Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Montana’s U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy led a bipartisan effort to reauthorize the Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP), a popular federal program that provides transportation options to public lands.
The Senators’ bipartisan FLAP Reauthorization Act ensures the program will not expire later this year, allowing communities in Oregon, Montana, and across the U.S. to maintain safe and reliable access to America’s natural treasures.
“Oregonians and Americans love our public lands. Our bipartisan bill is crucial to connecting visitors to America’s greatest treasures,” said Merkley. “Congress must pass this common-sense bill so that folks can continue to visit and enjoy our public lands for generations to come.”
“All Americans can find common ground in working together to increase access to public lands while investing in rural America, driving economic growth, and supporting our resource and agricultural economies,” said Sheehy. “Public lands are a purely American institution, and I am proud to support this bipartisan, commonsense bill to expand public access for hardworking Americans and preserve our western way of life.”
FLAP was established in 2012 to improve transportation facilities that provide access to, are adjacent to, or are located within federal lands. The program supplements state and local resources for public roads, transit systems, and other transportation facilities, with an emphasis on getting visitors to recreation sites and generating rural economic development near and around public lands.
FLAP funds projects in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and the program’s flexibility supports a wide range of transportation projects. In Oregon, for example, a FLAP grant helped improve three miles of the Haul Road Trail, from McKay Park in downtown Bend westward to the Deschutes National Forest.
Merkley and Sheehy’s FLAP Reauthorization Act is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).
Their bill is supported by the National Association of Counties (NACo), Oregon Association of Counties, Oregon Association of County Engineers and Surveyors, and Outdoors Alliance for Kids.
“Nationwide, more than 60 percent of counties are home to federal lands. In these gateway communities, counties own and maintain the roads, bridges and visitor facilities that enable public access to federal lands,” said Matthew Chase, Executive Director of the National Association of Counties. “Reauthorizing the Federal Lands Access Program would ensure that counties can continue to provide essential transportation infrastructure for residents and visitors alike. Counties applaud Senators Merkley and Sheehy for their support for this important legislation.”
“In Oregon, federal lands are our backyard, but county roads are the front door. These routes are the vital lifelines for our timber workers, our ranchers, and the millions of visitors who fuel our local recreation economies,” said Erin Skaar, Tillamook County Commissioner and Association of Oregon Counties President. “Reauthorizing the Federal Lands Access Program is critical for both the safety of our first responders and the economic health of our rural communities. Without this critical funding for county roads, the gateway to Oregon’s frontier is at risk.”
Full text of the FLAP Reauthorization Act can be found by clicking here.
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