Katie Boue

Let’s start with the good news. In case you’ve been living under (or climbing on top of) a rock for the last week: the outdoor community scored a big win last week with the passage of the public lands package through the Senate

If you know me, you know that I don’t do traditional breakfast foods, and this season my go-to morning meal is homemade veggie ramen soup. By popular demand after posting a video of my steaming morning bowl of ramen goodness, I’m sharing my quick and easy recipe for you, the people. When the veggies are nearly done (5 minutes-ish), turn up the heat on the broth and add the ramen noodles. Pour soup + noodles into a bowl, then top with veggies, chopped green onion, and a load of lime juice.

It’s that big set of bills I’ve been hyped on, that includes LWCF permanent reauthorization, Recreation Not Red Tape, the Emery County Bill that’s close to home for me, the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act, and many other important and powerful outdoor-related bills. Sen. Cory Gardner got fired up, along with a bipartisan cohort of Senators Cantwell, Daines and Murkowski who all went to bat for the outdoor community, debating for nearly an hour (a big deal for public lands to get that much floor time in a big Congressional moment like this). There were major highlights, like the success of the #VoteTheOutdoors campaign and the Outdoor Advocate Network–but overall, I’d call this year a big, fat meh. The last week of Congressional happenings, planning for 2019 campaigns, signing new contracts with old and new advocacy clients, and reviving my business plan has the spark reignited.

The outdoor recreation community will remember Secretary Zinke for his flawed decision to dramatically reduce two national monuments in Utah despite their positive economic benefits to the state and against the advice of 4 million Americans. So, my takeaway from this breaking news and the jolt of advocacy energy it gave me is: bottle up that energy, renew your stoke to fight for good, and get ready to roll up your sleeves. It financially supports and prioritizes outdoor recreation, designates 20,000 acres of the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee as Wilderness (the highest level of protection for public lands), addresses wildfire issues, and more. It all needs to be funded by December 21st to avoid a government shut down, and includes legislation on LWCF, Recreation Not Red Tape, the Emery County Bill and other key issues.