Announcing a Powerhouse Partnership to Protect the Outdoors
Photo credit: Tegan Mierle
Over the past ten years, we’ve collaborated deeply with Outdoor Industry Association and The Conservation Alliance, who represent outdoor businesses and conservation-oriented businesses. We have spent hundreds of hours in meetings with congressional offices in D.C., have crafted testimony for hearings, and have sent joint letters advocating for more protected public lands, better funding, and climate action.
Today, we are sharing our joint policy goals to protect the outdoors with members of the Biden administration, agency leadership, and lawmakers in Washington, D.C. in the hope they will take action over the next two years.
In the last few years, we have seen a sea change in the outdoors. Demand for outdoor recreation is at a new high, with more than half of Americans participating in outdoor recreation in 2022. Increased visitation has put pressure on public lands and waters, especially after years of underfunding and short-staffing. What’s more, climate change continues to threaten communities. Wildfires, high temperatures, low water, and other climate issues deeply affect the outdoors and our access to them. And increasingly, we are understanding that many neighborhoods in America lack good access to nature, which is an equity and public health issue as well as an amplifier for the effects of climate change.
The outdoor community has been a key player in advocating for—and successfully creating—some of the biggest conservation wins of the last ten years. This approach starts where people are, drawing on their love for outdoor places and public lands, and uses that passion to drive engagement and political change. These investments in conservation aren’t just good for people and communities, they are part of a growing sector of the economy. Outdoor recreation sustains more than 4.5 million jobs, and generates $862 billion in GDP across the U.S.
Outdoor recreationists and outdoor businesses who rely on the outdoors for our economy and way of life are coming together to ask Congress and the Biden administration to prioritize bipartisan protections of land and water, for communities, and climate. Over the next two years, we are encouraging Congress and the administration to take action, including on these priority issues:
Implementing the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule, to ensure conservation and recreation values are prioritized
Protecting more public land and water, through well-vetted legislative protections or through administrative protections, including national monuments
Supporting sustainable and equitable recreation access, including through policies like America’s Outdoor Recreation Act, which will support better access to public lands and waters, improve management and access for climbing and mountain biking, and support better data collection on recreation
The time is now for policymakers to take action to protect the outdoors and everything they provide for the American people. Learn more about our joint efforts, our shared policy goals, and our past successes.