The Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act (aka EXPLORE Act) has become law and is intended to do a lot for outdoor recreation, including RVers. The act, signed January 4, 2025, is slated to spend $1.2 trillion on outdoor recreation. This includes monies intended to improve camping, increase access to public lands, expand camping seasons in some places, and upgrade connectivity in many rural places.
The legislation intends to modernize government systems to make access to parks more efficient. Encouragingly, it also unifies agencies within the government to reduce the number of silos of information and action.
Bill Passed as a Rare Bipartisan Achievement
In contrast to so many other issues, but similar to the America the Beautiful Act, the EXPLORE Act received by bipartisan support in Congress.
“The unanimous passage of the Outdoors for All Act in the Senate marks a historic milestone in expanding outdoor access for all Americans,” says Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser, President and CEO of Trust for Public Land. “As one of the final acts of Congress in 2024, this bipartisan achievement underscores the vital role parks and green spaces play in uniting us. For the first time, this legislation ensures that tribal nations can directly access funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, while also providing essential resources to underserved urban communities.”
“This is a victory for tribal communities who have long sought equitable access to outdoor recreation funding,” says Dr. Ken Lucero, Tribal and Indigenous Lands Director for Trust for Public Land. “Including tribes as eligible recipients ensures their voices and priorities are recognized and supported in the preservation and creation of outdoor spaces.”
EXPLORE Act Passage Celebrated by Outdoor Recreation Communities
According to the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, the act doesn’t actually cost additional funds or promote use of spaces that could harm those natural resources. The act was almost universally praised by a variety of watchdog groups and was passed with bipartisan support.
The Wilderness Society states that the legislation streamlines and improves the permitting process for outfitters and organized groups so they can spend more time doing what they do best—helping others enjoy and recreate on public lands. Another celebrant is the RV Industry Association (RVIA), an advocate for the RV lifestyle, which stated that the ruling would grow local jobs, includes access to public lands, responsibly extend federal land shoulder seasons to provide more access to those lands and bring together agencies to better manage those lands.
What the EXPLORE Act Could Mean for RVers
Improved Connectivity Could Be Coming
One aspect of the ruling is to bring better internet connectivity to public lands. While some have criticized this, the result is potentially good. For example, having greater connectivity will allow visitors to update reservations, create new reservations without having to contact park employees and volunteers. It could also improve access to emergency services. This connectivity is primarily in already-developed areas like lodges and campgrounds.
Jason Epperson of RVMiles in his YouTube news video noted that parks already have radio transmission towers. Epperson theorized that replacing these with less visually offensive cell towers could increase connectivity and reduce visual blight.
Projected Impact on the Outdoor Recreation Economy
The passage of the EXPLORE Act is also a victory for the outdoor recreation economy, now valued at $1.1 trillion annually and supporting 5 million jobs. By investing in trails, parks, and infrastructure, the legislation fosters social connection and resilience while ensuring the outdoors is open to everyone.
The bill is actually a package of a dozen or so public lands-related pieces of legislation, and it has broad support from both democrats and republicans and a wide variety of public lands stakeholders including environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the National Wildlife Federation, and business interests like the RV Industry Association and the Outdoor Hospitality Industry Association. Supporters say it will grow rural jobs, increase access to public lands, provide gateway communities assistance for outdoor recreation businesses and modernize facilities.
The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to establish ten long-distance national bike trails, at least 80 miles each in length, using trails and roads already in existence, and identify ten more that could become national bike trails in the future.
The bill sets a unified federal policy for recreational climbing, including placing and maintaining fixed anchors for recreational climbing and allowing them in federally protected wilderness areas.
Less Restriction of Filming on Public Lands
The bill will drop permit requirements for people filming on public lands as long as that filming is “merely incidental to, or documenting, an activity or event that is allowed or authorized at the System unit, whether any individual receives compensation.”
There is a provision for permits for groups of six or more who are filming or photographing, but they cannot charge for these permits and the permitting system has have an automated system.
Groups of more than eight, groups using more than basic hand-held equipment and tripods, and groups who are impeding and intruding on the experience of others will still need to apply for and obtain a permit and pay a fee.
Cleaning Up Maps, Bathroom, Accessibility, and More
The EXPLORE Act requires the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service to provide and update maps showing motorized and non-motorized use areas. Additionally, iy requires the agencies to support their gateway communities — the towns at the entrance to popular areas like national park s— and provide technical and financial assistance to businesses through low-interest business loan programs.
The bill allows for land management agencies to create cooperative cost-saving management agreements. For instance, a forest service campground on the edge of a national park could be run by the National Park Service to create efficiency. A state park can agree to work with a federal park to share employees or facilities, according to an article on RVMiles.com.
The new legislation requires secretaries to seek to increase and improve parking and restroom facilities.The secretaries also must establish new wheelchair-accessible trails and do an inventory of trails to provide accessibility data, including measuring each trail’s average and minimum tread width and slope. The EXPLORE Act supports veterans by requiring the agencies to assist with programs and jobs focused on continuing national service and develop strategies for encouraging outdoor recreation by veterans and service members.
Modernizing Permits and Passes
The bill dramatically cleans up and modernizes the permit process for public lands tour operators and guides, events, and special activities. Those activities still require permits, but much of the red tape in the application process will be removed, saving both the government and the applicants time and money.
The bill establishes a digital version of the America The Beautiful public lands passes that allow access to most federal lands for one fee. Starting in 2026, you will be able to purchase it online and have immediate access. It also allows federal agencies to partner with state and local agencies to allow people to buy multiple passes in one transaction. (Imagine you buy your state park pass when you renew your license plates, as several states do — you could theoretically add a federal pass simultaneously.)
The EXPLORE Act requires all of the federal land agencies to look at seasonal closures of parks, campgrounds, marinas, etc, and, where feasible, reduce the length of time those facilities close, allowing for more access in the shoulder seasons.
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