This week, Stephen McKnight, President and CEO of the Blair Alliance for Business and Economic Growth joined with 70 national outdoor economic development leaders in Pittsburgh to identify funding priorities, organizing principles, and local strategies for rural economic development through outdoor recreation.
The National Leadership Forum on Rural Economic Development highlighted the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable’s (ORR) ongoing efforts to uniquely convene industry leaders and government officials to provide a space for thought-leadership and cross-sector inspiration and advances the organization’s leading role in rural economic development through outdoor recreation including the widely acclaimed Rural Economic Development Toolkit.
Full Media Release from OOR:
ORR welcomed the release of a new report from the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce providing recommendations for regional economic development through outdoor recreation. The report is an outcome of President Biden’s executive order in April 2022 that directed the Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, and Commerce to develop recommendations for community-led local and regional economic development opportunities related to outdoor recreation and sustainable forest products.
“This kind of cross-agency collaboration on this first-of-its-kind report is further testament to the central role that outdoor recreation plays in creating resilient economies, connecting communities, and improving public health and well-being,” said Jessica Wahl Turner, President, Outdoor Recreation Roundtable. “We applaud the Biden-Harris Administration for recognizing increasing access to outdoor recreation as a climate solution and leveraging robust investments to support community vitality. We look forward to implementing the report’s takeaways with the hundreds of communities across the country looking to make their economies more resilient and diversified through the benefits of the great outdoors.”
The report includes several recommendations to ensure that rural leaders, often strapped for time, resources and expertise, can tap into the outdoor recreation economy with federal grants and technical assistance. These recommendations include:
- Continuing to work with communities to identify and address barriers to growth through the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR) and other initiatives.
- Implementing provisions of the MAPLand Act and 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act to inventory assets and improve public access to Federal lands.
- Utilizing available authorities to support maintenance and adaptation of recreation facilities through long-term planning that incorporates evaluations of climate risk and corresponding adaptation strategies.
- Reauthorizing the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act and the Great American Outdoors Act.
- Coordinating across the Federal Government to utilize programs like the Recreation Economy for Rural Communities Program to support economic development for underserved communities and resilient infrastructure.
- Investing in collection and management of data on recreation, in consultation with communities and the public, to help inform agency and community understanding of current demand, emerging needs, patterns, and trends.
- Invest in research and development for outdoor recreation, such as the Economic Development Administration’s program evaluation of the Travel, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation Program, and disseminate lessons learned to help the sector grow.
The report’s recommendations would be supported significantly by passage of the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by unanimous consent this year and is awaiting Senate action. EXPLORE contains provisions that would improve access to public lands and waters and ensure even more Americans have access to the physical, mental, and community benefits of outdoor experiences – all with no additional cost to taxpayers.
