I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 187
To provide for the standardization, consolidation, and publication of data
relating to public outdoor recreational use of Federal waterways among
Federal land and water management agencies, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. M
OOREof Utah (for himself, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. FULCHER, and Mrs.
D
INGELL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agri-
culture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide for the standardization, consolidation, and publi-
cation of data relating to public outdoor recreational
use of Federal waterways among Federal land and water
management agencies, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modernizing Access 4
to our Public Waters Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘MAPWaters 5
Act of 2025’’. 6
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
In this Act: 2
(1) F
EDERAL FISHING RESTRICTION .—The 3
term ‘‘Federal fishing restriction’’ means a defined 4
area in which all or certain fishing activities are 5
temporarily or permanently prohibited or restricted 6
by a Federal land or water management agency. 7
(2) F
EDERAL LAND OR WATER MANAGEMENT 8
AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal land or water man-9
agement agency’’ means— 10
(A) the Bureau of Reclamation; 11
(B) the National Park Service; 12
(C) the Bureau of Land Management; 13
(D) the United States Fish and Wildlife 14
Service; and 15
(E) the Forest Service. 16
(3) F
EDERAL WATERWAY .—The term ‘‘Federal 17
waterway’’ means waters managed by 1 or more of 18
the relevant Secretaries. 19
(4) F
EDERAL WATERWAY RESTRICTION .—The 20
term ‘‘Federal waterway restriction’’ means a re-21
striction on the access or use of a Federal waterway 22
applied under applicable law by 1 or more of the 23
Secretaries. 24
(5) S
ECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 25
means— 26
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(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 1
through the Chief of the Forest Service; and 2
(B) the Secretary of the Interior. 3
(6) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 4
the several States, the District of Columbia, and 5
each territory of the United States. 6
SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY DATA STANDARDIZATION. 7
Not later than 30 months after the date of enactment 8
of this Act, the Secretaries, in coordination with the Fed-9
eral Geographic Data Committee established by section 10
753(a) of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (43 11
U.S.C. 2802(a)), shall jointly develop and adopt inter-12
agency standards to ensure compatibility and interoper-13
ability among applicable Federal databases with respect 14
to the collection and dissemination of geospatial data re-15
lating to public outdoor recreational access of Federal wa-16
terways and Federal fishing restrictions. 17
SEC. 4. DATA CONSOLIDATION AND PUBLICATION. 18
(a) F
EDERALWATERWAYRESTRICTIONS.—Not later 19
than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, each 20
of the Secretaries, to the maximum extent practicable, 21
shall digitize and make publicly available online, as appli-22
cable, geographic information system data that includes, 23
with respect to Federal waterway restrictions— 24
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(1) status information with respect to the con-1
ditions under which Federal waterways are open or 2
closed to entry or watercraft, including watercraft 3
inspection, decontamination requirements, low-ele-4
vation aircraft, or diving; 5
(2) the dates on which Federal waterways are 6
seasonally closed to entry or watercraft; 7
(3) the areas of Federal waterways with restric-8
tions on motorized propulsion, horsepower, or fuel 9
type; 10
(4) the areas of Federal waterways with an-11
choring restrictions, no wake zones, exclusion zones, 12
danger areas, or vessel speed restrictions; 13
(5) Federal waterway restrictions on the direc-14
tion of travel, including upstream or downstream 15
travel; and 16
(6) the uses, including by watercraft, that are 17
restricted on each area of a Federal waterway, in-18
cluding the permissibility of— 19
(A) canoes and other paddlecraft; 20
(B) rafts and driftboats; 21
(C) motorboats; 22
(D) personal watercraft; 23
(E) airboats; 24
(F) amphibious aircraft; 25
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(G) hovercraft; 1
(H) oversnow vehicles and other motorized 2
vehicles on frozen bodies of water; 3
(I) oceangoing ships; 4
(J) swimming; and 5
(K) other applicable recreational activities, 6
as determined to be appropriate by the Secre-7
taries. 8
(b) F
EDERALWATERWAYACCESS ANDNAVIGATION 9
I
NFORMATION.—Not later than 5 years after the date of 10
enactment of this Act, each of the Secretaries, to the max-11
imum extent practicable, shall digitize and make publicly 12
available online, as applicable, geographic information sys-13
tem data that includes, with respect to Federal waterway 14
access and navigation information— 15
(1)(A) the location of boat ramps, portages, and 16
fishing access sites under the authority of the Fed-17
eral land or water management agency; and 18
(B) the identification of the dates on which 19
the facilities and sites identified under subpara-20
graph (A) are open or closed, as applicable; and 21
(2) bathymetric information and depth charts, 22
as feasible. 23
(c) F
EDERALFISHINGRESTRICTIONS.—Not later 24
than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, each 25
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of the Secretaries, to the maximum extent practicable, 1
shall digitize and make publicly available online geo-2
graphic information system data that describes, with re-3
spect to Federal fishing restrictions— 4
(1) the location and geographic boundaries of 5
Federal fishing restrictions on recreational and com-6
mercial fishing, including— 7
(A) full or partial closures; 8
(B) no-take zones; and 9
(C) Federal fishing restrictions within or 10
surrounding marine protected areas; 11
(2) Federal fishing restrictions on the use of 12
specific types of equipment or bait; and 13
(3) Federal requirements with respect to catch 14
and release. 15
(d) P
UBLICCOMMENT.—The Secretaries shall de-16
velop a process to allow members of the public to submit 17
questions or comments regarding the information de-18
scribed in subsections (a) and (b). 19
(e) U
PDATES.—The Secretaries, to the maximum ex-20
tent practicable, shall update— 21
(1) the data described in subsections (a) and 22
(b) not less frequently than 2 times per year; and 23
(2) the data described in subsection (c) in real 24
time as changes go into effect. 25
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(f) EXCLUSION.—This section shall not apply to irri-1
gation canals and flowage easements. 2
(g) D
ISCLOSURE.—Any geographic information sys-3
tem data made publicly available under this section shall 4
not disclose information regarding the nature, location, 5
character, or ownership of historic, paleontological, or ar-6
chaeological resources, consistent with applicable law. 7
SEC. 5. COOPERATION AND COORDINATION. 8
(a) C
OMMUNITYPARTNERS ANDTHIRD-PARTYPRO-9
VIDERS.—For purposes of carrying out this Act, the Sec-10
retaries may— 11
(1) coordinate and partner with non-Federal 12
agencies and private sector and nonprofit partners, 13
including— 14
(A) State natural resource agencies; 15
(B) Tribal natural resource agencies; 16
(C) technology companies; 17
(D) geospatial data companies; and 18
(E) experts in data science, analytics, and 19
operations research; and 20
(2) enter into an agreement with a third party 21
to carry out any provision of this Act. 22
(b) U
NITEDSTATESGEOLOGICALSURVEY.—The 23
Secretaries may work with the Director of the United 24
States Geological Survey to collect, aggregate, digitize, 25
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standardize, and publish data on behalf of the Secretaries 1
to meet the requirements of this Act. 2
(c) R
EQUIREMENT.—With respect to data developed 3
and distributed under this Act, the Secretaries shall— 4
(1) develop the data in accordance with applica-5
ble Federal, State, and Tribal laws (including regu-6
lations); and 7
(2) include a notice that any geospatial data 8
are subject to applicable Federal, State, and Tribal 9
laws (including regulations). 10
(d) E
XISTINGEFFORTS.—To the extent practicable, 11
the Secretary concerned shall use or incorporate existing 12
applicable data, maps, and resources in carrying out this 13
Act, including data, maps, and resources developed and 14
published under— 15
(1) the Modernizing Access to Our Public Land 16
Act (16 U.S.C. 6851 et seq.); 17
(2) section 103 of division DD of the Consoli-18
dated Appropriations Act, 2023 (43 U.S.C. 776); or 19
(3) other applicable law. 20
SEC. 6. REPORTS. 21
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 22
of this Act and annually thereafter through March 30, 23
2034, the Secretaries shall submit a report that describes 24
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the progress made by the Secretaries with respect to meet-1
ing the requirements of this Act to— 2
(1) the Committee on Natural Resources of the 3
House of Representatives; 4
(2) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 5
the House of Representatives; 6
(3) the Committee on Agriculture of the House 7
of Representatives; 8
(4) the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-9
sources of the Senate; and 10
(5) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 11
and Forestry of the Senate. 12
SEC. 7. EFFECT. 13
Nothing in this Act— 14
(1) modifies or alters the definition of the term 15
‘‘navigable waters’’ under Federal law; 16
(2) affects the jurisdiction or authority of State 17
or Federal agencies to regulate navigable waters; 18
(3) modifies or alters the authority or jurisdic-19
tion of Federal or State agencies to manage fish-20
eries; or 21
(4) authorizes or is intended to result in a 22
change in the accessibility of waters open to hunting, 23
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fishing, or other forms of outdoor recreation as of 1
the date of the enactment of this Act. 2
Æ
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