The Mountaineers
Each year, The Mountaineers and our Outdoor Alliance Washington (OA WA) partners visit Washington, D.C. to unite leaders in the human-powered outdoor community to advocate together with lawmakers and land managers for shared conservation and recreation priorities.
Our recent trip felt different than previous visits due to the partial federal government shutdown. The halls of Congress were a little sparse, there were fewer advocates making the rounds, and some congressional staff were furloughed. But a shutdown didn’t derail our advocacy plans for public lands - we took advantage of a quieter capitol to meet directly with lawmakers and staff to keep public lands front of mind in Congress year.
As the shutdown reaches the one-month mark this week, the current funding impasse underscores why this advocacy matters: when agencies lose funding, staff, trails, parks, and recreation access all suffer. Even in a shutdown, public lands need champions, and Washington’s human-powered outdoor community is here to help answer that call.
The Mountaineers, American Whitewater, Surfrider Foundation, and Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance joined Outdoor Alliance partners from across the country to continue the drumbeat for the outdoors through more than 75 meetings with congressional offices on Capitol Hill. In these meetings we elevated important issues that our community continues to grapple with this year, including:
- The importance of keeping public lands public
- Protecting federal land manager capacity and securing critical funding through agency appropriations
- Defending the Roadless Rule and the backcountry experiences it protects
- Reauthorization of the Legacy Restoration Fund to continue vital deferred maintenance projects on federal lands
Elevating Public Lands and Recreation in Congress
We were fortunate to connect with staff from every office of Washington state’s 12-member congressional delegation - which is filled with champions of conservation and recreation issues.
There are so many important issues to work on in Congress, and lawmakers and their staff have a finite amount of time. In-person advocacy meetings are key to maintaining support for the issues our community cares about and the lawmaker’s work on them. They’re also a great opportunity to hear how these members enjoy experiencing Washington’s outdoors.
Despite the current budget gridlock, our presence allowed us to share our community’s deep gratitude for the many ways that Washington’s representatives and senators have spoken up for the outdoors this year. Our meetings also provided a valuable chance to recap all that’s happened in public lands policy, gather some good intel on our issues, and flag upcoming opportunities for engagement.
We thanked lawmakers for their support of the Roadless Rule and permanent protections for Roadless through the Roadless Area Conservation Act, shared on-the-ground impacts to Washington communities from Forest Service workforce reductions, and proactively looked ahead to future opportunities to invest in public lands and our land managers.
For the second year in a row, we had the great opportunity to meet with Senator Patty Murray. Washington’s senior senator shared how our advocacy to share local on-the-ground impact stories this year powers her work to speak up for land managers and pass along these compelling stories to her colleagues in the Senate.
Outdoor Alliance Washington Meets with Senator Murray in Washington D.C. Photo courtesy of Senator Murray's staff.
Another highlight from our meetings was the chance to continue to elevate constituent voices and local partners through our advocacy. In our meeting with Rep. Newhouse’s staff, leaders from central Washington’s recreation community shared their local perspectives - which is invaluable as staff evaluate how these issues impact the communities their boss represents.
Washington advocates and Rep. Newhouse’s staff and their office pup, Finley. Photo courtesy of Rep. Newhouse’s staff.
In addition to our Washington-focused meetings, members of our OA WA team had the opportunity to join partners in meetings with key congressional committees like the House Natural Resources and Senate Energy and Natural Resources committees. Relationship building with committee staff is critical to understanding the policy landscape and generating opportunities for the recreation community to help shape a better future for public lands and sustainable recreation access. This is just one of the many ways our partnership with Outdoor Alliance provides a national platform for our advocacy - leading to greater impact for the lands and experiences we love.
Supporting Washington’s Next Outdoor Advocates
Through Outdoor Alliance’s Grasstops Collective advocacy training program, we’re mentoring the next crop of recreation advocates and building support for more big wins for public lands and recreation. Our recent D.C. trip represented the second opportunity to collaborate with a cohort of four Washington grasstops advocates as they applied what they’ve learned about advocacy and relationship building with members of Congress.
This year’s cohort includes Washington advocates representing the Methow Valley Trails Collaborative, Washington Canyon Coalition, and Evergreen’s Columbia Basin Chapter, and Outward Bound. These advocates played an important role elevating their constituent voice and weaving their personal passion for Washington’s public lands and equitable outdoor access into powerful pitches for the outdoors. Interested in exploring the Grasstops Collective? Outdoor Alliance is accepting applications for their 2026 cohort until Nov. 2, 2025.
Action You Can Take to Support Public Lands
Our conservation team will share additional reflections from our D.C. advocacy in our upcoming Fall Conservation Policy Update. There’s still time to RSVP to join us virtually on Wednesday, Nov. 5. In the meantime, you can help move our advocacy forward by asking your senators to support extension of the Legacy Restoration Fund. Use our action form to ask your Senators to co-sponsor and support the America the Beautiful Act - legislation that would reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund.
