Outdoor Recreation Conference Focuses on Growth of Recreation
The Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado hosted a conference entitled "Outdoor Recreation: Promise and Peril in the New West" from June 8-10. The conference brought together recreation organizations, land managers, environmental groups and other interested parties to discuss the effects of the growing use of recreation on our public lands. Speakers described how recreation is now replacing extractive industries as the main use and source of income for our public lands and the response of legislators and land managers to this change.
Key themes of the conference were the impacts of various recreational activities on wildlife, landscape and sacred Native American sites; partnerships with the Forest Service in land management, recreational tourism and user conflicts; and public land agency responses to significant increases in use.
Of special interest was a presentation by Scott Silver of Wild Wilderness, an organization based in Bend, Oregon. Scott challenged participants to examine more closely fee-demo programs, as well as the extent to which corporate recreation interests, including the snowmobile industry, are involved in drafting recreation policy for public lands. Other interesting points for backcountry skiers were the discussions on strategies for conflict management, legislative issues and other recreational use issues.
The conference led to a much better understanding of the new land management strategies and how important it is for forest users to participate in developing new approaches to recreation management.