On Tuesday, Congressman Blake Moore’s Modernizing Access to Our Public Waters or MAPWaters Act was considered in a hearing held by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildfire, and Fisheries. This bill aims to improve the standardization, consolidation, and public availability of data related to public outdoor recreational use of federal waterways. In what would obviously be a benefit to northeastern Utah’s recreation industry, this would allow outdoor recreationalists the most up-to-date information when exploring the many natural wonders throughout Utah and across the country. “Utah is home to just under 2,000 miles of federal waterways, and Americans from coast to coast travel to the Beehive State to enjoy our beautiful waters,” shared Congressman Moore. “Last Congress, we worked hard to pass the MAPLand Act to digitize outdoor access data to help Americans more easily recreate on our nation’s public lands. Now, we’re building on this effort by introducing the MAPWaters Act to enhance outdoor recreation opportunities on our nation’s federal waterways. By modernizing water access data and breaking down barriers to public and private sector cooperation, we can once again pass common sense legislation to ensure responsible stewardship of our public lands and waters in Utah and across the nation.”
