The Departments of Interior and Veterans Affairs submitted a joint report to Congress identifying barriers and opportunities for outdoor recreation on public lands to serve as therapeutic care for veterans, fulfilling a mandate from the Accelerating Veterans Recovery Outdoors Act passed in 2020. The task force identified transportation, awareness of programs, and accessibility due to physical disability as the top barriers preventing veterans from accessing public lands. From dozens of initial recommendations, the group narrowed focus to seven key actions including building partnerships between veterans’ outdoors groups and land managers, improving special use permit processes for veterans’ groups, and establishing a wellness challenge for veterans at national parks.
Research supports the intervention’s promise. According to the report, outdoor experiences provide tangible physical and mental health benefits for veterans—a finding backed by scientific evidence, though most opportunities remain limited to nonprofit-run programs. The task force called for better VA provider training to promote outdoor experiences as therapeutic tools and suggested reimbursement pathways. Ben Davis, executive director of Veterans Outdoor Advocacy Group and a Navy SEAL veteran who served on the task force, noted that experiences like fly fishing trips could be recognized and reimbursed through the VA health care system.
However, the final report was scaled back from a draft version. According to Sheman Neal II, who directs the Sierra Club’s military outdoors program, the final version removed language identifying specific barriers faced by racial and gender minorities and scaled back from more actionable recommendations such as establishing a national program office for outdoor recreation at the VA. Momentum continues through legislative channels: a bipartisan group of senators introduced the Veterans Outdoor Rehabilitation Act this year, which would provide grants to state veterans’ agencies to develop or partner on outdoor recreation opportunities.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://knpr.org/2026-05-21/federal-agencies-share-ideas-for-boosting-veterans-access-to-outdoor-recreation-on-public-lands