Outdoor industry seeks safeguards for Oregon’s outdoor and natural heritage
Facing millions of dollars in lost business caused by the closure of public lands during the government shutdown, leaders in the outdoor recreation industry are calling on U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, to be a leader in protecting public lands and strengthening Oregon’s economy.
In a letter to Wyden today and an ad campaign launched this week, outdoor recreation businesses including KEEN, Yakima, and Northwest Rafting Company, thanked Wyden for his leadership in protecting public lands. The businesses also urged Wyden to prevent conservation cornerstones like wilderness protections and the Antiquities Act from being weakened, and to ensure that the Land and Water Conservation Fund receives full, dedicated funding.
For example, legislation introduced in the House of Representatives would allow for large-scale logging and limit the use of many environmental measures including the Antiquities Act, which the President may use to create national monuments on Oregon’s federal lands. As for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, some members of Congress want to divert funds away from protecting important outdoor places, instead directing dollars to general maintenance of parks.
Wyden recently expressed concern about the impacts the federal government shutdown was having on the national outdoor industry, including hunting and fishing. In addition to the closure of Crater Lake National Park, fishing guides encountered closed federal launch sites on Oregon rivers.
According to the Outdoor Industry Association, direct consumer spending on outdoor recreation adds $12.8 billion per year to Oregon’s economy, and supports 141,200 jobs. On a national level, outdoor recreation contributes more than $646 billion annually to the U.S. economy.
“During the government shutdown, Americans made it clear that they don’t like being shut out of their national parks and other protected public lands,” said John Sterling, Executive Director of the Conservation Alliance. “Congress should take this cue, and now work to pass legislation that protects our wild places.”
In the letter to Wyden, business leaders also asked that conservation be placed on equal ground with energy development, that is, for every acre leased to the oil and gas industry on our nation’s public lands, at least one acre is conserved for future generations.
“We are working for the day when outdoor recreation values and jobs are on equal ground with resource extraction jobs on public lands,” said Liz Hamilton with the Northwest Sportfishing Industries Association. “The recent closure of federal lands in Oregon during peak fishing and hunting seasons punctuates the importance and value of access to public lands to our industry.”
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell had been scheduled to join Wyden at the Oregon Business Association Statesman Dinner in Portland on Thursday to highlight the outdoor recreation economy in Oregon, but her trip was cancelled due to the federal government shutdown. Senator Wyden is also unable to attend the dinner.
For more information, contact Liz Hamilton, Northwest Sportfishing Industries Assn., 503-631-8859, NSIALIZ@aol.com or Jessica Keys, Strategies 360, 503-595-1998, jessicak@strategies360.com.