Outdoor Industry Association

Over the maybe last 10 or 15 years, I feel like there's been this arc in the outdoor recreation industry in terms of policy and advocacy, and I'll run through that real quick.

The first, which I was involved with, as were many other folks when I was working at Outdoor Industry Association, for example, was making the case, right? So we had this wave of economic impact studies, first from the industry, and then, you know, officially through the Bureau of Economic Analysis Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, just talking about how outdoor recreation is the size of the industry, how it's growing.

And I think that really helped just to add some credibility to the industry as a player.

Then, you know, over the last decade or so, what I feel like I've been a part of and I've seen is kind of institutionalizing that, right? So you go from making the case to, building some new institutions, right? The fact that now half the country has offices of outdoor recreation.

It just goes to show that these areas that are highly urbanized, we can, you know, transform and bring them back to a state that they were originally, and bring back species that were here that have not been here for over a century.

According to a recent report by the Outdoor Industry Association, hiking is the most popular outdoor activity in the US.

But would you hike nearly 2,200 miles? That's the challenge thousands of people take on each year across the Appalachian Trail, a mountainous winding path that stretches from Georgia to Maine.

It's the longest hiking-only footpath in the US.