Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of my amendment to H.R. 2406, the SHARE Act, which would allow hunters better access to and from hunting areas in the Kisatchie National Forest in northern Louisiana.

The Louisiana Legislature passed House Bill 581 by Louisiana Representative James Armes in 2015. This new State law would allow municipalities to designate certain local roads for use by utility terrain vehicles, also known as UTVs or side-by-sides. These are not to be confused with ATVs, or all-terrain vehicles. They are larger, weigh more, seat multiple passengers, and are often equipped with safety features like roll cages, seatbelts, and enclosed cabs.

My amendment would build on the Louisiana law to allow seamless access from these designated local roads into hunting areas within Kisatchie National Forest. The size of these vehicles makes them more difficult to transport when compared with ATVs. The ever-increasing list of features for UTVs makes them very attractive to hunters in order to recover game and transport supplies and equipment.

This amendment would allow the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to nominate roads that would be opened in the Kisatchie Forest travel plan, unless the Chief of the Forest Service determined that such an opening would pose an unacceptable safety risk. If so, the Forest Service would have to publish a justification in the Federal Register as to why the road could not be opened.

I believe my amendment strikes the right balance of public safety and hunter access, and I urge its adoption.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Abraham), my good friend.

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Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask how much time I have remaining.

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Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Chairman, I would like to just say in rebuttal to my good friend that it is very interesting the radical environmental lobby wants to set aside the forest for the enjoyment of humans. The only problem is they cut off all access through their lobbying power by humans to this valuable land, like Kisatchie National Forest.

If we are going to have a national forest set side for the American people, let the American people enjoy it. As such, they can't get in there without some type of vehicle. If they have game, they can't get the game out unless they have some type of vehicle.

As for the Forest Service, yes, of course, the Forest Service opens for public comment, but they still do what they want to do anyway. That is the whole problem.

It is time that we allow the American people to step forward and speak in favor of their lifestyles, particularly the hunter lifestyle, the ``Sportsman's Paradise'' lifestyle that we enjoy in Louisiana.

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Mr. FLEMING. I yield to the gentleman from Virginia.

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Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Chairman, I would just simply like to close and say let's think about the American people, and let's give the American people access to the valuable and beautiful land that we have here in this Nation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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