"The Modernizing Access to our Public Waters Act has been sent to President Donald Trump for signing after passing a vote in the Senate. The bill, once signed, would improve recreation on federal waterways by investing in modern technology to provide anglers, hunters, boaters, and other water users the information needed to safely and legally access and utilize public waters administered by federal agencies, according to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
The bipartisan legislation was led by U.S. Senators John Barrasso, R-WY, and Angus King, I-ME, and Representatives Blake Moore, R-UT, Jimmy Panetta, D-CA, Russ Fulcher, R-ID, and Debbie Dingell, D-MI.
Once enacted, the bill would direct federal agencies to digitize water and fishing access and recreational use information on federal waterways and to make those resources readily available to the public. Federal waterways include any portion of a body of water managed, or partially managed, by the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Forest Service.
“Federally managed waters provide millions of American anglers and hunters with innumerable opportunities to fish and hunt,” said Joel Pedersen, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “The MAPWaters Act will digitize and clarify the complex rules of public waterways and make them readily available to all to ensure Americans recreate legally and safely on our public waters.”"
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