Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. STAUBER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6492, the EXPLORE Act, which I am proud to cosponsor.

You know, Minnesotans are fishermen and -women. We hunt, we hike, we snowmobile, we ski, we ATV--you name it. Simply put, Minnesotans know how to recreate. More importantly, Minnesotans are some of the greatest conservationists in the world.

Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District is blessed to be home to the Chippewa in Superior National Forest, Voyageurs National Park, and the Grand Portage National Monument.

Minnesotans not only want to enjoy these treasures themselves, but they want their children and their children's children to enjoy everything God has offered our great State.

Maintaining our public lands is just a part of our way of life in northern Minnesota, and I am proud to support legislation that will ensure our public lands remain accessible wonders for everyone, including the rest of the world.

The EXPLORE Act will, in short, ensure all Americans can reap the benefits of the great outdoors. It does so by requiring our Federal land managers to ensure our vehicular use trails are properly maintained, providing safe, quality shooting range access on our National Forest and BLM lands, and expanding and enabling access for our Nation's Active-Duty servicemembers, veterans, and their families.

Mr. Speaker, this is really good legislation that serves the American people.

I thank my good friends, Chairman Westerman and Ranking Member Grijalva, and other Members on the Committee on Natural Resources for their work on this bill.

This is a good, bipartisan piece of legislation, and I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, as we continue to hear from the different speakers about their amazing public lands, I honor our Ranking Member Grijalva, who has done so much important work on this bill. I honor the fact that, indeed, in his Arizona, he has under his jurisdiction and representing and listening to the cactuses.

Ranking Member Grijalva has the Saguaro National Park, the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the Coronado National Memorial, and the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

Indeed, these are places we think about when we go from Minnesota, the land of many lakes where you can fish, to the places that are the most arid in our country. It is this diversity of public land which makes America so beautiful and which attracts so many. Those who have many lakes want to go see what it is like when you have the deserts and saguaros. Those who live in the arid deserts want to go and marvel at the lakes and go fishing in Minnesota or in Arkansas, where they have their beautiful hot springs.

I think New Mexico is absolutely the best, but I love it when I get to explore other public lands across our country. This act will continue to allow Americans to do that into the future.

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