A Skeptical Wyomingite

Let me offer a blinding flash of the obvious here: Wyoming folks are skeptical of the federal government. Like really skeptical. I think it’s genetic with us. We can no more help it than we can help our eye color or our willingness to support one of the Mountain West Conference’s truly awful football teams. I’m pretty sure that somewhere in our DNA, we’re hard-wired to roll our eyes whenever someone says, “I’m from the federal government and I’m here to help you.” And with good reason.

But I have to say that I heard a pretty good idea come out of Washington the other day. It seems the Administration has created a new federal interagency council to “coordinate and promote outdoor recreation opportunities on public lands in partnership with federal, state, and tribal agencies.”

It involves a lot of folks: The Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Army, Department of Commerce, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. It’s called the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR). It’s backed by the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council, the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council, and other wildlife conservation and outdoor recreation organizations.

-Coordinate recreation management, access and policies across multiple agencies to improve public enjoyment and recreational use of federal lands;

-Provide the public with reliable and up-to-date web-based information,on outdoor recreation that is easily accessible with modern communication devices; and to evolve and promote the federal interagency www.recreation.gov website to become a one-stop portal for information and resources about federal and federally supported outdoor recreation opportunities, locations, permit and reservation requirements, access, routes, features, and transportation options;

-Streamline and align policies and procedures among federal, state, local, tribal and other outdoor recreation providers;

-Improve engagement of young people and their families in outdoor recreation through healthy, active lifestyles;

-Target underserved and disadvantaged communities for both access and engagement in the benefits of and opportunities for outdoor recreation;

-Identify ways to improve access to and benefits from our parks, refuges, and other public lands, waters, and shores for persons with disabilities; and

-Identify partners outside the federal government who can promote outdoor recreation and provide additional resources and access.

Now I’m as skeptical as any of my Wyoming brethren and sistern about Feds. In general, they could screw up a one man rock fight. But this makes some sense. Never before have American kids spent so much time on the couch or in front of a screen. Never before have they spent so little time outdoors. Participation in hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation continue to plummet. Maybe this will help - it sure can’t hurt. Double thumbs up from this skeptical Wyomingite. As former Wyoming governor Nels Smith once said, “You done good.”

Walt Gasson, Executive Director
Wyoming Wildlife Federation