Adam Cramer, founding CEO of the Outdoor Alliance, a coalition of ten human-powered recreation organizations including American Whitewater, the Access Fund, and Winter Wildlands Alliance, discusses how the group organizes climbers, kayakers, mountain bikers, and backcountry skiers around public lands advocacy. He traces the coalition’s origins to a challenge posed by Mike Finley, former Yellowstone National Park superintendent and then-president of the Turner Foundation, and to his own path from a pro bono legal case renegotiating a hydropower permit on Maryland’s Upper Youghiogheny River. Cramer names the Roadless Rule, which protects an estimated 45 million acres of national forest across 42 states and is currently under administration review, as the coalition’s top priority, alongside a separate wilderness stewardship review from the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Fish and Wildlife Service with public comments due August 14, 2026. He argues that public comment campaigns carry weight even when they appear to fail, pointing to organized opposition that helped defeat a proposed public lands sell-off earlier in 2026.

Public comments and calls to elected officials still matter even when outcomes are uncertain

Adam Cramer is the founding CEO of the Outdoor Alliance, a coalition of ten human-powered outdoor recreation organizations, including American Whitewater, the Access Fund, and Winter Wildlands Alliance, that unites climbers, kayakers, mountain bikers, and backcountry skiers around a shared cause: protecting the public lands their sports depend on. Bill and Anders sit down with Cramer to trace the coalition’s origin story and to talk through what actually moves the needle in Washington when public comment periods can draw well over 100,000 responses and still go nowhere.

Cramer explains how Outdoor Alliance formed after Mike Finley, then president of the Turner Foundation and a former Yellowstone National Park superintendent, asked the leaders of established groups like American Whitewater and the International Mountain Bicycling Association whether their communities could organize around public lands the way hunters and anglers already had. Cramer’s own path started with a pro bono case renegotiating a hydropower permit on Maryland’s Upper Youghiogheny River, the state’s first Wild River; that case put him on the board of American Whitewater and eventually into the CEO role when Outdoor Alliance became its own independent nonprofit in 2014. He walks through the coalition’s current priorities, chiefly the Roadless Rule, which protects an estimated 45 million acres of national forest across 42 states and is now under administration review, and a separate wilderness stewardship review from the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Fish and Wildlife Service, with public comments due August 14, 2026.

Cramer argues that public comments and calls to elected officials still matter even when outcomes are uncertain, pointing to the successful pushback against a proposed public lands sell-off earlier this year as proof that a small number of the right lawmakers, not universal agreement, is often enough to change an outcome. He makes the case that outdoor recreation, now a trillion-dollar segment of the economy, may be one of the few remaining entry points for public lands advocacy that crosses party lines, precisely because it is personal rather than abstract to the people who do it.

In this episode:

• A coalition built from a challenge Outdoor Alliance’s origin traces to a question Mike Finley, then president of the Turner Foundation, posed to established recreation groups: could they organize around public lands the way hunters and anglers already had?
• From a DC parking lot to a conservation career Cramer recounts how a pro bono legal case protecting a whitewater river pulled him from corporate law into full-time public lands advocacy.
• What holds a coalition together Cramer explains how Outdoor Alliance’s ten member organizations, spanning climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, and backcountry skiing, navigate disagreement by focusing first on common ground.
• The case for showing up anyway Why Cramer believes a public comment or a call to a lawmaker still carries weight, even against decisions that seem predetermined.
• The Roadless Rule, Cramer’s top priority A breakdown of the 45-million-acre rule now under administration review, and why Cramer calls it the “Goldilocks zone” of conservation policy.
• Recreation as a bridge across party lines Cramer’s argument that outdoor recreation, because it’s personal rather than abstract, may be one of the few paths to public lands advocacy that doesn’t split along party lines.

Links & Resources

Organizations & Initiatives:

• Outdoor Alliance — Coalition of ten human-powered outdoor recreation organizations that Cramer leads as founding CEO, formed as an independent nonprofit in 2014. 
• American Whitewater — National whitewater paddling organization and founding Outdoor Alliance member; Cramer served on its board before leading Outdoor Alliance. 
• Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership — Hunting and fishing conservation coalition Cramer references as a model for Outdoor Alliance, tied to Mike Finley’s early involvement. 
• National Wilderness Coalition — Advocacy coalition Anders references in discussing National Wilderness Week, an annual DC gathering of wilderness advocates. 

Places & Landscapes:

• Upper Youghiogheny River — Whitewater river in western Maryland, the state’s first Wild River, where Cramer’s pro bono hydropower case began his conservation career. 
• Reddish Knob, George Washington National Forest — Virginia summit and Cramer’s favorite mountain bike ride, where President Clinton announced the Roadless Rule in 1999. 

Government & Policy:

• Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001) — Protects an estimated 45 million acres of national forest roadless areas across 42 states; discussed as Outdoor Alliance’s top current priority under administration review. 
• Wilderness stewardship review (2026) — Joint National Park Service, BLM, and Fish and Wildlife Service review of wilderness management policy; public comments due August 14, 2026.
• Great American Outdoors Act (2020) — Legislation Outdoor Alliance helped pass, providing permanent Land and Water Conservation Fund money and a public lands maintenance backlog fund. 
• EXPLORE Act (2024) — Outdoor recreation legislation Cramer cites as a decade-long Outdoor Alliance effort that passed Congress unanimously. 

People Mentioned:

• Mike Finley — Former Yellowstone National Park superintendent and president of the Turner Foundation (2001–2016); posed the founding question that led to Outdoor Alliance.
• Terry Tempest Williams — Author, quoted by Anders for her line “hope is a verb.” Catch our conversation with Terry in Episode 51.
• Tracy Stone-Manning — Referenced by Bill in hoping Cramer becomes a “repeat offender” guest. Catch our conversations with Tracy in Episode 14 and Episode 62.

Adam Cramer is the founding Executive Director and present CEO of Outdoor Alliance, a national coalition of outdoor recreation advocacy groups that has breathed new life into the conservation movement by harnessing the outdoor community’s passion for place and combining it with a modern approach to organizing and digital engagement. During his time as CEO, Adam has brought new sensibilities to conservation work that have resulted in hundreds of thousands more acres of protected landscapes, improved management for outdoor recreation, and thousands of outdoor enthusiasts awakened to conservation and advocacy work. He is an avid whitewater kayaker and mountain biker, but is always on the
lookout for a good skatepark. Adam lives in Maryland with his wife and two kids.

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