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The Biden administration announced yesterday the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense departments will revive the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR) in order to intensify its efforts to expand access to recreation on public lands.
The council—first established in 2011 and then disbanded during the Trump administration—is tasked with creating "more safe, affordable, and equitable opportunities for Americans to get outdoors." Previously, the FICOR launched the Recreation.gov website, where visitors can reserve campsites and research activities offered by a dozen federal agencies, and also worked with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to track outdoor recreation as its own economic sector.
In a fact sheet coinciding with the announcement, the White House touted the revival of the council as part of its America the Beautiful initiative, which aims to set aside 30 percent of the nation's lands and waters in a natural state by 2030 (the 30x30 goal) as well as address inequitable access to the outdoors. While the fact sheet identifies areas where the administration has made progress in providing equitable opportunities to access public lands, there is plenty of room for growth through the use of President Biden's executive authority to designate new public lands in Texas' Castner Range and Nevada's Avi Kwa Ame national monument proposals.
Senate energy committee deadlocks on key Interior nominee
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a vote on the nomination of Laura Daniel-Davis to be the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management yesterday morning—over a year since Daniel-Davis was nominated for the position. The vote was split 10-10, which will allow Daniel-Davis’ nomination to move on to the full Senate. Center for Western Priorities' executive director Jennifer Rokala said in a statement in response to the vote, "It’s crucial that President Biden has the staff in place to manage our public lands and implement critical reforms to the broken oil and gas leasing system, and it was wrong to use Daniel-Davis’ nomination as a political football. I look forward to the Senate confirming her so the Interior Department can get to work.”
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For modern humans, the night sky is the stuff of poetry, romance, and spiritual wisdom. To be cut off from it is painful, but not usually a matter of life and death. Wildlife, on the other hand, may struggle to survive when artificial light disrupts the night."
