Outdoor Industry Association Archives - ��ԹϺ�� Online

Outgoing OIA Director to Join National Park Foundation

Andrew Weaver — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 00:50:05 +0000

Lise Aangeenbrug is stepping down as executive director of the to become the ’s chief program officer, Aangeenbrug told OBJ today. She will leave OIA August 19 and begin with the National Park Foundation September 12.

“I wasn’t looking to leave OIA, but the more I learned about the position [at the National Park Foundation] and what they needed to have done, I came to the conclusion that it was a really great fit between my passion and skill sets and what they needed,” she said. “I’m still very passionate about what’s possible with the outdoor industry, but I’m really drawn to driving immediate results on the ground for national parks.”

Aangeenbrug has helmed OIA since February 2020, and previously served as executive vice president of the National Park Foundation from 2016 to 2018.��

“It’s bittersweet for me,” she said of leaving OIA. “I love the outdoor industry, and OIA plays a really important role, this is just a chance for me to do something very direct in protecting our parks.”

What She’ll Be Doing

The National Park Foundation is the congressionally chartered charitable arm of the National Park Service and works with more than 200 affiliated groups across the country that raise funds for specific parks. As the National Park Foundation’s chief program officer, Aangeenbrug expects to be charged with figuring out how to balance the needs of the National Park Service, visitors’ needs, and projects that donors want to fund.

“It’ll be combining all of those things and figuring out how to deliver in a timely and effective and strategic manner,” she said. “It’s everything from fixing the roof on the Lincoln Memorial to telling more complete stories at our parks. Half of the park system is focused on culture and history.”

The National Park Foundation addresses history and culture, landscape and wildlife conservation, resilience and sustainability, climate change impact, youth engagement, and the Parks of the Future initiative—all issues with which Aangeenbrug has deep experience. “This position really brought together all of the things I’ve been working on throughout my career that I really care about,” she said.

Leaving OIA in a Good Place

As for the timing of her departure, Aangeenburg feels the moment is right. “I’m leaving [OIA] in good hands,” she said. “We have a strong board. The business model change has been in place for a year and is working. We’ve really strengthened our advocacy work. Things are just in a stronger position than two and a half years ago at OIA, especially coming out of COVID. I don’t think I would have left a year ago if this position had been presented to me, but now’s a good time. I feel like I’m leaving it in good shape and my [departure] won’t be leaving it in a lurch.”

Aangeenburg cites the reorganization of membership dues at OIA as a major accomplishment that has benefited the trade organization.��

“There may need to be refinements, but generally having the members pay higher fees for things they deeply value, such as our advocacy work, or , or the enhanced research, has been successful,” she said. “Our revenue is tied to delivering products to our members that they badly want from their trade organization, instead of it just being pass-through revenue from Outdoor Retailer. There’s a deeper connection now between members and OIA.”

When asked about the future of Outdoor Retailer and its moving back to Salt Lake City, Aangeenbrug said she’s taking a wait-and-see approach. “With as many members as we have, everyone has different wants and needs. But we do know that for our small- and medium-sized members, trade shows are still incredibly important.”

Of all her accomplishments at OIA, though, Aangeenbrug said steering the organization through the pandemic was the most important, in her view.

“Getting OIA through COVID and dealing with those unique challenges [was critical],” she said. “The organization was able to pivot and help our members figure out how to get PPE loans. We then quickly researched how the industry was changing…during the pandemic—how participation was changing.”

The Future of the Trade Association

Aangeenbrug said she will not be involved in the selection of her successor at OIA, but that she hopes OIA will continue to increase its work toward advocacy for the outdoors while supporting outdoor-industry businesses.

“OIA understands that, as outdoor businesses grow, they reach a point where they can become more active in advocacy,” she said. “Business success and outdoor stewardship go hand in hand, and I hope to see that continue. As the conservationist David Brower said, ‘There is no business to be done on a dead planet.’”

As for her time in between positions, Aangeenbrug is going to spend some time bikepacking and hiking in the upper peninsula of Michigan.

“I need to get outside and practice what I preach,” she said.

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Lise Aangeenbrug to Step Down as OIA Executive Director

Andrew Weaver — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 19:27:03 +0000

Executive Director will step down from her position on Friday, August 19. While declining to comment in detail, Aangeenbrug told OBJ that a “compelling opportunity” at the National Park Foundation was the motive behind her decision, which she says she’ll explain next week. She announced the news to the industry in a posted to OIA’s website.

Aangeenbrug’s appointment as OIA’s executive director was announced on February 6, 2020, following a six-month search that involved more than 400 applicants. Prior to leading the trade association—which was founded in 1989 and represents more than 1,300 outdoor retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers worldwide—Aangeenbrug served as the executive director of the , OIA’s charitable organization, whose goals include getting underserved children and families into the outdoors. She was also the executive vice president of the from 2016 to 2018, executive director of from 2009 to 2016, and director of programs for the Colorado Conservations Trust from 2001 to 2007.

“OIA has a unique role around bringing together voices and ideas to support thriving outdoor businesses, to empower and build thriving outdoor communities, and to ensure a thriving planet,” Aangeenbrug said in 2020 after accepting the ED position. “This is a dream job, and I am excited to collaborate with the outdoor industry and other organizations to build a big tent that leads to powerful action.”

Aangeenbrug began her career as a field biologist in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in southwestern Kenya, a job that eventually propelled her to positions with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the California Department of Fish and Game. She earned her master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and her bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University.��

Aangeenbrug’s Work at OIA

During her tenure as OIA’s leader, Aangeenbrug helped the outdoor industry lobby at the federal level, visiting the White House and meeting with President Biden in 2021 alongside other labor leaders and union representatives. She worked in support of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (), legislation that eventually helped reinstate FICOR, a government group that tracks the economic impact of the outdoor industry in the U.S.

Under Aangeenbrug’s direction, OIA also lobbied to reinstate protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts national monuments—federal lands exposed to commercial development under the Trump administration. She led OIA through the most challenging phase of the pandemic, when the group’s main revenue generator, Outdoor Retailer, was replaced by virtual stand-in events in 2020. And she helped OIA adjust its membership-fee structure, arguing that the old model was outdated and unsuited to a twenty-first century outdoor industry.��

“The way our funding model worked in the past was fairly imbalanced,” she said in a December 2020 interview with OBJ. “If you came to Outdoor Retailer, you paid a lot each year to support what we do at OIA. If you didn’t come to OR, you paid much less. That created an unnecessary division in the membership, I think, and made the revenue stream very uneven and susceptible to major disruptions.”��

OIA did not respond to a request for comment about a successor to Aangeenbrug, or how long it may take to replace her.

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Outdoor Foundation Expands Thrive ��ԹϺ�� with $1.6 Million in Grants

objmigrationbot — Tue, 25 May 2021 02:40:39 +0000

In 2019, Outdoor Foundation (OF), the philanthropic arm of Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), announced a new initiative called Thrive ��ԹϺ��. The executive director of OF at the time, Lise Aangeenbrug (who has since shifted over to lead OIA), explained the “why” of the program as such: “We didn’t become an indoor species overnight, and the decline of outdoor activity in the United States is a problem that requires collaboration, funding, and scale.”

OF’s solution to that decline was to fund four programs across the U.S.—in Atlanta, Georgia; Grand Rapids, Michigan; San Diego, California; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma—all aimed at getting more young people outside more often. In other words, to instill the outdoor habit into communities that face barriers to access.��

Since then, Thrive ��ԹϺ�� has facilitated outdoor connections with 16,000 kids from diverse communities through activities like hiking, paddling, climbing, and fishing. And while the pandemic presented the obvious challenges, Thrive ��ԹϺ�� adapted and is poised for growth.��

According to Stephanie Maez, OF’s managing director since October 2020, “the Thrive ��ԹϺ�� initiative is working to create a more inclusive and accessible outdoor experience for all.”��

This week, OF announced the expansion of the Thrive ��ԹϺ�� program and its second cohort in the following areas: St.Louis, Missouri; the Twin Cities region, Minnesota; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and the state of Maine.��

“We are thrilled to expand our grants and programming into four additional communities this year and inspire kids and families to experience the powerful transformative benefits of connecting with nature on a regular basis, particularly among youth in diverse communities,” said Maez.

The four new communities were chosen by the Outdoor Foundation board of directors, based on written applications, virtual site visits, in-person interviews, and third-party consultant research. Each Thrive ��ԹϺ�� grant requires the recipient community to provide a 1-to-1 funding match in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the network. One backbone organization in each community will manage the grant and facilitate the work of the network partners. In total, this cohort will receive more than $1.6 million in grant money.

And Outdoor Foundation has no intention of stopping there. Its next goal: to expand the program to include 32 cities over the next ten years.

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Chasing the Dream of Endless Recyclability

objmigrationbot — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 11:59:37 +0000

Reduce, reuse, recycle: We all learned the three Rs of environmentally conscious consumerism in third grade, but remembering them and implementing them have proved very different tasks. Now, long after elementary school graduation, the outdoor industry is still trying to put all three into practice. For years, companies have been looking to reduce their use of virgin materials, making gear out of recycled bottles and factory scraps, and manufacturing apparel to sustainability certification standards. Programs like Patagonia’s Worn Wear and The North Face’s Renewed line take used gear and repair or remake it into new clothing, checking the “reuse” box.

But at some point, those boots have too many holes to fix, the jacket is in tatters, and another night in that sleeping bag is guaranteed to induce hypothermia. That’s where the third R comes in. And so far, recycling outdoor gear has been an elusive target.

“The end of life is still a really challenging piece,” said Jessie Curry, sustainable business manager at the Outdoor Industry Association. The problem: The complex materials necessary for high performance are also what make gear and apparel difficult to fully recycle.

But this year has seen some of the first signs of hope as the industry sets its sights on cutting down its waste footprint.

Monster Materials

Nicole Basset co-founded The Renewal Workshop in Portland, Oregon, in 2015 to take in well-used apparel and home goods, repairing them enough to be resold or turn them into something new. After working on sustainability initiatives for Patagonia and prAna, she now counts The North Face among her clients (The Renewal Workshop supports the Renewed line). Competitor company Trove similarly manages Patagonia’s Worn Wear program.

The vast majority of textiles that end up in landfills could actually be repaired or re-created and sold, Basset noted in her company’s Leading Circular report, released last September. “It’s not like all of those efforts [to repair or remake apparel] have been exhausted,” she said. But gear can’t be rebuilt indefinitely—her report found that 18 percent of textiles overall have no avenues for revival: “Textile recycling options are extremely limited today.”

Allied Feather + Down has been recycling some of the feathers it gets back from returned bedding since 2011. “Down is the easiest thing to recycle on its own,” said President Daniel Uretsky. But, he adds, things get tricky when it comes to more complex products, like jackets, where stitching and baffles make recapturing the small amount of down inside inefficient.

Recycling only gets more complicated from there. The biggest problem is blended materials: Think nylon coated with polyurethane, wool mixed with elastane, and common cotton-polyester blends. The innovations that have made gear like baselayers and shells warm, breathable, and waterproof also make them very difficult to recycle. “We call them hybrid monster materials,” said Basset. She describes manufacturing like baking a cake: You mix together flour, sugar, vanilla, an egg, and the rest of the ingredients. Then the process of baking transforms those ingredients. “You can’t deconstruct it back to an egg, flour, sugar, and vanilla, because you’ve created something new,” she said. “You don’t think, ‘Oh, I’m going to need the egg back at the end of this.’”

But while complex textile recycling is in its infancy, some pioneers are making progress. In January 2020, Patagonia announced that its investment arm, Tin Shed Ventures, would join three other partners in funding a textile recycling company called Tyton BioSciences. The company, which has since changed its name to Circ, has developed the ability to recycle any cotton-polyester blend.

COO Conor Hartman says that when the company was founded in 2011, it focused on biofuels. But about three years ago, a partner asked if their technology could be repurposed for textiles. “We then refocused our company on the fashion industry, and that led to the rebranding.”

According to Hartman, one of the challenges of recycling textiles made from multiple components is being able to extract the different fibers and chemicals without breaking anything down. He describes Circ’s solution as something like “a household pressure cooker, and we’ve got a really fancy one that can target polyester while not targeting cotton.” As a result, Circ can separate the two materials and re-create the polyester and cotton fibers for reuse.

With a technology solution in place, the next problem is scaling up. Hartman says he expects the first pilot products made with their recycled materials to be out later this year. A similar blended textile recycling company, Stockholm-based Renewcell, needed about five years to get its first garments into production, says Brand Manager Nora Eslander. Last March, the company (which handles majority-cotton blends only) released a recycled cotton dress with H&M.

While recycling cotton-poly blends would take a big bite out of the apparel industry’s overall waste problem, the materials in more technical apparel are, as of yet, unrecyclable. Hartman says that’s his company’s next goal. “We’re very much going to other fiber types that are in the clothes that all of us wear every day,” he said, adding that Circ sees market demand for their technology “both from a business and an environmental standpoint.”

Planning for the End

Both Hartman and Eslander say that while there is exciting potential for recycling more complex fabrics on the horizon, gear makers need to do their part by designing products that are easier to break down at the end of their lives. Salomon is making headway: In Spring 2021, runners will be able to purchase the Salomon Index.01, a recyclable running shoe.

“Today, when it comes to the end of life of shoes, most of them are burned or put in a landfill,” said Olivier Mouzin, Salomon’s footwear sustainability manager. But the polyester used in the Index.01’s upper, tongue, laces, and foam can be recycled into polyester yarn and reused. Most of the rest is made from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), which Salomon plans to recapture and use as a component in ski boots planned for release in 2022. (The shoe’s liner is the only part that can’t currently be recycled.)

Mouzin adds that part of the challenge isn’t just the technology, but the logistics of getting the shoes to the proper recyclers. If you burn more resources just trying to transport materials for recycling than you would tapping virgin ingredients, you lose any environmental gains. Salomon is tackling the problem by partnering with a network of recycling companies worldwide. After Index.01 owners have finished their last mile, they can print out a shipping label to send the shoes to the one closest to them.

For now, the next step is the end of the line: The molded plastic boots Salomon plans to make from the shoes won’t be recyclable themselves. JY Audouard, who works with Salomon’s Ski Boot Research and Development division, says the challenge is separating out the multiple plastic and metal components. He adds that the company is looking at ways to collect used boots from ski resorts and ultimately disassemble them en masse for recycling, as well as investigating options for making boots that can be disassembled more easily.

Mouzin acknowledges that the Index.01 is just a first step, but says he’s excited about the increased interest in recycling from the industry as a whole. “In most cases, companies in our industry, and most industries, are always competing heavily against each other,” he sad. “In the case of sustainability, that competition is good for the environment because we’re all trying to improve on what is out there and what we have always done. But to progress, we will have to work together to some degree and keep pushing the possibilities.”

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Straight Talk with Stephanie Maez of Outdoor Foundation

objmigrationbot — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 01:56:46 +0000

In this edition of Straight Talk, OBJ editorial director Kristin Hostetter sits down for a powerful conversation with Stephanie Maez, the managing director of Outdoor Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Outdoor Industry Association. This is Maez’s first interview since taking the job in October 2020.

Stephanie Maez, managing director of Outdoor Foundation, with her son, Donovan, who was wrongly accused of murder in 2015. (Photo: Courtesy)

Maez shares the powerful personal story that brought her to this work at Outdoor Foundation, which aims to inspire the outdoor habit in children and families. In 2015, when Maez was serving as a state legislator in Albuquerque, New Mexico, her teenage son was wrongfully accused of murder and imprisoned. During that traumatic time, Maez said “I truly almost lost myself,” but nature and getting outside was the one thing that calmed and soothed Maez.

Ever since she was a little girl, growing up in a poor, urban neighborhood, nature had been a balm for her. She sought nature where she could find it—at a nearby duck pond and local parks, and a few times a year at her grandparents cabin in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado.

It’s hard to imagine someone better suited to leading Outdoor Foundation today. Maez brings her lived experience with her everyday to the job as she works to introduce kids in underserved communities to outdoor experiences through OF’s Thrive ��ԹϺ�� program. For her, this is a personal, passionate mission.

Watch the N-word webinar

objmigrationbot — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 04:40:26 +0000

Is it ever okay to use the N-word? There is, of course, no definitive answer to that question, as you’ll discover when you watch this webinar.

A few months back, rapper and climber Devin Dabney submitted an essay to Gym Climber magazine that was riddled with the N-word: It appeared 22 times in two pages.

As a publisher, Pocket Outdoor Media (also parent company to us here at OBJ), faced a dilemma: To publish or not to publish. We will cut to the chase here. After much debate and consultation with DEI expert, Teresa Baker, Pocket declined to publish the article. But the conversation took on a new life when Teresa suggested that Pocket partner up with Outdoor Industry Association and Outdoor Media 4 Inclusion to host a live webinar to explore the topic.

The result was a candid and energetic conversation between Baker, Dabney, Dr. Carolyn Finney, Alison Desir (co-chair at Running Industry Diversity Coalition), and Dhani Jones (former NFL player and strategic advisor and board member at Pocket Outdoor Media).

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Are the Industry’s Two Biggest Climate Programs in Competition?

objmigrationbot — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:28:54 +0000

Outdoor industry businesses motivated to address the climate crisis now��have a brand-new set of tools to help—make that two sets of tools.��In 2020, the Outdoor Industry Association’s Climate Action Corps and Snow- sports Industry Association’s ClimateUnited launched within a few months of each other. They aim to guide retailers, brands, and (in OIA’s case) suppliers in shrinking their carbon footprints through steps like creating emissions-reduction plans, and increasing buying power and influence through collective action. The more the merrier, right?

Which way now? Some businesses face a choice between two new climate programs from OIA and SIA. (Photo: Louisa Albanese)

Well, maybe. Some worry dividing the industry into two groups could weaken our overall influence down the supply chain. That’s significant because manufacturing is a major source of carbon emissions, but suppliers have been resistant to the outdoor industry’s attempts to green it up because we represent such a small share of the suppliers’ total business.

Having two groups also complicates matters for outdoor industry members that are part of both trade groups, or belong to neither. Joining both climate initiatives would set redundant goals, but with different programs and metrics for progress (though a handful of brands, including Burton, K2, and Rab, have doubled up).

OIA’s Climate Action Corps was the first to launch in January 2020. It works with members to meet their carbon-reduction goals via a suite of tools and trainings. OIA and SIA had discussed partnering up, says Amy Horton, senior director of sustainable business innovation for OIA, so the Climate Action Corps tools would be available to SIA members for the same rate OIA members pay ($250 to $25,000, depending on annual revenue and business type).

Instead, SIA launched its own platform last November, ClimateUnited. Chris Steinkamp, advocacy director for SIA, says this seemed like a more financially efficient option, and allowed the association to offer its members a program for free. “We knew part of the barrier to getting companies to do something on climate was the cost,” he says. OIA sees it differently. Anyone who signs up for OIA’s program has to put skin in the game, Horton says: Even for OIA members, joining comes with a price tag.

“We’re all trying to solve climate change,” says Steinkamp. “This was not a competitive thing. This was us figuring out what’s best for our business and our members, but also hopefully bringing more companies on board.”

OIA, again, sees things differently. “The whole vision was, build a big tent, a multi-association effort,” says Horton. “We need to all come together on this existential threat to our industry, whether you make camping gear or running shoes or skis or boards.” She adds that OIA hopes for a critical mass of members to drive its CoLabs, a program that allows members to pool their influence on the supply chain or to purchase renewable power sources.

Steinkamp says he still hopes to collaborate with OIA members on projects like renewable energy purchases, and that conversations between the two groups are ongoing so SIA members won’t miss out on big-ticket projects or on the chance to compel changes in the supply chain. Horton says that without some partnership between the associations, it’s not clear how that would work. That said, “It’s beneficial to bring the industry together on this,” she says. “Our door is definitely still open for that.” At press time, OIA counted 82 members and SIA had 26.

There’s one big area in which having two industry climate groups could be a great thing: political influence. Impactful work has to focus on policymaking, says Lindsay Bourgoine, Protect Our Winters policy and advocacy director. “Spreading out our efforts, that’s what really excites me—having this constant, steady drum- beat on lawmakers around DC and in state capitols,” she says.

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We Went Hiking with OIA’s Lise Aangeenbrug to Chat About the Trade Group’s New Business Model

objmigrationbot — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 07:07:20 +0000

If you want to get to know Lise Aangeenbrug, OIA’s executive director who stepped up to lead the organization this March, there’s no better place to meet her than on the trail.��A passionate outdoor adventurer with a professional background that has included stints at the National Park Foundation, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the Department of the Interior, Aangeenbrug is never more at home than when she’s putting in some miles in the mountains.

OIA has faced hardship this year like everyone else, but under��Aangeenbrug’s leadership, the organization has managed to keep its head above water while rethinking its funding model and continuing the important work it does for its wide membership across our industry.

This week, the OBJ editors went on a hike with Aangeenbrug in the hills outside Golden, Colorado, to reflect on OIA’s year. Among other things, Aangeenbrug chatted about how OIA is working to open new revenue streams, how the group deepened its relationship with its members this year, and what the future of the industry will look like once the pandemic is in the rearview mirror.

Below is an edited transcript of the conversation.

This has been a tough year for OIA, which used to rely heavily on Outdoor Retailer revenue for much of its funding. After the OR cancellations this year, is OIA rethinking its funding model?

To put it simply, yes. We essentially pivoted this year to a brand new model. Two of our big areas of focus in 2020 have been growing our membership and��helping members better understand the value of what we do. The way our funding model worked in the past was fairly imbalanced. If you came to Outdoor Retailer, you paid a lot each year to support what we do at OIA. If you didn’t come to OR, you paid much less. That created an unnecessary division in the membership, I think, and made the revenue stream very uneven and susceptible to major disruptions. We’re trying to even that out by restructuring our membership payments. We’re asking members to pay more than they have in the past, while at the same time trying to understand their needs better so that they’re getting more value for their money, so to speak.

How are you framing that request to member companies?

It all started with a big push to talk to our members and learn from them. This summer, we started calling all of our members and asking what was most important to them about OIA—what they need most from us.��During those calls, we also pitched people on the value of the organization. We tried to explain what OIA can do for members that no one else can.

The results of that effort were clear. Research, policy, and in-person engagement were the themes that everyone identified as OIA’s most important value-adds to the industry. Those are the common values among most of our member companies. What that means is, if we’re going to ask people to pay more for their membership, we need to make absolutely sure we’re delivering in those areas.

To deliver on the research component, we need to continue providing data that helps sales or business needs, like the participation report we do every year. We also need to focus heavily on research that helps the planet, like the work we do through the Climate Action Corps.

For the second piece, policy, it tends to center around trade. Our trade-focused advocacy and education work over the last four years have been very important to members. We heard that over and over again. The trade environment is going to be a lot more stable with this new administration coming in, but member companies are still going to need guidance, so we need to make sure we continue those efforts.

Finally, in-person gathering right now tends to center around those first two themes—research and policy—as we’re not sure when the next in-person Outdoor Retailer will happen. Because there’s no trade show this year, the convening has taken place through the Climate Action Corps and our various policy efforts focused on trade.

So, to answer your question, we started by doing all of this work, listening to the members, and talking honestly with them. Only after we heard from them did we come back and say, “Here’s what we can do as a trade organization. We can deliver X, Y, and Z. Do you value those things? And would you pay a slightly higher price for them?”

One thing that’s important to note: We held small retailers harmless. For them, there was no increase at all. Our feeling was, they’re all struggling, and for some of them even a $50 increase would be a lot. But for brands and other members, we asked if they would be willing to pay more.

Has that effort been successful?

So far! We’ve raised more than $3 million since August, which covers��about 80 percent of our budget for next year. We’re trying hard to close the gap by January 1. Reaching our goal will mean we’re no longer dependent on the trade show for the bulk of our revenue and will be primarily supported by our members.��We’re still exploring some other revenue sources, but at this point, membership fees will cover most of our base budget for 2021. So it appears the model works. We were successful in communicating our value to the industry, and in return, they’re making sure we can continue to work for them.

You mentioned the Climate Action Corps and its value to the industry. How is the CAC different from SIA’s new, similar climate initiative, ClimateUnited?

We’ve been talking to [SIA president] Nick Sargent for the last year about it, so it’s not like it came out of the blue for us.��In short, it’s a good thing. I think Nick ultimately came to the conclusion that, while the Climate Action Corps is great for the outdoor industry, the snowsports industry has unique needs of its own. I think he was mainly concerned that there could be a cost to SIA members if they wanted to join the Climate Action Corps, and he wanted to offer something to his members for free.

Ultimately what I would say about it is: It’s great. I’m glad SIA is pursuing this. The more people we have trying to curb greenhouse gases, the better.

Do you think the two initiatives can coexist constructively?

Absolutely. Our program functions a lot like a consultancy. We work with a lot of experts in the field and we do a good deal of one-on-one assistance for members. I can’t speak to whether or not SIA is doing that, but even if they are, the model is not competitive. We’ve been up and running with the Climate Action Corps for over a year, and we know there’s a deep need for this work. People appreciate the assistance, the networking, and all the programming we offer. It’s not as if there’s limited demand for this kind of work.

Where do you see the industry heading in the next few years?

I think this crisis has been the beginning of a meaningful shift, honestly. We have more than 300 million people in America, and studies indicate that nearly 50 percent of them currently don’t get outside at all. There’s still a huge upside in this industry and a lot of room to grow. During the pandemic, we’ve started to see that change. One of the things we know about changing people’s behavior is that you have to repeat and reinforce experiences to build habits. COVID has lasted long enough that people are being forced to repeat their experiences in the outdoors to the point at which habits are being built. People who otherwise would have stayed inside are getting out. Over the course of a year, people have been driven outside again and again. That is going to have powerful long-term effects.

We still have a long way to go to make sure we can accommodate all those people, of course. If you look at some of the studies that have come out this year, you see that we have 28 million kids in the U.S. who don’t live within a ten-minute walk of park. The questions on my mind right now are: How can we build more places to play, how do we protect the ones we have, and how do we make those places more equitable for everyone?

But we’re getting there. It’s important to remember that the last major element in forming a habit is joy. At this point, we know people have experienced joy in the outdoors this year—it has truly been our great escape. That’s why I feel really optimistic these days. This crisis has been difficult, but it may be the start of a whole new chapter for the outdoor industry.

A Few Final Questions, Just for Fun

At the end of the hike,��Aangeenbrug��wrapped things up by rattling off answers to a lightening round of fun, personal questions. Here’s what she says about her preferred camping meal, favorite Fourteener, and more.

Piece of holiday gear at the top of your holiday list?

Nemo Stargazer Recliner Luxury Chair

Favorite camping meal?

Pasta with smoked salmon

Favorite place to ski in Colorado?

For cross-country, Devil’s Thumb. For downhill, Crested Butte.

Favorite national park?

Point Reyes

Down, wool, or synthetic?

Wool

Last piece of gear you bought?

Kahtoola EXOspikes

What kind of car do you drive?

Subaru

Favorite Fourteener?
Kit Carson Peak

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Post-Election Analysis: What Biden’s Victory Means for the Outdoor Industry

objmigrationbot — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 13:46:02 +0000

Let’s get this out of the way first: The election of Joe Biden as the nation’s 46th president is, without question, a positive development for the outdoor industry. If enacted, the likely policies of a Biden presidency—including forward-thinking climate action, greater public lands protections, and fewer trade penalties on Chinese goods—will almost certainly help business across the outdoor space. A boom is coming. Or at least that’s what many in our field are hoping.

But just how much will things change, and how quickly? The nuances of the election outcome—including the ongoing battle for Senate control, rejiggered House representation, and changes to state legislatures—make the picture far more complicated than a simple open-and-shut victory for outdoor professionals. It will take time to understand the full implications of what happened on November 3; for the moment, at least, we must rely on educated guesswork and projection.

To that end, the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) hosted a call this week to unpack the outcome of the election in granular detail, offering predictions and advice for navigating business in the industry after Biden is sworn in on January 20.

On the call were Lise Aangeenbrug, executive director of OIA;��Rich Harper, director of government affairs for OIA; and two partners at the D.C. lobbying firm��Forbes Tate Partners,��George Cooper and��Doug Usher.

In case you missed it, here’s��a recap of what was said.

What the Election Tells Us About the Future of Washington

The first part of OIA’s call was dedicated to dissecting what the reshuffling of the national political map means for Washington in the next four years and beyond. Like all policy, outdoor policy is at its foundation dictated by this political calculus, so it helps to have an understanding of where the country is headed to navigate business concerns in the industry.

First, the state math. When all the states are called in the presidential race, it’s likely that Biden and Trump will both win 25, even though Biden’s electoral lead has already tipped him into victory. That’s significant, Cooper and Usher both said, because it indicates how policy decisions will play out on a state level over at least the next two years.

“This will be one of only two times since 1880 that a candidate wins the presidency without winning a majority of states,”��said Usher. “Democrats are building strength nationally, but they’re not building the number of states they control. This is important for OIA because even federal legislation starts at the state level, meaning it gets voted on by people who are elected at the state level.”

The Senate will also play a crucial role in blocking or supporting policies critical to the outdoor industry, and here we have some new faces in Washington to consider, most notably Colorado’s newly elected senator, John Hickenlooper.

“We’re going to have two new senators arriving from the states of Arizona and Colorado on the Democratic side, two relatively moderate Westerners arriving in the Senate,” said Cooper.��“That’s noteworthy for us as an industry. I don’t think we can find anyone better than Hickenlooper in terms of understanding our industry.”

Another bright spot: While consensus on any issue in congress is far from certain these days, the outdoors are something of a soft spot between the two parties, as evidenced by the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act this year.

“The likelihood that a member of Congress is going to cross party lines and vote with the other party is a rarity these days,”��said Cooper.��“It’s worth noting, though, that we stand out as an industry when we think about the things we advocate for—funding for public lands, getting more people outdoors. That’s one of the few spots where you’ll get people still crossing over.”

And even if congressional Democrats and Republicans remain gridlocked for the first two years of Biden’s presidency, there’s always the possibility that the Senate map will change again in 2022—something Cooper and Usher say they’re already watching closely.

“Republicans will have to defend almost twice as many seats as Democrats in 2022,” Cooper said. “Democrats will only have a couple of senators you could think of as being potentially vulnerable in Nevada and New Hampshire. Republicans have a bunch of tough races in Florida, Ohio, Alaska, Wisconsin, and elsewhere. As we think about positioning some of the bills we care most about, we’ll be paying close attention to who’s up and who’s vulnerable.”

As for unified control of the House, Cooper was less bullish. Democrats will lose ten to 15 seats when all the votes are counted, which may cause problems for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s advancement of initiatives that tend to divide progressive and moderate members of her caucus, like climate action.

“The practical implications [of the House outcome] are really important,” Cooper said. “There is even less buffer than Pelosi had before in terms of bringing things to the floor and being sure she can hold her entire caucus together. She’s going to be refereeing some really nasty ongoing fights between the progressive arm of her caucus and the more conservative Blue Dogs and New Dems.”

Usher was quick to note that, of the last four presidents to start their terms with control of the House, three of them lost control in their first midterm.

“As much as things look OK, it is tough to hold onto the House and that’s especially true if you’ve got a slim lead,” Usher said.

Starting on day one of Biden’s presidency, the passage of��outdoor industry-friendly legislation will take on immense urgency for OIA and other advocacy groups due to that fact alone.

What Will a Divided Government Mean for the Industry?

Assuming one or both of Georgia’s two Senate runoffs (which will decide control of the chamber) go to Republicans, we as an industry will be operating under a divided government for the next two to four years. What are the implications of that reality?

Cooper said that, while Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans made it their explicit mission to undermine Obama when he took the White House in 2008, the same may not be true this time around. McConnell and Biden’s relationship in the Senate goes back decades, and Biden will work hard at striking deals—albeit small ones—with Republicans.

“Biden will be totally different,” said Cooper. “If anything, he will wear Republicans out with his invitations to talk, have a beer, play golf, whatever it is, and he’s going to look for ways to find some deals.”

Though Cooper said climate change will stay at the “top of this administration’s list of priorities,” Democrats will probably have to find ways to get their agenda enacted in a piecemeal fashion. A large climate package is exceedingly unlikely with Republicans in control of one of the two chambers of Congress.

Democrats will probably have to “look in places like an infrastructure package” to get climate policy passed, Cooper said. “A lot of this will also be influenced by who’s up in the Senate in two years.”

Biden and International Trade

The second half of OIA’s call focused on international trade and what outdoor companies can expect from the Biden administration on that front.

“What outdoor companies are looking for is a stable, predictable trade environment,” said Rich Harper, OIA’s��director of government affairs. “With a president like Biden, I think we’ll certainly see a new tone, more emphasis on negotiation, and a multilateral approach to trade issues.”

Harper did note, however, that the initial focus of the Biden administration will be on domestic priorities: responding to the pandemic, jumpstarting the economy, and developing climate proposals.

“One of our key trade priorities has been the China 301 tariffs, and there I think we’ll see Biden pursue a more multilateral approach with the Chinese, brining in our partners from the E.U. to press the Chinese to make substantive changes to protect U.S. intellectual property,” Harper said. “But we anticipate that the punitive tariffs that have been placed on a wide variety of outdoor products from List 3 and List 4A will remain for the foreseeable future. President Biden will still need to get something from the Chinese in return for lifting those.”

Looking at the possibility of new trade agreements, deals will likely be delayed until domestic issues are resolved, Harper said. OIA believes, however, that if and when new trade deals are negotiated, climate and labor provisions are likely to play a big role in the negotiations.

As for exceptions to punitive tariffs like the��Generalized System of Preferences and��Miscellaneous Tariff Bills packages, Harper was optimistic that they would continue to benefit outdoor companies, and even hoped they might expand in the near term.

“I do think we’ll have a partner in the Biden administration on the Generalized System of Preferences, the main trade preference program for developing countries,” said Harper. “This has been key for outdoor companies sourcing backpacks and sports bags and other travel goods from GSP countries. Outdoor companies saved about $300 million in duties on those products in 2019, and that program is up for renewal at the end of the year.��As for the Miscellaneous Tariff Bills and other temporary duty suspensions,��I think we’ll continue to have a partner in the Biden administration there too, introducing new rounds of MTBs moving forward.”

Harper then laid out OIA’s goals with respect to trade and the incoming administration. Building on the success of OIA’s initiative to add travel goods to the GSP program, the group is now pushing to add certain outdoor footwear products to the program as well.

“I think we have an opportunity to work with the Biden administration on establishing new tariff exclusion processes or reopening certain exclusion processes,” said Harper. “We’re going to push to extend existing exclusions that are expiring at the end of the year and to renew them for more than just a year—we’re going to push for up to three years to give some outdoor companies time to shift their supply chains to other countries.”

Finally, OIA gave an overview of some congressional representatives poised to become champions for trade in the outdoor industry, including Ron Wyden of Oregon, ranking member of the Finance Committee, and Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the chairman of Ways and Means.

The Way Forward

Overall, the tone of the call was cautiously optimistic. To keep the industry’s goals moving forward—especially on more divisive issues like climate—everyone agreed that concessions will need to be made to congressional Republicans. Successes on trade and climate, by no means out of reach, will arrive slowly.

“We need to have an active policy agenda across the board, from trade to climate to recreation and public lands,” Cooper said. “The more we’re framing [our agenda] to Republicans in terms of how this is beneficial to jobs and the economy, the more helpful it’s going to be.”

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Report Confirms Outdoor Recreation Is Crucial to National and State Economies

objmigrationbot — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:08:12 +0000

The numbers are in.

The��U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) came out with its annual report today dissecting the importance of the��outdoor economy across the nation.��Officially an analysis of the agency’s Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, which measures��“economic activity as well as the sales or receipts generated by outdoor recreational activities” across the country, the report laid out in clear terms just how crucial outdoor recreation remains to state economies from coast to coast.

Across the board, the upshot was positive. The BEA’s report found that outdoor recreation contributed to the economies of all 50 states and accounted for 2.1 percent ($459.8 billion) of current-dollar gross domestic product and $788 billion in gross output (consumer spending) in 2019.

According to a recap of the study published this morning by the Outdoor Recreation��Roundtable,��it is likely these figures will be even higher for 2020,��given the rise in outdoor participation during the pandemic.

Lise Aangeenbrug, executive director of OIA, said after the release of the data, “The report published today proves that together, we are a force. The industry is a vital component of national, state, and local economies, as well as an important catalyst to America’s economic recovery.”

Here’s what we learned from the numbers.

States That Benefited Most from the Outdoor Economy

The states that saw the highest value-add from outdoor recreation as a percentage of state GDP were clustered in the Intermountain West and the Northeast, with several key outliers in Hawaii, Alaska, and Florida. The top states to benefit most from the outdoor economy in 2019 came in as follows.

Hawaii: 5.8 percent*

Vermont: 5.2 percent

Montana: 4.7 percent

Florida: 4.4 percent

Maine: 4.2 percent

Wyoming: 4.2 percent

Alaska: 3.9 percent

Utah: 3.3 percent

New Hampshire: 3.2 percent

Colorado: 3.1 percent

Nevada: 3.1 percent

*value-add from outdoor recreation in 2019, as a percentage of state GDP

The states that saw the highest value-add from outdoor recreation as a percentage of state GDP were mostly clustered in the Intermountain West and the Northeast. (Photo: Courtesy)

States that Benefitted Least

On the flip side, the states that benefitted least were clustered in the Midwest and parts of New England. Washington, D.C., measured apart from the other 50 states, came in last.

Washington, D.C.: 1.1 percent*

Connecticut: 1.3 percent

Deleware: 1.7 percent

Maryland: 1.7 percent

New York: 1.7 percent

Ohio: 1.6 percent

Pennsylvania: 1.6 percent

Alabama:��1.8 percent

Illinois: 1.8 percent

Massachusetts: 1.8 percent

*value-add from outdoor recreation in 2019, as a percentage of state/district GDP

What’s Included in the Definition of ‘Outdoor Recreation’

It’s important to note that “outdoor recreation” in the BEA’s report differs—slightly—from how the outdoor industry typically defines it.

The report divides outdoor recreation activities into three general categories: “conventional activities,” including bicycling, boating, hiking, hunting; “other core activities” like gardening and outdoor concerts; and “supporting activities” such as construction, travel and tourism, local trips, and government expenditures.

Conventional outdoor recreation, the data shows, accounted for 30 percent of GDP value-add across the country, while other core activities accounted for 19 percent, and supporting activities accounted for the remaining 51 percent.

Among conventional activities, boating/fishing added the most money to the economy at��$23.6 billion in current-dollar value added. In 30 states, as well as in Washington, D.C., boating/fishing was the most valuable conventional outdoor activity in terms of GDP value-add, with��Florida ($3.3 billion), California ($2 billion), and Texas ($1.7 billion) contributing the most to the overall GDP boost.

Second through fifth place went to categories adjacent to our core industry—RVing, hunting/shooting/trapping, ATVing/motorcycling, and equestrian, in order.

Snow sports came in sixth among conventional activities, adding��$6.3 billion to nationwide GDP. In four key states, however—Colorado ($1.7 billion), Utah ($666.3 million), Vermont ($286.9 million), and Wyoming ($147.5 million)—it was the largest GDP value-add among conventional outdoor activities.

Among conventional activities, boating/fishing added the most money to the economy at $23.6 billion in current-dollar value added.��Snow sports came in sixth. (Photo: Courtesy)

Outdoor Employees Fared Better; Retail Added Significant Value

Also encouraging was the fact that, across the board, the report shows outdoor employees doing better than they did the previous year. Employment in the outdoor space rose by 0.4 percent in 2019, and compensation for those employees increased by 3.9 percent overall.

Compensation and employment rose by 3.9 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, across the industry in 2019. (Photo: Courtesy)

Breaking down the national outdoor industry GDP value-add in 2019, the report shows that 21 percent of the benefit came from retail trade. At the state level, retail was the largest contributor to outdoor recreation value-add in 13 states, and the second largest in 32 states.

Retail accounted for $98.6 billion in outdoor industry value-add to the national GDP last year. (Photo: Courtesy)

Comparison to Past Data

2019’s report wasn’t quite as rosy as the last couple that have come out. In��2018, the BEA��showed a 2.2 percent contribution to national GDP coming from the outdoor sector, outpacing growth of the U.S. economy overall. 2017��was similar. In 2019, the outdoor economy grew at a slightly slower clip than the U.S. economy at large.

The numbers are still encouraging, however, and as OIA noted this week, figures for 2020 and beyond are likely to grow at an accelerated rate, given the spike in outdoor participation during the pandemic.

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