What is America’s Great Outdoors Initiative?

According to the White House, America’s Great Outdoors Initiative (AGO) promotes and supports innovative community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors. The President called on the Secretaries of the Interior and of Agriculture, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to lead the Initiative. The Initiative will support a 21st century conservation agenda that builds on successes in communities across the country, and will start a national dialogue about conservation that supports the efforts of private citizens and local communities.

If more Americans are going to experience and reconnect with the outdoors, the federal government needs much more guidance with respect to recreation management policy. Certainly with climbing (a legitimate activity nearly everywhere on public lands) there is very little management guidance that land managers can look to when solving the common issues, and this has led to wildly varying management practices on fixed anchors, wildlife closures, and cultural resources protection. If the federal government is going to welcome and reconnect Americans to the outdoors, it needs better and more consistent recreation management practices, especially regarding reoccurring issues.

AGO Listening Sessions

The White House AGO initiative is touring the country, with public listening sessions scheduled for July and August at a town near you. This marks a great opportunity for climbers to share the often overlooked value of climbing, and to share examples of successes and challenges to protecting and enjoying our public lands.

The Access Fund and our Outdoor Alliance partners are working with the Obama Administration to turn out leaders from the active outdoor recreation community to these public meetings. See a schedule of listening sessions. You can also post answers and comments online. As part of its effort to gain public input about conservation and outdoor recreation, the Department of Interior created the AGO “IdeaJam” website where the public can share their suggestions. 

President Obama has requested that these groups write a report summarizing their findings to send to the White House by mid-November. This is the best chance in many years for climbers to voice their opinions on long-lasting land management polices affecting recreation and conservation interests of communities across the country. Complimenting the official AGO “listening sessions” that the Administration will host this summer, the Outdoor Alliance is working with the Outdoor Industry Association and a coalition of outdoor recreation groups to organize informal "home-grown" listening sessions across the country in July. The purpose of these sessions will be the same as the official listening sessions, but they will focus on engaging the outdoor recreation communities in areas that the official sessions do not cover. These homegrown sessions will be sent to the Administration and inform their official report. See a schedule of homegrown listening schedules (scroll midway down the page).

We strongly encourage climbers to attend the public listening sessions, speak from experience, and seek to represent all of us that spend time on our public lands. If you can’t make it to a listening session, please submit comments online.

Key Talking Points

The federal agencies involved with AGO are seeking concrete and specific suggestions from the public on outdoor recreation and conservation policy in America. They would like to hear ideas related to improving the effectiveness of existing federal programs, as well as establishing new partnerships with local/state governments and private business leaders. We strongly encourage climbers to attend the public listening sessions, speak from experience, and seek to represent all of us that spend time on our public lands.

  • Rock climbing is a valued and legitimate use of public land. Climbing is a low impact, human powered activity that helps to connect people to the outdoors. Young people who spend time climbing in the outdoors will be among tomorrow’s conservation leaders.
  • Since one of the primary goals of AGO is to reconnect Americans to the outdoors, there should be a commitment from the agencies to welcome outdoor recreation groups onto public lands. At many places around the country, local land managers are not always welcoming of climbers. State examples of how federal agency’s—such as USFS, Park Service, BLM—local policies may not reflect the national agenda of reconnecting people, especially young people, to the outdoors. Recreation needs to be a priority for these agencies—all the way down to the local offices. Examples may include over-reaching wildlife and cultural closures, special permitting issues, and fees that burden unfettered access to public lands. Highlight both local victories as well as challenges. Be as specific as possible.
  • Which open spaces, watersheds, historic or cultural sites, wildlife habitat, or other public lands are most important to you, and what can be done at the local, state, or federal level to improve their management?
  • The Administration is under pressure to keep spending down. Focus on things the federal government can do to promote recreational access without incurring more costs.

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