New legislation will increase accessibility to saltwater recreational fishing regulations and marine waters navigation information
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership celebrates Senate introduction of the Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act. The MAPOceans Act will direct the standardization, consolidation, and digitization of boating and recreational fishing information for federally managed marine waters and federal fisheries administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
This bill will enhance and expand recreation opportunities by investing in modern technology commonly found in smartphone applications to provide anglers, boaters, and other users with the information they need to safely and legally enjoy offshore waters and federal saltwater fisheries.
The bipartisan legislation was introduced by U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Angus King (I-Maine).
“The complex regulations of saltwater angling in America should not keep people from enjoying their sporting opportunities,” said Joel Pedersen, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “The MAPOceans Act will help ensure that boating and recreational fishing information are digitized and readily available to our nation’s saltwater anglers and recreationists. TRCP thanks Senator Cruz and Senator King for their leadership to introduce and advance this important public access legislation.”
The MAPOceans Act builds on the success of the MAPLand Act, passed in 2022, and the MAPWaters Act, which passed out of the House of Representatives in January 2025, by directing NOAA to digitize navigation and recreational use rules for marine waters and federal fisheries, and to make those resources readily available to the public. The hundreds of thousands of offshore ocean miles and numerous saltwater fish species regulated by NOAA present enormous recreational opportunities where restrictions are difficult to access and constantly changing. MAPOceans directs the federal agency to compile those rules in digital form so they can be integrated into GPS units and smartphone applications that are popular with boaters and anglers, making that information available to the public in real time.
This newly digitized public information would include:
Status information on which waterways are open or closed to entry or watercraft, low-elevation aircraft, or diving.
The areas of waterways with restrictions on motorized propulsion, horsepower, or gasoline fuel.
Types of watercraft that are restricted on each area of a waterway, including the permissibility of motorboats, non-motorized watercraft, personal watercraft, airboats, amphibious aircraft, and oceangoing ships.
The location and geographic boundaries of fishing restrictions on recreational and commercial fishing, including full or partial closures, no-take zones, and fishing restrictions within or surrounding marine protected areas.
Fishing regulations concerning specific types of equipment or bait, such as restrictions on the use of circle hooks, descending devices, and trolling.
To help educate hunters and anglers on this suite of important, bipartisan, access legislation, the TRCP launched the MAPping Public Access webpage that breaks down the history, status, and relevance of the MAPLand, MAPWaters, and MAPOceans Acts.
Learn more about TRCP’s work to improve your access to public lands and waters HERE.
Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act Introduced in the Senate and House
Lawmakers have introduced the Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act to boost a crucial Farm Bill program that creates public hunting and fishing opportunities on private land.
The Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act of 2025 has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Senator Marshall (R-Kan.) and in the House of Representatives by Representative Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.). This bipartisan, bicameral bill would strengthen one of the most critical Farm Bill programs for America’s hunters and anglers: the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (VPA-HIP). VPA-HIP is the only federal initiative that helps to create public hunting and fishing opportunities on private land and this new legislation reauthorizes the program at triple its prior funding level. This reinforces the full Farm Bill that House Ag Committee Chairman GT Thompson’s (R-Pa.) introduced last Congress, which proposed a similar funding increase to this critical program. Bipartisan, bicameral bills like this are rare and show the value of this program to leaders across the political spectrum.
“State-led access programs are hurting this year without support from VPA-HIP, and including the Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act in a 2025 farm bill would be a major positive development for hunters and anglers,” said Joel Pedersen, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “We are thrilled to see such an influential, bipartisan group of leaders recognize the importance of increased hunting and fishing access by introducing this legislation. Thank you, Senators Daines, Bennet, and Marshall and Representatives Dingell and Johnson, for your leadership and support.”
The legislation would invest $150 million over the next five years in the VPA-HIP, which provides grants to states and Tribes to be implemented at the local level. This increased investment was among the recommendations made by TRCP’s Agriculture and Wildlife Working Group in its Farm Bill platform and has been echoed by groups across the hunting and fishing community.
What they are saying:
“On behalf of the nation’s recreational fishing industry, the American Sportfishing Association thanks Senators Daines, Marshall, and Bennet, as well as Representatives Dingell and Johnson for their leadership of the Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act,” said Glenn Hughes, president of the American Sportfishing Association. “This legislation will support and enable landowners to provide fishing access on private lands, opening valuable waters to anglers. The reauthorization and expansion of VPA-HIP will strengthen a program that has allowed access to private lands since 2008, creating memorable days on the water for America’s anglers.”
“We greatly appreciate Senators Daines, Bennet, and Marshall and Representatives Dingell and Johnson introducing the House version of the VPA Improvement Act. As we entered discussions of the 2023 Farm Bill, extending and expanding the impact of VPA-HIP was one of Delta’s highest priorities,” said John Devney, chief policy officer at Delta Waterfowl. “As duck hunters across the country look for additional access, increased investments in VPA HIP can lead to new partnerships with private landowners to enhance habitat and also provide access. We hope that the effort by these leaders will lead to a broader bi-partisan effort to include an expanded VPA-HIP in the final Farm Bill.”
“There are dozens of state programs throughout country that help open public hunting access on private lands, but one common thread is that VPA-HIP is the unsung hero that makes much of that access possible,” said Ariel Wiegard, vice president of government affairs for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. “The economic returns for rural communities in VPA-HIP have been shown many times over, and increasing funding for the program is one of our top priorities in the next farm bill. Access is at the core of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s mission, and we thank Senators Daines, Bennet, and Marshall and Representatives Dingell and Johnson for their leadership and support for this very successful program.”
“Hunting access is one of the most significant barriers for both new and experienced hunters,” said Kellis Moss, Ducks Unlimited managing director of federal affairs. “The Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act is a win-win for sportsmen and landowners, and we thank Sens. Daines, Bennet, Marshall for leading this bipartisan effort in the Senate, as well as Reps. Dingell and Johnson for their leadership in the House.”
“We are proud to support Representative Dingell’s, and Representative Johnson and Senator Daines’, reintroduction of the Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act,” said Nick Pinizzotto, president and CEO of the National Deer Association. “Reauthorizing and strengthening the Act will ensure that landowners and sportsmen alike can continue to benefit from sustainable wildlife management and habitat preservation for generations to come.”
VPA-HIP is the single best federal tool for increasing recreational access on private lands by helping states create innovative ways of incentivizing private landowners to open their lands to the public for wildlife-dependent recreation. It also has a very special place in the hearts of TRCP’s staff and supporters, as it was championed by our inspirational co-founder, Jim Range, before his untimely death. The program was established and funded through the 2008, 2014, and 2018 Farm Bills—most recently at $50 million over five years—with its impacts felt across the country.
Apart from creating more outdoor recreation access, VPA-HIP funding is also utilized to provide technical and financial assistance to landowners for wildlife habitat improvement and enhancement projects. It is often layered with other Farm Bill programs that have habitat benefits, such as Conservation Reserve Program and Wetland Reserve Easements. And the program allows states to address liability, alleviating a roadblock for many landowners to open their lands to the public.
Studies estimate that the VPA-HIP has a more than eight-to-one return on investment in the form of outdoor recreation spending in rural communities.
Watch a video about some of the many benefits of VPA-HIP below.
The TRCP is your resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.
New webpage is an educational resource for hunters and anglers concerned with federal public land transfer or sale
Today, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership announced their Public Land Access webpage, an educational resource for hunters, anglers, and all Americans who take pride in their public lands and are concerned with the threat of federal public land transfer or sale.
America’s 640 million acres of national public lands – including our National Forests and Bureau of Land Management lands – provide irreplaceable hunting and fishing opportunities to millions of Americans. Federally managed public lands are the backbone of America’s outdoor recreation industry, which contributed $639.5 billion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2023.
In January 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Utah’s petition, marking another major win for public land hunting, fishing, and access. However, this was not the first attempt to force the sale or transfer of federal public lands, and unfortunately, it will not be the last. In the 2025 state legislative sessions that have just begun, legislators in several Western states have already voted in support of resolutions aimed at forcing federal agencies to transfer their lands.
The Public Land Access webpage details the unintended financial impacts of federal land transfer, the history of public land transfer attempts, and the intricacies of state trust land management. Visitors also have the opportunity to take action and sign a petition to keep public lands and wildlife in public hands.
To learn more about the threat of federal public land transfer or sale and to sign the petition, visit the webpage HERE.
Photo credit: Josh Metten
The TRCP is your resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.
TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.
Capt. Franklin Adams
Hometown: Born in Miami, Florida Occupation: Retired; former occupations include warden-naturalist for the National Audubon Society, Florida Master Naturalist, land surveyor (with projects in Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, and the Florida Keys), surveyor/mapper for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Merchant Marine officer, and eco-tour operator/ fishing guide with a USCG 100-ton Master’s license Conservation credentials: As a true Gladesman, conservationist, and historian, Adams has spent more than six decades championing Everglades restoration efforts while working for and with conservation nonprofits, government agencies, and private businesses, as well as chartering inshore fishing adventures. He’s also the former chair of the Florida Wildlife Federation and a 31-year board member, as well as past president of the Florida Division of the Izaak Walton League of America and Collier County chairman of the Friends of the Everglades.
While thousands of people and scores of organizations are involved in the conservation of America’s Everglades, few, if any, have the breadth and depth of experience and understanding as Capt. Franklin Adams. This is a man who was fortunate to experience South Florida in a relatively unspoiled, natural condition, and was on the front lines of early protection efforts. Who else was personally mentored by Marjory Stoneman Douglas – the author, women’s suffrage advocate, and conservationist credited with launching the Everglades conservation movement – and once hunted waterfowl in the wetlands that later became Everglades National Park? Adams has been officially recognized as a “Guardian of the Everglades,” largely for his advocacy for Big Cypress National Preserve and successful effort to help protect what became the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, now the largest state park in Florida and a refuge for Florida panthers and the rare Everglades mink, as well as the largest number of rare native orchids and bromeliads in North America.
Here is his story.
Franklin and friends at a 1962 Everglades outing. Credit: Franklin Adams
I was introduced at a young age to fishing, hunting, and enjoyment of the great outdoors by my father, G.B. Adams. I actually accompanied my dad duck hunting on West Lake prior to it becoming part of Everglades National Park in 1947. I was taught gun safety and to respect wildlife and wild places.
One of my most memorable outdoor experiences was a couple years before that when I was taken to the woods by my daddy for my seventh birthday. (We referred to the Everglades and Big Cypress as “going to the woods.”) We had to walk into the campsite at night as he and his friends had gotten off work late. It was so new and exciting for a young boy that I have never forgotten that first family experience. A cold front was approaching as we came into deer camp, so dad had me collect some “boot jacks” off a cabbage palm tree in the upland hammock and he used them to start a lightered pine fire.
“I began to see objects in the smoke and mist – deer, Indian chickees, and turkey gobblers floated through my imagination that night as I went into a deep sleep.“
Dad had brought venison chili, which was heated up on the fire grid and biscuits were baked in a Dutch oven. Smelled good, and tasted even better. After supper dad and his friends sat around the fire and sipped some “brown swamp water” and told stories of past trips and experiences. I leaned up against an old live oak and listened as the cold front moved in and enjoyed the odor of the burning, smoking pine. As the front moved in, a ground fog began to mist slowly through the hardwood hammock and I was fighting to stay awake. I began to see objects in the smoke and mist – deer, Indian chickees (traditional shelters used by the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes), and turkey gobblers floated through my imagination that night as I went into a deep sleep. In the morning, I awoke to the smell of lighter knot coffee, pancakes, and sausage on the fire. That was my first trip to the Everglades’ Big Cypress region and I was captured by that wonderful experience. I have been going back ever since. So, add 80 more years to that 7-year-old’s birthday. Thanks, Dad.
Franklin helming his vessel, Albatross II. Credit: Rick FarrenFranklin fixing lunch on Albatross II. Credit: Daniel Lindley
If I could hunt or fish anywhere, where would it be, and why? That’s a difficult one. There are so many places known for their fishing and hunting and I have never been to them. I want to take my grandson, Michael, with me, so probably the Ten Thousand Islands of the southwest Florida area. Up Lostmans River, Broad River, or Shark River to fish for snook. Why, it’s an area I know and love and not too distant from home.
Franklin in his TRCP hat, as a longtime supporter of the organization. Credit: Ryan Lockwood
Conservation absolutely enhances my outdoor life. This is how my career came about. As I accompanied my father in his surveying business around South Florida, I witnessed the destruction and continual loss of wetlands and woods that we had enjoyed. I began to become concerned and to inquire as to causes for the loss of these treasured natural areas. Why was it necessary to destroy that hardwood hammock, that prairie, or fill in that duck hunting lake? Mom and Dad began to encourage my conservation concerns and provided me with nature books, stressing the importance of outdoor ethics and the value of natural areas if left alone and protected.
The more I learned, the more I became frustrated, and somewhat angry. When I was in high school, I discovered Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s book, The Everglades: River of Grass, published in 1947. From her book I learned so much, including that one could speak out in defense of natural areas. Later she would become a mentor and a family friend. In 1970, she established Friends of the Everglades to fight the Big Cypress jetport project and asked me to be the Collier County chairman. As I added on some age and experience, I headed up several conservation organizations as an unpaid volunteer over the years, including serving as chair of the Florida Wildlife Federation and a board member for 31 years.
A Florida panther captured on a trail cam on Franklin’s property, February 2025. Credit: Franklin Adams
The biggest outdoor challenge we face in Florida, and there are many, is protecting wetlands and the water quality that they provide, cost-free if we protect them. We continue to lose critical habitat to unwise development and, yes, greed, and not respecting nature.
Franklin Adams Guardian portrait. Artwork courtesy Nicholas Petrucci.
It is vitally important to mentor and educate your children, grandchildren, and families as to the importance of conservation; why it is imperative for them to be involved in learning about and becoming knowledgeable defenders of the outdoors they enjoy and love. Otherwise, we will continue to lose habitat. Nature and the outdoors not only are important to wildlife, but they are also vitally important to us as an escape from stress, and provide restorative experiences that we can share with family and friends for a lifetime of memories.
Banner image: Franklin at a Fakahatchee Strand Preserve campfire talk, credit Dino Barone
Wyoming Sportspeople Celebrate Conservation of Iconic Big Game Migration Corridors with Kelly Parcel Sale to Grand Teton National Park
Hunting and grazing will be retained in perpetuity on the parcel
In the waning hours of 2024, the State of Wyoming and Department of the Interior finalized the $100 million sale of the 640-acre Kelly State Trust Parcel to Grand Teton National Park, marking the terminus of the years-long effort to conserve its outstanding wildlife values.
Alarmed by a proposal to sell the parcel at public auction in 2023, a broad coalition of Wyomingites, including numerous sportspeople’s groups, worked with the Wyoming legislature, Governor Mark Gordon, auditor Kristi Racines, and treasurer Curt Meier to authorize its direct sale to the park, generating a windfall for public education. Hunting and grazing will remain on the parcel per the sales agreement.
The Kelly Parcel remains one of the few accessible public tracts of land available for bison hunting in Wyoming. As seen in the feature image, after 16 days of hunting, including an opportunity on the Kelly Parcel the day before, Cody, Wyoming, resident Austin Reed was successful on the National Elk Refuge in early 2025.
“Wyoming sportspeople quickly recognized the threat to pronghorn and elk migration paths, wildlife habitat, and public access should the Kelly Parcel be developed,” said Josh Metten, Wyoming field manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “The sale to Grand Teton National Park is a win-win for wildlife, sportspeople, and Wyoming school children. We thank the legislature, Governor Gordon, auditor Racines, treasurer Meier, and the broad coalition of Wyomingites who worked tirelessly to achieve this historic win.”
The sale was furnished by monies from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which receives royalties from offshore oil and gas development, and private donors to Grand Teton National Park Foundation. Revenues will directly benefit Wyoming school children as required by the Wyoming constitution.
“The broad support from Wyomingites to convey the Kelly Parcel to Grand Teton National Park is a clear indication of our desire to find common-ground solutions that avoid political gridlock and partisan politics,” added Metten. “We thank Grand Teton National Park for retaining hunting and grazing in perpetuity for this parcel, which is now forever conserved for future generations to enjoy.”
For several decades, conservationists and Wyoming’s elected representatives have recognized that state trust parcels found within Grand Teton National Park’s boundaries could be added to the park while also meeting those parcels’ constitutional mandate to generate revenue for public education. In 2003, the late senator Craig Thomas led the passage of legislation authorizing exchanges, sales, or trades of state trust inholdings. The Kelly parcel acquisition is the culmination of this effort and is a historic win for Wyoming and all Americans.
The TRCP is your resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to further our commitment to conservation. $4 from each bag is donated to the TRCP, to help continue our efforts of safeguarding critical habitats, productive hunting grounds, and favorite fishing holes for future generations.
