While large, the magnitude of the numbers didn't come as a surprise to Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, who said Friday he was fully aware of the importance of recreation from a lifetime spent in the outdoors of Idaho, where he previously was governor and congressman.
Still, recognizing that people spend money on things they believe in, Kempthorne said a new Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) study on recreation's economic impacts showed him "how widespread the support of the citizenry is for the outdoors." It also reinforced to him that the outdoor industry "is a dynamic partner with economic muscle" whose position warrants attention in ongoing discussions of public-lands policies.
That's precisely what the Outdoor Industry Association hoped to accomplish in launching the study. "Those who see this report will expect to see us at the [negotiating] table as well," said association president Frank Hugelmeyer.
Using information from 14,000 interviews by two hired surveying companies plus data from 52,000 additional U.S. Census Bureau surveys, the OIA study determined that three-fourths of all Americans participate in outdoor activities. Bird watching and other wildlife viewing ventures involve the most participants (66 million), followed closely by bicycling (60 million), hiking (56 million) and camping (45 million). Two activities popular in Utah, hunting and snow sports, have 13 million and 16 million participants per year, respectively.
Within those numbers, OIA officials highlighted two findings, contending "more Americans camp than play basketball" and "more Americans paddle (kayaks, canoes and rafts) than play soccer."
The survey found that $289 billion is spent each year in the U.S. on outdoor recreation - $243 billion on trips of all kinds and another $46 billion on gear - leaving it second to only the telecommunications industry ($473 billion) in sales. By comparison, Americans spent just $144 million on medicine and pharmaceuticals, $232 million on legal services and $80 million on movies and video entertainment.
That spending supported 6.5 million jobs and returned $88 billion in tax revenue to local, state and federal governments, the survey said, citing Moab-based Western Spirit Cycling as an example of how an outdoors-oriented business boosts a local economy.
"In 1990," the report said, "Western Spirit Cycling consisted of two employees who ran three trips a year. In 2006, the company employed 353 people and ran hundreds of trips in states throughout the country, spending cash in hotels, grocery stores, restaurants and bike shops."
The survey also maintained there are fewer lawyers than people who "owe their jobs to bicycle-based recreation," and that Americans working in snow-based recreation jobs outnumber the country's supply of physicians and surgeons.
Survey director Rob Southwick calculated that the $289 million spent on outdoor recreation triggered a "ripple effect," as each dollar spent circulates through the economy, that added another $441 billion to the industry's contribution. The number also is conservative, he added, noting that it does not contain roughly $44 billion spent on power boats and mechanized recreation vehicles and the purchases or leases of land, cabins and second homes used for recreational purposes.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. saw those numbers and said it was imperative for the current generation to ensure that future Utahns have an opportunity to enjoy this legacy, "the air we breathe, the land we share, the way we interact with nature. . . . It's a living legacy."
mikeg@sltrib.com
