Near the Appalachian Trail, ME - Photo: Jerry and Marcy Monkman
Outdoor retailers met in Salt Lake City last week, and Paul Foy of the Associated Press was there. His piece on how the outdoor industry is thriving during the recession was picked up by The New York Times and other newspapers nationwide. (I stopped counting at a dozen citations.)
The industry was spooked last year when the economy tanked, but it held its own and is rebounding fast. The recession hardly nicked it — sales were down 2 percent in 2009 but are rising at a rate of 6 percent, said Frank Hugelmeyer, president and CEO of the Outdoor Industry Association.
It helps that buyers of nearly $50 billion worth of outdoor gear are, by and large, discriminating, and that many brands like The North Face or Mountain Hardwear have moved into the fashion mainstream.
People are looking to outdoor recreation because it’s cheap, executives said. But there’s money in the business. It supports 6.5 million U.S. jobs. Together with $243 billion in recreational services and money changing hands, the industry has taken to calling itself a $730 billion enterprise — the better to sell politicians on things like the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Even in Washington, $730 billion is a respectable number, especially compared with $900 million, the Congressionally authorized funding level for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). In most years, the authorization is an empty promise, with only a small fraction of that amount actually appropriated.
For months, a coalition of conservation groups, with TPL is a leading role, has been working to make the $900-million-per-year authorization a guaranteed yearly appropriation. The House included the guarantee in the recently passed oil spill legislation. The Senate will take up the bill when it returns from recess.
“The industry regards the Land and Water Conservation Fund as its salvation, helping keep people interested in the outdoors,” Foy writes.
Some folks remain hard to convince that conservation is an investment and not a cost—that it can pour money into communities and industries. A conservation funding bill is also a jobs bill and an economic stimulus bill. If you have any influence in Washington—and all of us do to some extent—you might mention that to someone who gets a vote on the measure.
You will find more information on the economic benefits of parks and open space and the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund on TPL’s website.
