S. Fish service, the bureau of reclamation as well as the Forest Service. These lands host a remarkable variety of recreational opportunities. Secretary bern hart is improving recreational access to public lands and has yshd a number of support. 3373 promotes access to public land and its acquired new lands such as 13,000 acres to improve access to the Blackfoot River in montana and the 3,500 acres to improve access to the saba nosa wilderness area in new mexico. Much of the clays proposed in the bills being considered deal with special rec rexal permits and their fees. Fees collected for each permit allow the federal government to implement projects that benefit visitors such as pamain taining sites. The blm oversees about 4,600 special recreation permits at any one time. S1967 and 1965 align and promote opportunities on public lands. We believe these bills have the potential to address longstanding challenges and we look forward to working with the sponsors and the committee to address issues in the measures. Both bills authorize agencies to issue single joint recreation permits for trips across agency boundaries of more than one Land Management agency. When a single joint recreation permit is pro posed the bills authorize the designation of a lead agency. The bills also authorize agencies to delegate the respective enforcement authorities. The department has been pursuing efforts to make recreation permitting easier and we support efforts to improve the permitting process. Americans should be able to access and enjoy their public lands with as much ease as possible. The department supports the goals of these provisions and would like to continue to work with the sponsors on certain modifications. The bills also provide various other authorit