Outdoor recreation in Idaho creates jobs, brings in billions in sales
BOISE - Here's a Valentine for Idaho's economy: Outdoor recreation creates more than 77,000 jobs, $6.3 billion in consumer spending, $1.8 billion in wages and $461 million in state and local tax revenue, according to a new report from the Outdoor Industry Association.
The association released a state-by-state economic impact analysis of the outdoor recreation industry following a national report from last summer, indicating the industry is "an overlooked economic giant."
The report found that Americans spend approximately $646 billion on outdoor recreation each year, twice as much as they spend on cars or pharmaceuticals.
Officials with the Idaho Outdoor Business Council, a new coalition of businesses and recreation groups in the state, said they hope that Idaho's elected leaders take note of the outdoor industry's economic impact and take steps to nurture it.
"Idaho has many world-class recreation areas - mountains, rivers and desert canyons - that draw people to the state from throughout the world. That's good for Idaho's recreation economy," says Mike Lanza, a member of the Outdoor Business Council, outdoor author and blogger in Boise and the Northwest editor for Backpacker magazine. "When people come here to experience these places, they spend money on new gear for the trip as well as on food and lodging."
"Easy and convenient access to Idaho's public lands, such as hiking and biking trails in the Boise Foothills or going rafting on the Payette River make it nearly effortless to engage in outdoor recreation," adds Chris Callanan, marketing director for AIRE, a whitewater rafting manufacturer in Meridian. "It's important to protect and enhance these resources because they're getting more popular all the time."
How do the economic impact numbers for outdoor recreation compare?
The 77,000 jobs make up 13 percent of Idaho's total jobs (611,700), and $1.8 billion in wages is 8 percent of the state's total ($22 billion), according to the Idaho Department of Labor.
Outdoor recreation's job numbers compare favorably to the retail sector in Idaho, which has 76,700 jobs, and the job numbers exceed that of agriculture (22,500 jobs), education (55,500 jobs) and professional services (31,000).
Idahoans have great access to public lands and waters, in part, because of common sense programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which uses a small percentage of fees paid by oil and gas companies to help preserve our national parks and forests, and open space in communities across the country.
Over the last 40 years, these funds have protected valuable places such as the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, the famed Salmon River - River of No Return, and the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area near Kuna.
Land and Water Conservation Fund state assistance grants have provided funding for hundreds of state and local parks across Idaho including the Boise Greenbelt, Wood River Trails, Coeur d'Alene's Tubbs Hill and Sandpoint's City Beach. Those grants are a wise investment that boost Idaho's recreation economy, Idaho Outdoor Business Council officials said.
Preservation of prime wildlife habitat in Idaho, particularly in pristine roadless lands and established wilderness areas, is a sound investment in Idaho's recreation-based economy as well, officials said.
Business Council officials praised Congressman Mike Simpson for supporting common-sense conservation programs like Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness.
"We appreciate Simpson's support for much-needed conservation funding and the Boulder-White Clouds," Lanza said. "These are initiatives that improve our quality of life and protect world-class lands and resources."
The outdoor recreation economic impact numbers were calculated by Southwick Associates, a research firm which specializes in shooting sports, hunting, angling, natural resource and environmental economics.