In May of 2003, he scared Utah business and government leaders with a threat to move the Outdoor Retailer trade shows elsewhere because the state was not protecting its wild lands enough. Now the Black Diamond Equipment Ltd. co-founder senses a much greater appreciation in Utah for the importance of outdoor recreation.

Protecting Utah's iconic landscapes is no longer just an environmental issue, Metcalf said. It's an economic one.

"We have come a very, very long ways attitudinally," he noted during a Friday panel discussion organized by the Governor's Office of Economic Development to explore the financial impact of outdoor recreation.

Just three years ago, Metcalf was certain that former Gov. Mike Leavitt didn't understand that the outdoor industry wasn't just a tourism subset but a business of its own, with manufacturing jobs and a worldwide aura linked inextricably to Utah's scenic topography.

But three of the four panelists were business people whose companies call Utah home principally because nature's wonders are so close to working offices.

Metcalf said he moved Black Diamond from southern California to east 3900 South in central Salt Lake County because of the proximity to Little Cottonwood Canyon's fabled climbing faces, ideal for quick product tests. But he also knew that Salt Lake afforded his employees the opportunity to take a lunch-time bike ride up Mill Creek Canyon, a quality-of-life incentive that would help him attract the kind of workers he wanted.

Black Diamond came to Utah with 40 employees. It now has 275 in Salt Lake County, 350 worldwide and is a $60 million-a-year business.

Dave Scadden, founder of North Fork Outdoors, said he often is asked why a company that manufactures pontoon boats would be based in a high-desert state like Utah. He answers that there is good fishing here - and ready access to the Green River or Uinta Mountain lakes for testing and using his fishing crafts.

Brian Wimmer said Utah is increasingly recognized as the mecca for filming action sports, being a crossroads where great skiing and snowboarding take place within telephoto range of filmmaking expertise available at Sundance Resort and his own X-Dance Film Festival.

"This is the heart and soul of action-sport filmmaking. This is the best skiing. This is the best mountain biking. If it goes on outdoors, it's best here," Wimmer said.

"The biggest advertisement you could have is when some kid hucks himself off a 70-foot cliff, and kids back East and in China say 'This is where I have to go,' " Wimmer said.

mikeg@sltrib.com