Vital tributaries.

• Author: Lee-Howell, Lori
• Position: Outdoor Recreation Participation and Spending

FISHER TOWERS. UPPER MULEY TWIST TRAIL. THE SUBWAY. From our desert rivers to our towering buttes, our alpine mountains to our ski resorts, Utah is a land of diverse rugged beauty. And for Utah residents and companies in the outdoor recreation industry, this means money. People from around the world come to ride their favorite mountain bike trails, ski the best snow on earth, climb world-class cliffs, kayak, fish and raft the waterways that slice through the state. To meet the need, Utah is a state of outdoor recreation retailers, manufacturers, guide services, facilities and service shops. Nature is big business to Utah. If only we could all just get along.

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The Numbers

An Outdoor Recreation Participation and Spending study done by the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) for the state of Utah determined that it is not only visitors who fuel the outdoor economy in Utah. Utah residents, to the tune of 81.7 percent, participate in outdoor activities such as backpacking, bicycling, climbing, fly fishing, kayaking and skiing. This ranks Utah as third in the nation in participation per capita. Neil Ashdown, deputy director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, says, "This industry is not only about economy but about quality of life issues. Our outdoor recreation ecosystem makes people want to live in Utah."

Tourism in Utah makes up 8 percent of the state's employment--twice as much as agriculture and eight times as much as mining. Human-powered outdoor recreation, a subset of tourism, employs as many Utahns as some of the state's biggest employers: University of Utah, Brigham Young University and Hill Air Force Base. And within the state of Utah, it provides as many jobs as the U.S. Postal Service, Delta Airlines, SkyWest, Kennecott and Utah Power combined. Still, says OIA President Frank Hugelmeyer, "At times it feels as if other industries that play a much smaller role in the economy are given preference over the outdoor industry. We want a governor that makes recreation the priority, not the secondary consideration."

The Problem

In April, the long-term health of outdoor recreation in Utah was called into question when the state of Utah made a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior that reversed the protection of six million acres of Utah wilderness.

As a result of the settlement, outdoor industry leader Peter Metcalf, CEO of Black Diamond Equipment Company, a Salt Lake City-based climbing...