– TRAVEL MANAGEMENT RULE
What the Travel Management Rule Means for Winter Recreation
For over two decades, Winter Wildlands Alliance has worked forest by forest to balanced motorized access with human=powered recreation and wildlife habitat. Here’s what the Travel Management rule is, what’s changed over the years, and what it means for the places you recreate.
Winter Wildlands Alliance made this film in collaboration with Brown Barn Studios.
IN MEMORY OF DAVID PAGE
September 7, 1969 – July 7, 2026
Former Executive Director of Winter Wildlands Alliance and a passionate advocate for wild winters, David was instrumental in bringing this film to life. He believed deeply in the power of collaboration to protect and steward winter landscapes. His vision, leadership, and love for wild places continue to inspire this work.
– WHY THIS MATTERS
Collaboration is the whole job.
As From the Ground Up illustrates, collaboration and community are everything when it comes to protecting the places we love. This is at the core of our work, and it’s the same spirit behind our Ski Kind ethic — how we treat each other and the places we love, on and off the snow.
For the past decade, Winter Wildlands Alliance has worked to enact and implement winter travel plans in as many places as possible to support multi-use recreation and to carve out protected spaces for quiet recreation, wildlife, and ecosystem conservation. That work is hard, but it’s paying off: we are proud to be supporting on-the-ground implementation of winter travel plans in three national forests in California, alongside active advocacy in Colorado and other states that don’t yet have a plan in place.
– POLICY UPDATE
The future of the Travel Management Rule is Uncertain
At the end of May 2026, the Trump administration announced the repeal of two executive orders (EOs) that for decades have guided how federal agencies manage off-road and over-snow vehicle use on public lands and were foundational components of the Travel Management Rule. This decision directed federal land management agencies, including the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, to rescind or revise their regulations implementing these EOs.
While the future of the Travel Management Rule is uncertain, it is clear that the current administration is prioritizing motorized access over ecological integrity and human-powered recreation. This is a devastating blow to the decades of work that have gone into balancing recreation and conservation on national forest lands through the Travel Management Rule.
You don’t need a national rule to get travel planning done. You need motivated community members willing to put in the work.
– TAKE ACTION
