Oversight Hearing on: “EXPLORE America250: Enhancing Accessibility at our National Parks and Public

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opportunity kiara nice to meet you brandon beautiful in here but he's not as friendly as i thought he would be nice to meet you this

subcommittee on federal lands will come to order without objection the chair is authorized to declare recess of the subcommittee at any time the subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on Explore America two fifty, enhancing accessibility at our national parks and public lands. Under committee rule four F, any oral opening statements are at our hearings are limited to the chairman and the ranking minority member. I therefore ask unanimous consent that all other members' opening statements be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted in accordance with committee rule three, paron. O. Without objection, so ordered, I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. Today we will have an important discussion on a topic that is at the core of the subcommittee's mission, expanding access to our federal lands. As we approach America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday, visitation to our public lands is expected to increase and with it, so will the demand for accessible recreation opportunities. Public lands are central to how Americans experience our country's history and heritage and in ensuring these lands are accessible is not just an abstract This is about real access on the ground for real people. This work is particularly important for our veterans. Many service members return home with service-related disabilities and face challenges during their transition back to civilian life. Access to outdoor recreation can support physical rehabilitation, reduce stress, and improve mental and emotional well-being. Expanding accessible recreation opportunities is one way to ensure those who have served our country are able to benefit from the lands they helped protect. Thanks to the explore act, we have a framework in place, an early example that demonstrates what works. Now, the focus must be on execution. That means moving from assessments to implementation. From pilot programs to scalable models, and from isolated projects to consistent access across our federal lands. A critical component of the EXPLORE Act's success will be leveraging public-private partnerships. In fact, one of the important takeaways from the EXPLORE Act implementation work already underway is the role of partnerships in delivering results. Across the country, effective accessibility improvements are being driven through collaboration with non-profit organizations local disability groups and private partners. At Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, philanthropic donations from the park's local friends group are supporting the collection of detailed trail condition data using special assessment tools. That data is then used to inform both infrastructure improvements and the information provided to visitors. In Colorado, the Bureau of Land Management is partnering with the state, nonprofits, and outfitters and guides to support trail rehabilitation, expand adaptive programming, and create new hunting, fishing, and camping opportunities for individuals with disabilities. These efforts show that accessibility improvements can be delivered more effectively and efficiently when agencies work with partners who bring additional resources expertise and community input. This is not incidental. It is central to how the Explore Act was designed to function and reflects the importance of placing visitors in this case individuals with disabilities, at the forefront of implementation. Thankfully, under the leadership of Secretaries Burgum and Rollins, the Trump administration has already begun to seriously and aggressively implement this law. The Department of the Interior has worked with a broad coalition of organizations across dozens of state to identi dozens of states to identify high priority accessibility projects. including several shovel-ready projects for near-term implementation. The Forest Service has met its statutory deadline to identify accessible trails and recreation opportunities across all regions, and has begun integrating accessibility into broader recreation planning. These are important first steps. However, the public will not measure success based on assessments or coordination alone. Success will be measured by whether access is expanding, trails are improved, facilities are usable, and information is clear. All Americans deserve to confidently access and enjoy their public lands. We also know that barriers still remain that must be addressed. Outdated and inconsistent fed- uh federal definitions continue to limit the use of assistive technologies in certain areas. Particularly in wilderness settings. Over the past several decades, technology has advanced significantly, creating a wide range of adaptive equipment that allows more users to access the full splendor of our outdoors. However, the outdated, antiquated definition of wheelchair used under the Wilderness Act limits wheelchairs to devices that are suitable for use in an indoor pedestrian area. This definition is not only more limited than the broader the Americans with Disabilities Act, it simply does not reflect the new reality of twenty-first century adaptive equipment. Technology has evolved and federal regulations need to evolve with it. If we don't, then we're not truly serious about ensuring individuals with disabilities have full access to all of our public lands including wilderness areas. Access is not one size fits all. It requires a range of tools, including infrastructure, information and technologies that allow people to explore our national parks and public lands. Before I yield back, I'd like to ask unanimous consent to submit a letter into the record from the Motorcycle Industry Council, the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, and the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association, which discusses the importance of off-highway vehicle recreation to individuals with disabilities, particularly our nation's veterans. This letter states in part, allowing for the responsible use of OHVs on trails on public lands will increase opportunities for physically challenged individuals to get outdoors and enjoy our public lands. Implementation of the explore act should focus on, in part, on improving these opportunities with appropriate infrastructure. Without objection? So ordered. I'd like to thank each of our witnesses for taking time out of your schedules to join us, and share your expertise at this hearing. We look forward to hearing from each of you today. With that, I yield back, and will now recognize the ranking member, um, Miss Dexter from Oregon for an opening statement.

Thank you, Chairman Tiffany, and thank you to our witnesses for making the trip to join us today. As an Oregonian, I know what public lands and outdoor access mean to a community. And in my district and across our state, families hike the Timberline Trail, fish the Columbia River, camp in the Gorge, and find solace in the mountains and forests that make Oregon home. That's why the Explore Act matters. It took years of collaboration between this committee, the Outdoor Recreation Committee, c- community, user groups, businesses, hunters and anglers, and folks all over the country who share a love for our public lands and waters. It was also a meaningful bipartisan achievement that showed Congress can still come together to solve problems. The Explorer Act is a landmark legislation that expands access to the outdoors, and helps ensure that when we say public lands, we really mean public. Today's hearing focuses on title two of the Explorer Act, which works to increase meaningful access to our recreation opportunities for everyone. Those with disabilities, active duty, military service members, veterans, their fa- and their families and youth. This title was made possible by exemplary work on both sides of the aisle, including this subcommittee's very own Representative Stansbury's Promoting Accessibility on Federal Lands Act. This provision directed federal land management agencies to inventory recreation opportunities to increase accessible options for all Americans. Representative Levin's Grow Act helped create a pilot program at the Department the Interior to hire more veterans in meaningful outdoor recreation jobs. And the reauthoriz- reauthorization of Every Kid Outdoors allowed us to continue giving fourth graders across the country free access to our national parks and public lands. We are proud of all these contributions, but our job does not end when a bill becomes law. Our responsibility is to make sure the law is implemented, and that the promises we made to the American people become real. And that is where I'm concerned. I know agency staff want to deliver on the goals and ambitions set by Congress. Unfortunately, President Trump is creating as much chaos and tum tum tumult at home as he is all over the world with interventionist wars of choice and vindictive tariff regimes. The National Park Service has already lost a quarter of its permanent staff and the proposed Forest Service reorganization has created immense confusion and distress in my district. The president doesn't seem to be done attacking our parks and public lands. The latest budget request would cut hundreds of millions of funding from land management agencies, including two thousand more employees from the national park system. This is a recipe for failure. If our parks and public lands are understaffed and underfunded, they will not have the capability to implement these accessibility provisions, no matter what the law says. And it gets even worse from there. The committee has heard from several stakeholders that the Trump administration is refusing to release funding for the outdoor recreation legacy partnership, another important Explore Act priority that promotes access to outdoor recreation, despite Congress approving appropriations for the last two fiscal years. So, this hearing comes at exactly the right moment. We need answers about implementation of the Explore Act, about title two accessibility priorities. and about whether Congress's intent is being honored. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a difficult position today because there isn't a single representative from the Department of the Interior or the US Forest Service here to answer questions. While we appreciate the submission of statements for the record, those documents are simply no substitute for a live exchange and a congressional hearing, where we are trying to ensure these programs are actually delivering for the American people. That said, I again again want to sincerely thank our witnesses for who are appearing before us today. We truly appreciate your dedication and expertise, and I look forward to your testimony as we navigate these important public lands issues. Thank you and I yield back.

Uh, the Ranking Member, Dexter uh yields, and I now recognize the Chairman of the full committee, Mister Westerman, for his statement.

Oh, good morning everyone and thank you Chairman Tiffany for holding this uh, what I would call a very important hearing today on title of the explore act which expands access for individuals for our military service members, for veterans and for gold star families. This is an issue that's been near and dear to my heart as chairman of the committee. In twenty twenty two we worked with a bipartisan group of members on the veterans in parks or the vip act which codified free lifetime passes for our veterans and gold star family members. Then building on that success uh we worked in uh on the bipartisan military and veterans and parks act or the MVP act we got some really good acronyms going on here to describe our veterans uh which eventually became the basis of title two of the explore act uh which is another good acronym the motivation behind both of these efforts is straight forward uh and that is that absolutely nothing should stand in the way of our brave veterans accessing the very public lands They put their lives on the line to defend. This year, millions of Americans will flock to our national parks and public lands to celebrate our semaquincentennial. For some, this will mean visiting hallowed battlegrounds to remember the sacrifices that allowed our great nation uh to even exist in the first place. For others, it will mean camping with their families under the stars in the Yosemite Valley, or hiking in the Grand Canyon. For me and my family, it will mean visiting Hot Springs National Park. and hopefully floating on the Buffalo National River, the nation's first wild and scenic river. And I'll put a plug in for my hometown of Hot Springs, which was the first federal land ever set aside by the federal government in reserve, long before anybody had ever heard of Yellowstone. Um. These are experiences that everybody should be able to enjoy, and they should be able to enjoy that regardless of physical ability. That's what makes title two of the explore act so important. Those experiences uh that I described aren't possible when we don't thoughtfully design accessible recreation infrastructure. Families can't enjoy a camping experience in Yosemite if there aren't accessible bathrooms or parking lots connected to that opportunity, nor can they plan a hike in the Grand Canyon if they don't have access to objective trail information. One of the most important points in this discussion is that improving accessibility doesn't mean overbuilding or fundamentally changing the character of our public lands. In many cases, it's quite the opposite. Too often people hear accessibility and they think that that only means paving trails or creating boardwalks in nature. This couldn't be further from the truth. The demand for accessible recreation opportunities is clear, just as it's clear that folks with disabilities want those opportunities to feel like genuine backcountry experiences they can share with their entire families. Creating accessible recreation is about making smart, targeted modifications that improve access while maintaining the natural experience. It can be as simple as regrading a section of trail, improving the surface, adjusting the slope, or rerouting around an obstacle. These are not large scale changes, but they can make a meaningful difference in who is able to use that trail. Uh, take for example the the picture behind me uh from Rocky Mountain National Park. On one side you have a trail with stairs that is impassable for people who use wheelchairs. On the other side of the picture, the trail that has been reengineered to provide a more gradual and accessible slope. That change does not take away from the experience. It improves it, and not just for people with disabilities, but also for the elderly, for new moms with strollers, or anybody with limited mobility. In other words, when we design trails and recreation infrastructure more thoughtfully, we improve the experience for everyone involved. At Hot Springs National Park, as I said in my hometown, um one priority it's uh the explore project that has been identified as improving access to the bathhouses through features like lifts along with expanded accessible hiking opportunities these are not large-scale redesigns but practical improvements that will allow more people to participate in and enjoy the experience. Uh, and this is what the EXPLORE Act is all about. By making a minor modification that most visitors would never even notice, like changing stairs to a slope, we have opened up a whole new experience to the millions of Americans who live with a disability. If we make enough of these small, thoughtful improvements, we can open up opportunities that were previously out of reach all across the country. But access is not just about whether a trail like this exists in the first place. That doesn't matter if somebody with a disability doesn't know how or doesn't know about this trail or can't get information about trail conditions before they arrive. Title two of the Explore Act recognizes that reality. It provides a framework for agencies to identify where these types of improvements can be made, to increase the information available to the public, and to develop new opportunities that expand access across public lands. It also recognizes the importance of partnerships in delivering these improvements. and encourages agencies to work with local communities and outside organizations to get the work done. As Chairman Tiffany noted, early implementation efforts are underway. The challenge now is to build on that progress and ensure that these efforts translate into consistent on the ground improvements. We know this will work uh and we know that this work will take resources, which is why I secured report language in last year's appropriations bill directing the agency to prioritize funding on explore implementation. specifically focused on title two also plan to request similar language in this year's uh appropriations and would welcome any of my colleagues to join me in making a bipartisan request we've also been working on legislation to reauthorize the great american outdoors act and specifically allow that funding to be used for accessibility projects authorized under title two of explore this is important because when we had our oversight field hearing on gaoa in the grand tetons national Park last year, we visited two trailheads, one that had been eligible for GAO A funding and one that had not. I'm pleased that one of our witnesses, Mister Joe Stone, is joining us today as he led a bipartisan group of members after our field hearing on a hike to Taggart Lake Trail so we could see firsthand the kind of accessibility improvements that inspired the Explore Act. What we learned on that hike was that this important work wasn't classified as deferred maintenance by the National Park Service. so couldn't receive GA OA money. When we think about the next iteration of the Great American Outdoors Act, this is exactly the type of investments we should be making into our national parks, investments that improve access and outdoor recreation opportunities, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and on the other side of the Capitol to make that vision a reality and send this bill to the President's desk in celebration of American's two hundred and fiftieth birthday. Before I yield back, I'd like to extend a special thank you to Quinn Brett, Joe's business partner at Dovetail Consulting, and a former accessibility official at the Department of the Interior. Quinn was instrumental in crafting the title two of the Explorer Act, and this conversation today would not have been possible without her hard work and expertise. Ooh, Mister Chairman, thank you for your uh generosity, and I yield back.

Uh, the gentleman yields back, I was just commenting to the Remember, we are rather wordy on our side this morning, me included. I mean

Well, it's a great issue that needs to be talked about more. And so it's exciting what we can do here.

For sure.

So thank you again for the having me.

For sure. Thank you for your opening statement, Chairman. And now we're gonna go to our first and only panel uh today. I wanna remind our witnesses that under committee rules, you must limit your all statement to five minutes, but your entire statement will appear in the hearing record. To begin your testimony, please press the on button on the microphone. We use timing lights. When you begin, the light will turn green. At the end of five minutes, the light will turn red. And I will ask you to please complete your statement. First, I would like to introduce Mister Joe Stone, Co-owner of Dovetail Trail Consulting. Mister Stone, you are recognized for five minutes. Welcome.

Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to be here. My name is Joe Stone. I'm a co-owner of Dovetail Trail Consulting and I'm also a C seven quadriplegic. I've been using a wheelchair for the past fifteen years. In the first few years, I was trying to figure out what was possible in the outdoors, and I was constantly met with barriers that forced me to turn around, head back to the car, and give up for the day. But I was stubborn enough to keep trying. Over time, I found my way back into the outdoors. Although life as a wheelchair user in the outdoors was limited, I did find some success. And as I shared those experiences, more people with disabilities began reaching out, asking how and where they could go. Rediscovering the outdoors changed my life. I went from believing I would spend the rest of my life in a nursing home, fully dependent on others, to building a life filled with adventure, community, and purpose. The journey set me on a path to creating better access for people with disabilities I wanna share a few stories. Two friends of mine, Travis Mills and Taylor Morris, are two of only five surviving quadruple amputees from the Iraq war. They came to visit Grand Teton National Park with their families. They took the boat across Ginney Lake to hike to Hidden Falls, an easy hike for most. But when they got off the boat, they were met with a series of steps, beginning at the dock and hundreds more to the falls. There was no information available ahead of time to tell them what they were walking into, so they were left sitting on the dock while their families went up to Hidden Falls without them. Both Travis and Taylor gave their limbs in service to a country they love, should they not be able to access the lands they sacrificed so much to protect? A couple weeks later, I was back at that same place, I met a mom sitting on a dock, same dock with her daughter. who had a disability. It was the same situation, their family had gone up to Hidden Falls, and they were left behind. She watched as they used adaptive equipment to go, to get over those barriers, and it gave her hope for her daughter's future, but that equipment can cost over twenty thousand dollars and is not accessible to most families. So even in that moment of hope, she still saw a world where her daughter could not fully participate. I've seen another version of this. A couple came to Grand Teton National Park to go for a hike, One was a wheelchair user. They were told the trail trail would be mostly accessible. They made their way out, committed to the experience, and then hit a series of steps in narrow sections that they could not get through. They were stuck there and had to be rescued. Better information about that trail could have prevented that. All three of these situations show the same thing. People with disabilities are not avoiding the outdoors. They are actively seeking it out. but too often they are met with barriers instead of clarity. That is the gap. At Dovetail, this is exactly the work I do. We partner with land managers like Grand Teton National Park and nonprofits like the Grand Teton National Park Foundation to assess trails, collect objective data, and look at the full entry to exit experience. From the parking lot to the trail itself, can someone with a disability fully participate? What I constantly find is this. When you improve access, you improve the experience for almost everyone. This is why I'm encouraged by the explore act. But policy alone does not change what happens on the ground. If we want to succeed, if we want it to succeed, we need it, we need real funding and the right people at the table, meaning people with disabilities. Agencies are already stretched thin. Without dedicated funding, this work gets delayed and delay means more continued exclusion. This work is not just for people with disabilities, it's for their friends, their families, and entire communities. The Architectural Barriers Act of nineteen sixty eight, section five O four of the Rehabilitation Act of nineteen seventy three, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of nineteen ninety, were created to ensure access and inclusion. But on our public lands, we have not seen the funding or intent needed

Thank you, Mr. Stone. I will now recognize Mr. Mike. Passo, Executive Director at American Trails. Uh, Mister Passo, uh, resides in my congressional district. And, um, it's great to have you out here in Washington DC, Mister Passo, and we look forward to your testimony. You have five minutes.

Great, thanks. It's good to see you again. Chairman Westerman, Chairman Tiffany, Ranking Member Dexter, um, and all the members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the time and space to To listen to what this great panel has to say. Uh, my name is Mike Passo. And I'm the executive director of American Trails. And I'm also a member of the Trails Accessibility Coalition. Um, which has been brought together to help you and help the, um, help our land managers implement the explore act, especially title two. opportunities we have to expand access to public lands in a generation but without staffing and funding it it uh risks becoming an unfunded mandate and a and a transform instead of a transformative solution back in nineteen ninety one at the age of twenty uh i was in a mountain biking accident in the chukwamiga national forest in northern wisconsin In a place that I love the most, doing the thing that I love the most. On a trail that I love the most, I flipped over my handlebars and broke my back. Um, and I was instantly paralyzed. And while I was recovering in the hospital, I had a small epiphany, or a large epiphany to me, but small probably to the rest of the world. I suddenly realized that I wasn't thinking about the surgery that was coming up, I wasn't thinking about being able to walk or go to the bathroom i was thinking about how the heck was i gonna go mountain biking that's primarily what what was on my mind to the to the extent that i was jotting down designs for chairs while i was sitting in that hospital bed and that's when it occurred to me that people define themselves by how they recreate it's it's right there in the word recreate people recreate themselves when they outdoor recreation activities. And I think that's key. It really strikes at the core of how people view themselves, and how they interact with their own world, and how they define themselves. And if you take that away for any reason, um, it'll cause a visceral reaction, as you've probably experienced. Um, people recreate themselves through recreational activities. And recreation cannot happen without trails, in my opinion. I'm a little biased, cuz I run a company called American Trails, but trails are fundamental to recreation. And trails just can't exist without people to maintain them and build them. Organizations like American Trails can bring an army of folks willing to help maintain trails on public lands. But it doesn't work if there's nobody there for them to work with. Uh the single greatest barrier in my opinion right now is not policy, it's capacity. Um across federal land management agencies we are seeing substantial reductions in workforce capacity. These issues are not abstract. They're directly affecting the ability to carry out projects, maintain trails, and support partnerships that make access possible. At American Trails we administer, for example, a grant program that leverages non-profit expertise and volunteers to address deferred maintenance on forest service lands. These projects consistently deliver very strong returns on investment like eight to one. Um Yet today several of the projects that we have the funding for and have have are raring to go to start They simply can't move forward because their their forest service contacts are gone. Um, and that's happening in small pockets all throughout the federal lands. At at the same time, agencies are facing proposed budget reductions to the very programs that support recreation, maintenance, and accessibility. This creates a fundamental challenge. We cannot access while reducing the staff and reducing the resources required to deliver it. Those goals are fundamentally at odds. The Explorer Act also recognizes that accessibility is not only about building new infrastructure, it's about providing better information, as we've heard. For many people, especially those with disabilities, knowing what to expect on a trail is the key to participation. And finally, I think accessibility should not be viewed as a root, as a, as a niche issue, it's a universal one. It affects families, older adults, veterans, anyone who wants to enjoy the outdoors, um, confidently. Accessibility is not about a small group of users, it's about all of us. At some point we will all experience this, almost regardless of our experience. Um. i've seen many proposed amendments to this law and i think a lot of them are have have a lot of value so i think they should be considered um but at its core this is about who our public lands are for and ensuring that every american sees themselves in the answer thank you for your time and your commitment to ensuring the americans can um access all our public lands

yeah thank you mister paso i now recognize miss julie howell Associate Legislative Director for Government Relations at Paralyzed Veterans of America. Ms. Howell, welcome, and you are recognized for five minutes.

Thank you, sir. Chairman Westerman, Chairman Tiffany, Ranking Member Dexter, and members of the committee, Paralyzed Veterans of America appreciates the opportunity to testify today on behalf of our members, veterans who have incurred a spinal cord injury or disorder, or SCID. For eighty years, disability access has been central to PVA's mission. The fight for accessibility is long in storied, fraught with exploitation and avoidance. But over the years we've seen progress through the passage of the Architectural Barriers Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the ADA. PVA has advocated for each of these advancements and we're proud to testify today on the disability provisions included within the Explore Act, which seeks to improve access to federal lands and parks for disabled veterans. My oral remarks will focus on how PVA supports catastrophically disabled veterans through sports and recreation opportunities and how congress can insure the intended goals of the explore act are fully realized particularly, the military and veterans in park section. PVA's sports and recreation program offers more than sixty adaptive sporting and recreation opportunities across the country. Recently, we've developed our own outdoor recreation experience, which aims to provide an enriching and supportive environment. for PVA members to engage in outdoor activities that foster physical and mental well-being. Our first event was last year in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where ten PVA members visited Grand Teton National Parks and the surrounding areas to experience hiking adaptive biking and other activities. Future events will include adaptive mountain biking, water sports like white water rafting, and winter sports such as adaptive skiing. These events go beyond just recreation. They're crucial components of healing, rehabilitation, and community reintegration. PVA believes that the accessibility provisions within the explore act will be critical in increasing access to federal lands and parks for people with mobility impairments. Reducing accessibility barriers in outdoor spaces will have a significant impact on disabled veterans. However, enforcement of disability access requirements will be critical in ensuring the successful implementation of this bill. The minimum accessibility standards already established in are still not uniformly implemented on federal lands. PVA has concerns that with constrained budget and reduced staffing, fully implementing these accessibility provisions might be delayed. Funding for the national park system has remained flat over multiple administrations, according to a congressional research service report published in twenty twenty four. However, recent budget proposals would drastically cut funding for federal land management agencies, which may make it even more difficult to carry out the accessibility provisions within the Now I'd like to share some of our thoughts on the military and veterans and park section of the bill. PVA sees three themes that will be critical in the effective implementation of the Explorer Act ensuring a proper foundation and appropriate resources partnerships and programming and sustainability in evaluation for the Explorer Act to be successful Congress must prioritize securing sufficient and sustained funding across federal agencies impacted agencies to work together to develop accessible infrastructure, including adaptive equipment and facilities for disabled veterans and all visitors. Partnerships in programming will be critical for success, which means there must be meaningful collaborations with veteran organizations, private outdoor recreation companies, as well as establishing relationships with state and local governments that respect military culture and values. Programming must include professional staff, equipped with cultural competency, peer-to-peer veteran support systems and adaptive offerings for various abilities and all comfort levels. Finally, long-term success for this section hinges on implementing robust tracking system systems to measure participation rates health outcomes, and programming effectiveness. Achievement here should be measured by increasing veteran participation in outdoor recreation opportunities and the evolution of veterans' needs and evidence-based practices. There will be challenges in accomplishing the loftier goals of the EXPLORE Act, but PVA is eager to partner with the committee and any federal partner to make as much progress as we can in increasing outdoor recreation opportunities for catastrophically disabled veterans. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today, and I'm hand-paid to answer any of your questions.

Thank you, Miss Howell. Finally, I'd now like to recognize Miss Maureen Elias, Deputy Director of Government Affairs for Veterans at the Wounded Warrior Project. Miss Elias, you are recognized for five minutes.

Thank you. Chairman Westerman, Chairman Tiffany, and Ranking Member Dexter, and members of this subcommittee, thank you today for the opportunity to appear before you. I am Maureen Elias, a US Army veteran, and I am here on behalf of Wounded Warrior Project. We appreciate the subcommittee's leadership on the Explore Act and the opportunity to share our perspectives on how thoughtful implementation can improve access to outdoor recreation for veterans service members and their families. For more than twenty-three years, Wounded Warrior Project has veterans and their families as they heal from the visible and invisible wounds of military service. We work alongside Congress, community partners, and other veterans serving organizations to help warriors reconnect to themselves, to their communities, and find a renewed sense of purpose. And outdoor recreation plays a meaningful role in that work. Across our programs, we consistently see that Time Spent Outdoors supports physical health, mental health, and social connection. Whether that be through adaptive sports, group challenges, or just quiet time in nature. Access to outdoor experiences helps veterans rebuild confidence, manage stress, and reconnect with others. But access is not just about whether land is open or not. It's about whether veterans can safely and confidently use those spaces on their own. This is particularly important for post-nine eleven veterans, many of whom manage service-connected conditions that affect wayfinding, attention, and risk perception. In outdoor environments, unclear signage or limited pre-visit information can undermine confidence and independence. The Explore Act's focus on improving wayfinding and reliable information helps reduce unpredictability that may keep veterans from getting outdoors. Ensuring a veteran has all the information at hand to plan an outdoor activity, and know what to expect, can help alleviate anxiety and uncertainty, and just feel more in control. Which is why the implementation details of the Explore Act matter so much. The recommendations in our written testimony are informed by our experience delivering hundreds of programs each year as well as the lived experiences of the warriors who participate in them. Warriors like Don, a Marine veteran from Arizona who recently attended one of our winter adaptive sports clinics. Following an amputation, Don was unsure whether he would ever snowboard again. Through the clinic he had access to adaptive equipment, trained instructors, and a supportive group of peers, which gave him the confidence to challenge himself and get back up on that mountain. Don shared that experiencing the outdoors again in a setting designed with access and support in mind allowed him to connect with him reconnect with parts of himself that he thought were gone. He told us, being mindful of how much we miss while we're serving on active duty, I can't thank you enough for letting me experience more of the country that I defended. And Joseph, an Ohio Marine veteran managing PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, who just recently participated Project Odyssey experience in Asheville, North Carolina, which included a hike in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Joseph shared that the combination of nature and peer camaraderie helped reduce feelings of isolation, and reawakened his desire to try new things. Encouraging one another up the mountain created a renewed sense of purpose and connection for Joseph access was not just about the trail it was about confidence, clarity, and feeling safe enough to engage these stories highlight careful implementation of the explore act is key to ensuring its vision of expanded outdoor access becomes a lived reality for veterans as the sections in title two are implemented we recommend focusing on a few core principles first accessibility information must support independent planning not just guided or organization facilitated use second the information must be specific consistent and practical so veterans can understand what to expect before they arrive And third, accessibility must be integrated into broader recreation systems in ways that feels inclusive rather than separate or symbolic. Inventories of facilities and trails should capture details veterans actually need to make decisions, including grades, surfaces, restrooms, parking, transportation access, wayfinding, and safety considerations. Pilot programs should test scalable solutions that improve clarity and usability without compromising the natural character of public lands. Promotion efforts should should measure success by distributed information and whether veterans are aware of using and returning to these spaces independently. When done well, accessibility supports transition. It builds confidence and allows more veterans to experience our public lands as places of healing connection and belonging. In closing, Wounded Warrior Project thanks the subcommittee for its commitment to veterans and for advancing the EXPLORE Act. We are honored to contribute to this conversation and stand ready to continue

Thank you, Miss Elias. I now recognize members for five minutes for questions. I turn to the Chairman of the full committee, Mister Westerman, for your question.

Thank you, Chairman Tiffany, and thank you again to the witnesses for for being here today. My first question is for the entire panel. In my opening statement, I mentioned in our efforts to reauthorize the Great American Outdoors Act, we wanted to direct some of this funding towards recreation infrastructure improvements, including for accessibility that may not be classified as deferred maintenance. So how could expanding the Great American Outdoors Act in this way help create dedicated funding, that would help actualize the goals of title two in the explore act? And, Mister Stone, great to see you here today, we'll start with you and if anybody has uh comments we'd love to hear that.

Yeah, great to see you again as well. Hopefully you'll make it back out to Wyoming in the near future. Um That's an interesting question. I think Well, I think what we have in the Explorer Act is is is interesting. So we have these trails that we're trying to create. They're gonna work for the majority of people with the majority of mobility disabilities. And I think when you get people with disabilities in involved, you start to see That there's a lot more, as you saw, Taggart Lake, there's a lot more that people with disabilities are able to actually accomplish than just the the baseline or the most accessible trails that can be out there. So I think when when we start expanding into these other areas, like you mentioned, and we get people with disabilities involved, we start to see a lot more open up on our public lands than just these small projects that are put into place for the most accessible areas. And we start to see people with disabilities of all kinds being able to explore and go far more places than a lot of people think but also be able to challenge themselves and grow as a human and grow as a community as they go into more technical environments further into the mountains deeper into the rivers. Um, I don't know if that necessarily answers your question, but I think it's important that as we expand into all of these other areas, that we are looking beyond just the checked boxes and we're using that funding to create access on so many other levels that's the the kind of thing you can only really get when you include people with disabilities in that process to be able to have a a true understanding of what can be done.

Thank you. Anybody else want to address that?

Um thank you Chairman Westerman for that question I think. On face value, my initial reaction is that's that's a pretty good idea. The problem that i see is GAOA is is basically been created to address the the trail maintenance backlog, which is terrible and growing even you know even more steeply now. And i think deluding that goal could be problematic. Because you know, I I think it could build bipartisan support for the G for the reauthorization for sure, uh but but I don't I'm worried that it the GAOA's success in the future after the next five years of its efforts would be judged on how much deferred maintenance it's eliminating.

So do you do you think as we do deferred maintenance on these trails, modifying the trails for accessibility Do you think that should be allowed or?

Oh. Uh, absolutely. Yeah, that should be a critical part of it.

Okay, that's that's kind of what we're what we're getting at here.

Yeah.

Yeah. Any Let's give every the other two an opportunity and we'll come back to you, Mister Stone.

Thank you for the question, sir. I'm going to defer to my colleagues as far as the intricacies of the answer for your question. However, I will just flag that a big priority for PVA and their members, it always starts in the parking lot. Um,

Right.

critical resources are needed to ensure that accessible, particularly van, parking spaces are available um we see this at va facilities we see this at shopping centers um the difference between a handicap accessible vehicle and a van accessible parking space that's that's feet that's whether or not you can even get out of your vehicle to go access those outdoors and so for us we always say it starts in the parking lots sir

so i'll just

i'll be brief cause i know we're short on time but i think anytime you add additional resources to anything, you're going to help make it better. The the concern becomes the blurring of of boundaries. However, to me it makes a lot of sense to add resources so that as the maintenance occurs, you can build in the accessibility accommodations on the wayside. The one thing I would ask as you look at this is we're we're focusing a lot in many of these hearings and in the um reports that have been put out around architectural accessibility and I wanna just uh encourage you to perhaps include some language around those with cognitive disabilities um to make sure that we're including like tactile and other sorts of less um terrain related um accessibility modifications as you uh add this additional resourcing so i think that will be very valuable thank you

so i had a whole bunch of questions and we only got to one of them and didn't even have time to answer that thoroughly but we will submit these questions uh so you can give us hand written answers back for the record i appreciate you all and i yield back

Chairman Yields, and I'll recognize Miss Dexter for her questioning.

Actually, I'll I'll go last if it's

Um,

yeah.

Miss Randall, are you prepared to ask your questions?

You bet.

I recognize the gentle lady from Washington.

Thank you so much to all the witnesses for sharing your uh perspectives on the implementation of the Explorer Act. The Explorer Act is all about increasing access to our public lands, including for veterans, for individuals with disabilities, and for young people and um in my district the olympic national park welcomed more than three point five million visitors in twenty twenty five statewide our outdoor recreation economy generates over twenty five billion annually ensuring adequate staffing and full funding is essential not only to protecting wildlife and resources but also to the visitor experience and i heard just the end of that uh series of answers Um, it seems like we have more to do. Just maintain trails, clean bathrooms, trash cans that are regularly empty and not overflowing, those are so important to the experience of folks. Um, and at at the bare minimum, should be like a priority of our um National Park Service. And all these things are made harder when our federal workforce is under attack and shrinking. Last year, the National Park Service lost twenty five percent of their staff from doge cuts, from hiring freezes and from other factors. And to make matters worse, the Forest Service also lost nine thousand workers that preserve those trails, and keep our public lands accessible. It's hard to think about how we expand into um, you know, more interpretive uh, parks experiences when we're hardly able to keep the trails maintained and the trash cans empty. National Parks and Forest Service workers are performing two, sometimes three jobs to do the work to make our parks safe and welcoming to visitors. And on top of that, National Park staff across the Western US are being sent here to Washington DC for months-long details. And the Forest Service relocation and reorganization plans may impact as many as two hundred staff in Washington state. This administration isn't just firing and forcibly relocating staff, they're also wiping out the funding for the programs that insure our public lands are protected for generations to come. I heard from a neighbor in Hoodsport who grew up dreaming about being a park ranger and is now a park about to start his third season as one. He told me that many of his colleagues have already had their jobs rescinded for the summer. And he's worried that any day now, he'll be next. But he's not even concerned about himself. He told me, I'm concerned by what the future holds for the park, that is so near and dear to my heart. What happens when we fall short of staff, when we're already stretched which are thin, when millions more visitors come to see our wonderful parks. And we want that, we want millions more visitors to come, to be able to access, to have um the accommodations that they need to access our beautiful parks and It's not possible when we are short staff. Laura from Port Angeles also wants to know how the park can safely handle the millions of visitation in the summer without back country rangers, booth fee collectors, front desk personnel, maintenance and trail workers. I have all the same questions as Laura. And you know, I've tried to experience our our natural resources and our federal lands as often as i can when i'm home and learning from folks who are doing this work on the ground is why i think that we need to keep fighting for appropriations and robust funding for our federal trails but a few examples of what the president's proposed budget does is that it cuts the forest service recreation heritage and wilderness program by twenty seven percent cuts the forest service trail maintenance construction program by sixty four percent Zeroes out eighteen million in funding for technical assistance to localities, for cohesive rivers, trails and conservation assistance, and cuts by forty seven percent BLM's recreation infrastructure, access improvements and permitting modernizations. That sounds bad to me. Uh, Miss Howell, Mister Paschall, could you elaborate on how, you know, these proposed budget cuts and relocations impact the accessibility and the goals of the explore act?

Thanks for that question. I I uh I do think it makes it almost impossible to implement it fully. I'm I'm very worried about it, to be honest. And there's, you know, I have I mentioned in my opening that that we have a grant program where several of the people that we you know we have the funding encumbered and it's ready to go, but they can't get the sign offs on their on their forest service land and that's thrown away thousands of volunteer hours or at least delaying them when they could be getting some real important accessibility or trail maintenance, or anything done on public land so it's a huge impact.

yeah thank you

we'll give you time to answer the question miss alvin

thank you sir thank you mister chair

i just wanted to make sure um thank you for the question ma'am uh we share concerns that without of appropriate resources that these deferred maintenance projects and other accessibility work may be delayed um as i wrote in my written testimony one of our advocacy attorneys is working with one of our members on a federal um a federal property that has an accessibility uh barrier that that is on the list but for a year or so that keeps being deferred and deferred and deferred and while the project is designed and they know how to fix it they don't have the resources to implement that and that's just one small project in one park in one person and so we have concerns about um making sure that there is enough resources and staff to be able to see this bill come to its full potential thank you

thank you i appreciate your grace Mister Chair yield back

gentlelady's time has expired now recognize the gentleman from Minnesota Mister Stauber

uh thank you very much chairman tiffany and Uh, to the witnesses, thank you very much, uh, Mister Pasol, Mister Stone. Your testimony is, uh, very interesting and and heartfelt. Thank you for taking the time to come and speak to us. Uh, Miss Howell, in your written testimony you raised concerns how various federal agencies interpret the term wheelchair in federal statutes and regulations. Can you please expand upon this?

Yes, sir. Thank you for the question. Um, I believe in the hearing memo that was provided, uh, they also stressed that. um when our staff was working with committee staff uh drafting the mvp act that is something that we frequently ran into was that the integrated definition of a wheelchair is gonna be something that different agencies run up against um we also were able to speak with um national park service accessibility officers and they've seen they've seen issues with that definition as well um i'm not sure if in the next big bill that the committee works on in a bipartisan fashion maybe we can amend that Um, but the truth of the matter is, is when we write the term wheelchair fifty years ago, with all the advancements that we've talked about today in technology,

Yeah.

we need to make sure that these long-standing definitions and features that we've relied on historically that we're making sure to pay attention to updating that language as well as

Yeah, so our, what you're saying is different land management agencies like the BLM, Park Service and Forest Service, along with the Department of Veterans Affairs, they're interpreting this differently, correct?

I believe so, yes, sir.

Yeah. Uh, and are you seeing inconsistencies in the interpretations across different units of a single land management agency? Uh, in other words, is the Park Service's inter uh interpretation consistent across all national parks, or is the Forest Service's interpretations consistent across all national forests?

Sir, based on the conversation that I've had with an NPS staffer, I believe that different agencies are pulling different things. So there may not be an equitable understanding of the term wheelchair, even across

That's what,

Agencies.

yeah, that's why we're hearing the same thing. I appreciate that. Uh, Miss Elias, uh, can you please speak to the roles that outside organizations or individuals play in veterans uh accessing our public lands whether they be veteran service organizations or independent cooperators or concessionaires, uh, that provide guide services to the public.

Absolutely. Thank you for that question. The roles that uh organizations play in getting veterans outdoors is helping For many uh of us, you know, accessing national parks is not uh uh something that we think of doing in the first place. We don't know how, it's uncomfortable. And so organizations such as Wounded Warrior Project and other organizations that are out there become that comfortable gateway that hand-holding to make sure that we know how to access how to use especially as we're living with disabilities that we have acquired versus disabilities we're born with they help us learn

Mm-hmm.

how to navigate those uh just as uh Mister Stone uh spoke about earlier. how to navigate those now with the lived limitations that our bodies have and the new abilities that we're developing because of that.

Thank you. And just to provide some context, in northern Minnesota, home to places like Voyagers National Park and the Chippewa and Superior National Forest, we've been fighting this issue for years. Uh, at Voyagers we've seen complicated policies put into place that are making it even harder and harder for guides that uh, operate under cooperative agreements within the park service just walk away simply because the park service makes it too hard and too Uh, and on this pure national forest, we've seen VSOs blocked from providing towboat or motorized use access for disabled veterans preventing veterans from a accessing and enjoying, including areas like the boundary waters. Um, so, um, my wife and I are blessed to have a Down syndrome child, and he's uh, his diagnosis is severe and profound. He uh, he uh, he has a difficult uh, uh, process walking on uneven surfaces. I don't think any one of this panelists would disagree with that statement. It is not fair that he cannot walk these uneven surfaces to see the beauty in this land. We are all about accessing for all. All four of you, and our special needs children. And this is what we have to continue to push. That's why Mister Stone, Mister Passo, uh, Miss Howell, Miss Elize, that's why your testimony is extremely important. We're gonna get this done together, so we all, Mister Pastor, so we all can enjoy our federal lands. Because you are in a wheelchair, you should not be uh uh uh, you should not uh be um disallowed to have access to our entire federal force, and enjoy it. Like you said, um, and it struck me that that after your accident you were talking about how are you gonna get back out there. You should be able to get back out there yesterday. Uh, it's not fair, it's not right. And I know that this is a a bipartisan issue that we can fix and we're gonna fix it, because everybody deserves to go and have access. Uh, everybody deserves to have an opportunity to have motorized access to cross, uh, uh, hilly terrain if they can't, uh, walk around in a wheelchair, to see those parks, to get to that fishing hole that you want in our national parks and the wilderness areas. Uh, Mr. Chair, Ranking Member, Dexter, thank you for holding this. This is really key, and I yield back.

Gentlemen yields, and I'll recognize uh Miss Dexter for her questioning.

Yeah, thank you so much. And what an important conversation. I'm I'm deeply grateful to everyone for bringing this forward today. I will just note that my team and I were on the Timberline Trail last summer in um, the National Forest, Mount Hood National Forest, and there had been a year prior, tree fall that was blocking the trail, so we had backpacks, couldn't get across. I I absolutely have experienced the deferred maintenance for even those who are abled, let alone those with disabilities. So this is an important issue and I wanna underline the importance of us actually having the staff to clear those trails and to maintain those areas. Um, I also wanna just make sure I double down on something uh my colleague uh Representative Stauber just talked about that um everyone should have access, that we absolutely want to make that possible. Um I also heard that there was a some confusion around the definition that we are are dealing with here, and and I am surprised by that because there's one definition and it is in the Americans with Disabilities Act in section five zero seven of the ADA. And it actually refers specifically to um the Wilderness Act. And so I I wonder why there would be confusion about what that definition is. And certainly if we need to create, you know, s a broader definition, we should be using a central um statute for that, because we don't want our national forest and our national park service and BLM lands to be using a different definition. Now this is specific to the Wilderness Act. So um, Mister Passo, I wanna um ask you some questions around stalled projects and and the impact on everyone's accessibility to this. And also for you in particular, you know, what um accessible trails look like and and do you um I'm happy to go through the wheelchair definition but I think that you have personal experience on that, so would love for you to pontificate a little bit about the relative importance of trail maintenance writ large, and also what it means for people with disabilities to be able to access it, and and be able to truly access it.

Thanks. Thank you for that question. I think um I guess just r- referring to the definition of a wheelchair, I think I'm back in nin I'm sorry, in the nineties I worked on uh project to define wilderness access and what uh you know how the wheelchair definition fits in and and we we did a bunch of research it's called the wilderness access decision tool and we came down to kind of a simple question like would you be kicked out of a mall if you used that that device and the i i think the key to the definition is the suitability element you know is this suitable for indoor use and that you know comes down to you know the size of the of the piece of adaptive equipment and the speed it's used you know if you're in a in a rogue you're uh uh you know uh one of the really high-end new kind of adaptive equipment you wouldn't be kicked out of a mall for using it unless you're going fifty miles an hour you know so So I think that all still applies. And then in terms of the, well you know like kinda what a, a an accessible trail, you know, looks like, I think I've always said, much like Mister Stone just articulated, it's eighty percent of accessibility is information. It's it's if I know that I can get down a trail, and that there's gonna be a narrow spot that gets me to, you know twenty nine inches and my my wheelchair or my, you know, adaptive equipment is twenty nine inches wide, I know I can get by. And therefore I know that me and my family, I mean, have a wonderful experience. And no money had to be spent on that.

Yeah.

And I can choose the place I wanna go, the time I wanna go.

To also reiterate something I heard Miss Howell say, to be able to get to that point, you have to actually be able to to get into a parking lot and be able to get that mobility device out. Um, in your experience, is that a broadly available, um, opportunity for people in our national parks and national forests?

Um, I would say it, it's pretty hit or miss. Um, depending on the the the use it gets, you know, obviously national parks are much more accessible in that entry. level but there are exceptions forest and blm land is a whole another ball of wax and honestly i i i personally this is just my personal opinion but i appreciate the ability to know that i'm gonna have a dirt parking lot and the experience is gonna be much more rugged and if i choose that then that you know still accessible to me and uh we don't want everything to be paved

yeah i appreciate that and just to with your grace um mister chair

i agree

having information about where those places are so you can make that decision ahead of time is critical so before we start really doing much else i think we need that survey so thank you i yield back

general lady yields and i share this document with the ranking minority member and um i'm gonna take my five minutes for questionings um So, Mister Passel, it's great to have you here in Washington DC and um I really liked your use of the word recreate um because it is the truth that uh it's um enjoying Northern Wisconsin just as you do. Um I certainly feel that way. So, do you have any specific examples, Mister Passel, like in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, which is our national forest in the state of Wisconsin, where you have concerns that could be addressed by some changes to explore.

Um, specific examples I guess would, you know, especially in Chukwamiga National Forest, if you've been up there, there's a lot of really great logging roads that actually provide pretty wonderful accessibility, but a lot of them have, they've dug them out and piled up um dirt, so that

They've burned them.

Burn, yeah, they've put they've put per per uh holes and burns to stop cars from going down there. And that, you know, with a little bit of modification, that could be adjusted to be more accessible for for an example. Um,

Um.

go ahead.

Um, yeah, I would just add, um. So we had a hearing in Hayward a a year ago on this issue for access into specifically the Chequamegon-Nicolet and we use that as an example um that is going on across the country as we're seeing what is it like two thousand miles of um trails on our national forest um both BLM and um uh national forest land is being closed down every year so access is being limited um and this has been going on for a couple of decades and uh i don't know About you, but it's certainly a concern for me. I don't know if you share that same concern.

Yeah, I do. I mean. The. One of the things that I. Discovered in in breaking my back is that. When you, when something is taken away from you. That, that allows you. Uh, to recreate yourself. It. Causes a visceral reaction, it hits you right in your. Soul, you know, and that happens. And, and therefore you're gonna. people are gonna be inordinately upset about it. And and I think, you know, whether it's closing down a a a motorized route that had historic use, um without thoroughly thinking through the process or any for any reason pulling away uh and a person's ability to recreate themselves is gonna create a very strong reaction. And it's gonna cause a lot of the multi-use conflict that we see these days. So I think it's we need to be very careful about closing roads. It does need to happen sometimes for, you know, natural resource protection reasons, but it needs to be it shouldn't ever be flippantly done.

Yeah, well, uh, I appreciate those comments, because I want you to know that we're fighting to keep those um trails open that have been used for a for decades and across generations, not just in northern Wisconsin but across America, and it's important to have that access. Uh, Miss Elias, um, as we go forward with this, how can we better leverage organizations like yours to expand access and do it more quickly?

Thank you for that question, sir. Uh, there are so many different things that that I want to say and I'm gonna try to keep it truncated. I think, uh, First off, I I believe you mentioned it in your opening remarks, if veterans don't know that this that these opportunities are out there, they're not gonna utilize them.

Yeah.

So I think one of the best ways to work with organizations like ours is to make sure that we have the information so that we can share it out to our membership. Um, especially since we're often the gateway to the outdoors for so many veterans. I think too, similar to uh what Mister Paso was talking about is we have hundreds of volunteers that would be happy to support and serve as we're implementing the sections of, of title two of the explore act. So, using us as pathways for information as well as using us for the service that we can provide is probably two of the best ways that you can utilize organizations like ours

uh thank you very much for that and uh thank you to all the panelists i am going to yield back and i recognize miss ledger fernandez for your questioning

uh thank you so very much and i so appreciated reading the testimony uh you know we we had a a a hearing now uh uh grand tetons and and hiked up a trail that's gonna become available and accessible. Uh, and it was great. It was so great because when we go out in nature, we experience awe, AWE, right? And we realize both how insignificant we are and how connected we are, not just to nature but to each other in an interesting way. I find it fascinating. I love that we are doing this, that the Explorer Act is making it possible. we need to do more so everybody knows it's there i like the testimony that talked about that um so mr. elias uh you actually pointed out some of um sorry miss elias um you pointed out some of those uh recommendations about we can better serve our veterans um and can you sort of give me a quick story maybe of how improving accessibility actually helps veterans who experience cognitive disabilities from their service.

Sure, absolutely. I'd uh I'd love to share that with you. So, um, you know, living with with a a cognitive disability or living with a a mental health disorder, one of the things that uh we don't always recognize as a symptom is that it's easy to become disoriented. And so ensuring that pathways are very clear and intentionally marked, um, can and that we have access to that information before we get there, can help alleviate a lot of the stress and anxiety so that we're able to minimi- m- mitigate mitigate um and minimize anything that might cause uh our stress levels to raise so that we have more space for the anxiety that just comes from being outdoors and being in in nature and naturally. And so um you know one of the things I think I've talked about in my testimony that's written is just making sure that that language is clear and

Mm-hmm.

making sure that it's accessible and a lot of times we think accessible putting it on the website. Uh, but some of our veterans also live with vision impairment, and so making sure that those assistive devices and tools are able to read and utilize and feed to the veteran that information is is one of the the best ways to do so. In my oral remarks I talked about a veteran named Joseph who's navigating life with a TBI and PTSD and how the ability to get outdoors almost helped find him a renewed sense of purpose in life and an excitement that he did not have before that outdoor experience.

Thank you. Thank you. You know, the Explorer Act is great about how it's opening up these new opportunities for veterans. Uh, I will also point out that the Veterans Affairs Department has cut forty thousand positions since President Trump took office, and eighty-eight percent of those cuts were to the Veterans Health Administration. And veterans absolutely deserve access to our parks. They also have earned access to a doctor and the health benefits uh that it's not a deserve, it's an earn. They suffered for us. And we need to provide those benefits in our parks and in our hospitals. Uh I'm also worried a bit about uh this concept of feeling welcome, that I heard throughout and I read throughout. Um that right now the Trump administration has made certain communities feel less welcome at national parks, by trying to erase history. Under President Trump's executive orders, the Forest Service has been directed to remove signs across the country. Some of those signs being removed are about the forced removal of Native Americans, the practice of slavery, they targeted the Enola Gay, they had Gay on its name. Um, and I think that there is something about the the journey we are all on together is overcoming obstacles. Um, and that's in many ways what veterans have done, is they have, they are the ones who have led us in that journey together, from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War and and moving forward. Um, Miss, Mister Paso, how does a censored history at national parks impact the sense of belonging for the very communities that the Explorer Act aims to serve? If you could speak to that.

Yeah. Thank you for that question. Um, I do think, you know, as I stated before, that that the explore act is about everybody getting access in whatever way they can to our public lands. And that everybody is the critical component. It includes people with disabilities, people of colour, um, uh, Native Americans, it's it's a cross the board look, which I think is important, you know, it's it's what makes the explore act kind of unique and also something that everybody can really buy into and feel feel uh a part of and it's the reason that it's so bipartisan

yeah i love that everybody includes everybody what a concept uh i'd like to uh i'll yield back but i'd like to uh seek unanimous consent mister chair uh i'd like to seek unanimous consent to enter into Uh, the record the National Park signs related to Native Americans' climate change need to be removed uh and among the N National Park's targeting the new removal orders of some of the country's most iconic Grand Canyon Glacier Big Bend and Zion, dated January twenty seventh, twenty twenty six.

Without objection, the gentlelady yields, and I have turned to Ms. Stansbury for her questioning.

Good morning. I wanted to start by welcoming all of you for coming and traveling all across the country to be here with us today. And for those of you who are here joining us in the room or watching from at home, who have served this great nation and are a veteran, we wanna say thank you for your service as well. I'm very excited to be here today to celebrate our nation's two hundred and fiftieth birthday by celebrating a critical bipartisan bill that we passed just two years ago, in this congress, to help expand opportunities for our communities, to experience the wonder, the joy, and the exceptional need to connect with nature through our great outdoors. And in particular, a bill that is so near and dear to my heart, which is a bill that we passed to expand access for veterans and people living with disabilities to experience the great outdoors. The Explore Act helps more families, more students, more veterans, and more communities explore and experience the outdoors. especially in the landscapes that so define our country and what it is. It represents one of the most significant, comprehensive, and bipartisan recreation packages that we've passed in this body in years. Recreation infrastructure, federal lands, rural gateway communities, expanded opportunities for underserved communities, it extended every kid outdoors program for school age children, and of course it included our bill, which is a bipartisan bill to expand accessibility on our federal lands. I was particularly grateful for the opportunity to have it included in this package, working with Chairman Westerman and alongside Juan Siskamani of Tucson. This legislation directed the Secretary of Interior and of Agriculture to conduct a comprehensive assessment of accessibility across our trails, our campsites, our recreational facilities, Because for far too long, as has been discussed here this morning, we've lacked a clear understanding of where those accessibility gaps actually exist. And so helping to identify where those gaps are is very important to make sure that our communities can actually experience the great outdoors. And in New Mexico we understand deeply how central our public lands are to our communities and our cultures. Nearly half of our state is publicly owned. But these are places where our families gather, traditions are passed down. They're lands that have been sacred and important to our communities for countless generations, where people go hunting and fishing, and where they find restoration, resilience, and connection. And in New Mexico, the importance for veterans cannot be understated. More than a hundred and thirty thousand veterans call New Mexico home. Service is a part of our culture, our identity, and who are as New Mexicans and ensuring that our veterans have access to our trails and campsites and recreation areas is essential also for the healing powers of the outdoors. Ensuring that they can access these landscapes not only strengthens their own well-being, but is part of the long-term resilience and support for our communities in New Mexico. So I'm excited to celebrate the passage of especially on Earth Day. And I wanna just go back to our witnesses. We have two here who are joining us from veterans organizations. And I know you've covered a lot of ground already about this, but I wonder if uh we could give uh sixty seconds each to uh Miss Howell and to Miss Elias to talk about the importance uh for veterans of accessing the great outdoors, and what else this body can do to help support our veterans.

Unfortunately, you've only given them about sixty-five seconds for the two of them. You may answer.

Thank you for the question, ma'am. Um, as a former New Mexican, uh, who deployed with New Mexico National Guard, I share your enthusiasm for the beauty and wonder that is the land of enchantment. Um, I think it's, it's critical that we see the explore act for everything that all of the committee members that worked so diligently to pass it, we need to see it reach its full potential. Um, as we as all of us have kind of harped on this this hearing, it's gonna take staff, it's gonna take resources, it's gonna take partnerships, and it's gonna take inter-agency cooperation. And I think as long as the right people are at the helm, and as long as the folks who believe in the mission are driving that conversation, which includes people with disabilities, which is Bill targets, um, I think we'll make serious progress.

I think, uh, along with the comments I've already shared today, thank you for the opportunity, ma'am. Um, intentional implementation is key here, right? What we do and as we enact the, um, measures of this bill, it needs to be built in versus bolted on. So it can't be the afterthought. It needs to be something that's that's absolutely intentional from the moment that we start implementing this program, which I think we've seen happen through the reports that are there. Um, and we stand by to share the experience and the expertise that we've developed over the programs that we provide for veterans, and we're happy to to, anytime you need us. Um, I think also one thing we haven't talked about that I just wanna highlight a little bit, is um, communicating the effect and the impact of weather on trails. As we're talking about plain and clear communication, uh, you know, a a slate pathway is gonna become quite different to transgress once it's wet. And so that needs to be a part of that plain clear communication that we're sharing with our our folks that are accessing the parks. Thank you.

Thank you so much for being here today. You're back.

Gentle lady's time has expired. I'd like to thank the witnesses for your testimony today and the members for your questions. members of the subcommittee may have some additional questions for you, and we will ask that the witnesses respond to those in writing. Under committee rule three, members of the subcommittee must submit questions to the subcommittee clerk by five p m on Monday, April twenty seventh, twenty twenty six. The hearing record will be held open for ten business days for those responses. If there is no further business, without objection, the subcommittee on federal land stands adjourned.