State by State Outdoor Recreation Economic Impact Data Available

The Outdoor Industry Association has released it’s economic impact data of outdoor recreation for individual states.  This data were collected in 2012 and is related to the national outdoor recreation impact data they released previously.  The following takes you to their research site where this information on each state can be found.  The following is a summary of their press release excerpted from the Federal Recreation Report.. To see the information for your state, copy and paste the following:     http://outdoorindustry.org/advocacy/recreation/economy.html

The Press Release …..

The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) published February 14 a state-by-state tabulation of the economic impact of outdoor recreation.

The report follows up on a landmark national report of June 2012 on the countrywide economic impacts of outdoor recreation.  That report is used by politicians, conservationists, and federal and local officials to promote programs that support outdoor recreation.

The national bottom line is that outdoor recreation contributes $646 billion per year to the economy.  The association’s board chair Will Manzer said last week, “For example, Americans spend almost twice as much on outdoor recreation as they spend on pharmaceuticals each year.  And outdoor recreation supports more than twice as many jobs as the oil and gas industry.”  Manzer is a former CEO of Eastern Mountain Sports.

The OIA report is playing a major role now in the debate over federal funding for conservation programs, just as a federal sequestration law is about to chop billions of dollars out of domestic spending.

For instance, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on introducing legislation (S 338) February 14 to make the Land and Water Conservation Fund permanent quoted copiously from the OIA report.  Baucus itemized the consumer spending, jobs and wages outdoor recreation engenders in Montana.

As Outdoor Industry Association President Frank Hugelmeyer said, “Outdoor recreation is good for the American economy and our future.  When we invest in the nation’s network of public lands and waters, we are protecting and enhancing outdoor experiences for the benefit of the thousands of businesses, communities and families whose livelihoods depends on the outdoor recreation economy.”

With that background OIA released the state-by-state report on the impact of outdoor recreation on the economy.  It is available at: outdoorindustry.org/recreationeconomy.

The analysis was prepared by Southwick Associates, a research firm that specializes in outdoor economics.

Southwick is the same firm that prepares periodically a similar analysis of the economic contributions of recreation and historic preservation in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife System for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The broader state-by-state report prepared for OIA summarizes four categories – consumer spending, wages and salaries, jobs, and state and local tax revenues.  California is by far and away the biggest winner among the states with $85.4 billion in consumer spending from outdoor recreation, $27 billion in wages and salaries, 732,000 jobs, and $6.7 billion in state and local tax revenues.

Florida comes in second with $38.3 billion in consumer spending from outdoor recreation, $10.7 billion in wages and salaries, 329,000 jobs, and $2.5 billion in state and local tax revenues.

Bringing up the rear is North Dakota with $2.2 billion in consumer spending from outdoor recreation, $606 million in wages and salaries, 28,400 jobs, and $189 million in state and local tax revenues.

Southwick began its attempt to pin down human-powered recreation spending with a Harris Interactive poll of July 2011 that interviewed 15,596 people.  Harris then reduced that to 300 residents in nine census regions.

Similarly, to obtain numbers for motorized outdoor recreation Harris International began with 24,000 interviews conducted during March 2012 to come up with 300 qualified residents.

All this data will play a role in the upcoming debates as a budget sequestration threatens outdoor spending.

As OIA’s Hugelmeyer told Congressional leaders recently, “Sequestration has dire implications for our national outdoor recreation system and threatens a $646 billion recreation economy.  Indiscriminate cuts to the protection and management of our parks, forests, rivers and trails threaten the outdoor experiences that feed an economic sector responsible for 6.1 million American jobs.”