As we now face a monument management plan under an administration subservient to the environmental community, one has to ponder the reason many corporations are so outspoken about the management of public lands. When President Trump stepped up and did the right thing by downsizing Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase National Monument, many outdoor industry corporations such as Patagonia, Black Diamond, REI, North Face, and others stepped to the forefront in criticizing President Trump’s roll back. The Outdoor Industry Association has made it very clear what their true interest is. They said the President’s announcement is “detrimental to the $887 Billion outdoor recreation economy and the 7.6 million America jobs it supports.” Patagonia even made it more clear in an op-ed in Time magazine stating why they are suing President Trump: “to defend our business. Patagonia’s business relies directly on public lands,” it said, then went on to reference the $887 billion outdoor industry. Ultimately they are concerned about their stock valuation and their shareholder returns.
These corporations cloak their concern in preservation and conservation but let’s not kid ourselves, in the end, it’s about corporate greed and their bottom lines. Not unlike other industries that lobby for the use of public lands, the Farm Bureau and Cattlemen’s Association lobby for grazing rights on public lands (which they pay for). The timber and paper industry lobbies for timber harvesting from public lands (which they pay for). The coal and mining industries lobby for mineral extraction from public lands (which they pay for). Fish and Wildlife organizations lobby for hunting on public lands (which they pay for). The energy industry lobbies for the extraction of oil and natural gas from public lands (which they pay for).
Ultimately these activist outdoor industry corporations are no different than other industries that function, make a profit, and prosper through the use of public lands. The difference is this, the outdoor industry is looking for a free federal subsidy in the form of single-use public lands, not just a little bit of land, but millions of acres of public land, locked up for a select few recreational opportunities which line their pockets with cash through the sale of goods and services. Let’s call it what it is, these corporations want a FREE FEDERAL SUBSIDY while other public land users pay royalties, fees, and lease assessments while playing well together with other land users. If you want to get the hackles of the outdoor industry up, simply suggest a hiking boot tax or backpack tax. These industries will open up the floodgates of hell to lobby against such a fee or assessment.
The outdoor industry relies on public lands. Just like mining, grazing, energy, hunting, and timber rely on rich public lands and nature’s bounty to give them their profit margin. They are no different than any other “industry,” the only difference is that the outdoor recreation industry asks for their “economic development incentives” in the form of an outright subsidy of land paid for by the broader public and more specifically on the backs of local communities and rural counties.
Isn’t it time for the outdoor industry to stop with the false narrative? Pay their fair share? And come clean to the American public about why they are truly so outspoken about these public land issues. Let’s be honest with ourselves, it’s about their bottom lines.
– by Darin Bushman, Piute County Commissioner
Feature image courtesy Ravindra Rawat.