Senate’s approval of EXPLORE Act leaves it just a Presidental signature from enaction

Back in April – long before election season – the House of Representatives unanimously approved the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experience (EXPLORE) Act.

As I mentioned at the time, it’s an act that’s designed to not only improve access to public lands across our great country, but also to improve the infrastructure within them. On top of that, it’s designed to streamline the process of communication and action between the numerous federal agencies who help protect, control, and foster our public lands – specifically the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, US Fish & Wildlife, and various state-level agencies that support them.

That the House support for it was unanimous at the time helped show how wide-ranging and non-partisan the idea was. These are our public lands, after all, and everyone should be able to access them in the most forward-thinking way possible.

Today, the US Senate agreed with its House peers and approved the EXPLORE Act while still wrangling with the ability to actually fund a functioning government. Colorado Public Radio helped detail the Senate approval, in the process pointing out an interesting nugget within the act that should be of particular importance to those out here looking to live full-time in the mountains:

The package also reauthorizes the U.S. Forest Service to lease administrative sites for housing. It’s an idea championed by Neguse and Sen. Michael Bennet to help mountain communities address affordable housing needs.

The efforts in Summit County highlight a willingness for the US Forest Service to allow cities and counties to potentially build more affordable housing on US Forest land, something that’s been a hard no for years prior. This push has begun specifically in mountain towns that feature ski resorts that lease land off the US Forest Service for their operations and bring in tourists (and second-home owners) by the thousands yet, in the process, have both crowded and priced out locals from living and working in the area.

Summit County is home to Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Keystone ski resorts, as well as Arapahoe Basin and Loveland ski areas.

All that remains for the EXPLORE Act to go on the books and be enacted is a signature from outgoing President Joe Biden, something I expect we’ll hear about between now and January 20, 2025.