U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke recently signed two secretarial orders continuing his efforts to prioritize the Department of Interior’s recreation mission and increase access to public lands.
Secretarial Order 3366 directs certain Interior bureaus to create and deliver plans to the Department within 90 days that focus on developing or expanding recreational opportunities on public lands and waterways. This order also directs bureau heads to designate one full-time employee charged to oversee recreational opportunities.
Secretarial Order 3365 establishes the position of Senior National Advisor to the Secretary for Recreation to ensure deliberate and active coordination of recreational policy in the U.S. Department of the Interior. The position will be filled by Rick May, who currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary. May, a decorated retired Navy SEAL Captain, is a passionate outdoors enthusiast and has quickly earned the respect of national recreation leaders.
“From my first day on the job, I have made it abundantly clear that we are going to refocus on Interior’s long-standing but recently forgotten recreation mission,” said Zinke. “We are incredibly fortunate, as Americans, to have amazing public lands and waters to carry out our tradition of outdoor recreation but the Department must continue to create opportunities to increase access for these pursuits.”
“We are delighted by the Secretary’s actions to put in place what he has pledged: a system that will elevate the priority of outdoor recreation on public lands and waters managed by the Department of Interior,” said Thom Dammrich, Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR) chair and president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association. “The Secretary’s action recognizes the importance of outdoor recreation for our economy, particularly rural economies, and for the physical and mental health of all Americans.”
“Outdoor recreation is an economic engine that produces 2 percent of the U.S. GDP and is growing at a faster rate than the U.S. economy as a whole,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, ORR vice chair and RV Industry Association president. “With the right public policies, outdoor recreation will continue to be an American economic engine for years to come.”
