This bill became law on 2025-01-03 as Public Law No. 119-62.
The summary below describes the bill at the version we last reviewed; the enacted text may differ.
YourVoice.Now Summary
Transparency & AccountabilityCorporate BenefitsIf you boat or fish on federal waters, closure and speed-limit maps go online within five years.
Transparency & Accountability
Within 30 months, the two departments in charge must pick one shared data format. That lets the five agencies' map files work as one set.
Each agency has five years to turn its records into online maps, then update them twice a year. Maps show open and closed dates, no-wake zones, engine limits, ramp sites, and which boats may go where.
Maps of fishing closures, no-take zones, and gear or bait limits must also go online within five years. Unlike the boating maps, these must change the moment a closure starts or ends.
The agencies must build a way for anyone to ask questions or comment on the access and navigation data. This channel does not cover the fishing restriction maps.
The maps must leave out where old ruins, fossil beds, and dig sites sit, and who owns them. Federal law already limits who may learn those spots.
Corporate Benefits
The agencies may team up with tech firms, mapping data companies, and data experts. They may also hire an outside group to do any part of the job.
More about this bill
If you fish, boat, or paddle on federal rivers and lakes, the rules are moving online. Five federal agencies must now post maps showing where you can go and what you can do. That covers seasonal closures, no-wake zones, speed limits, boat ramp sites, and fishing closures. The agencies have five years, and the law asks only that they go as far as is practical. Nothing changes about where you may hunt, fish, or boat. The law says so directly. It only requires that rules already in force be mapped and posted. The five agencies must also agree on one shared data format within 30 months. Fishing closure maps must be updated in real time. Other maps must be updated twice a year. If you do not use federal waterways, you will notice no change.
Congressional Summary
Modernizing Access to our Public Waters Act or the MAPWaters Act of 2025 or the MAPWaters Act of 2025This bill directs the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to standardize and publish data relating to the public's access to federal waterways for recreational use.Specifically, the Forest Service and Interior must jointly develop and adopt interagency standards for data collection and dissemination of geospatial data relating to public outdoor recreational access of federal waterways and federal fishing restrictions. The standards must ensure compatibility and interoperability among applicable federal databases with respect to collection and dissemination of such data.Within five years, the Forest Service and Interior must also digitize and make publicly available online certain geographic information system data about (1) federal waterway restrictions, (2) federal waterway access and navigation information, and (3) federal fishing restrictions. They must also update the data about waterway restrictions, waterway access, and navigation information at least twice per year. Data about fishing restrictions must be updated in real time as changes go into effect.Finally, the Forest Service and Interior must develop a process to allow members of the public to submit questions or comments regarding the data regarding waterway restrictions, waterway access, and navigation information.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-01-03
- Date Added
- 2026-07-11
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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