RFF’s Margaret Walls on the “Outdoor Recreation Economy”

Date

Sept. 25, 2018

News Type

Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC—A national economic trend is taking place in America. It involves the outdoor recreation economy, and it involves public lands management. Today, in a new blog posted by Resources for Future (RFF), Senior Fellow Margaret Walls takes up the issue. Dr. Walls notes:
  • The US Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently released its first official measurements of the contribution of outdoor recreation to the US economy. The results? Outdoor recreation contributed $412 billion, or 2.2 percent, to GDP in 2016 and supported nearly 4.6 million jobs. In addition, growth in the outdoor recreation sector in 2016, at 1.7 percent, was slightly greater than that for the US economy as a whole.
  • States are also paying increased attention to outdoor recreation. Eight states (California, Colorado, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) have recently set up official government offices of outdoor recreation. The offices are measuring the contribution of outdoor recreation to the states’ economies, promoting outdoor tourism, identifying new business opportunities, and providing economic development assistance to rural communities around outdoor recreation. Four more states (Maryland, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Vermont) have established independent commissions or task forces on outdoor recreation.

Dr. Walls, however, cautions in the post: “By all means, let’s recognize the economic contributions of the outdoor recreation industry. But let’s also recognize the public lands supporting that industry and get to work addressing the many problems they face.”

Read her full blog post: The Outdoor Recreation Economy and Public Lands
 

Resources for the Future (RFF) is an independent, nonprofit research institution in Washington, DC. Its mission is to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement. RFF is committed to being the most widely trusted source of research insights and policy solutions leading to a healthy environment and a thriving economy.

Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed here are those of the individual authors and may differ from those of other RFF experts, its officers, or its directors. RFF does not take positions on specific legislative proposals.

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