For those of us who follow news related to the “greater outdoors” (and for the record, I’m honing in on traditional outdoor-focused recreational pursuits such as (fly) fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, backpacking and the like), now and again we’ll see articles and “research” such as this touting the extraordinary impact that the outdoor economy has on the greater economic well-being of a state (or the nation for that matter).
From the article linked above, who the hell wouldn’t be impressed by their reported numbers –
Every year, the outdoor recreation economy provides $887 billion in economic output nationwide, creates 7.6 million direct jobs, and generates $125 billion in tax revenue.
Honing in on the continental US and the Northern Rockies in particular, Montana and Wyoming placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in Outdoorsy’s rank of “Outdoor Recreation Dependency Index”, with their reporting of each state’s key data points summarized below.
Somewhat surprisingly, both Montana and Wyoming, based on the 2019 data, had less than 5% of their GDP and share of total compensation derived from outdoor recreational activities; the contribution of the outdoor economy in these states is impressive but hardly the primary driver of economic stability as is often inferred.
The point – as with most things in life, the devil is in the details; when you hear numbers suggesting how vital the outdoor economy might be to a state (or fishing reports, investment advice, hell – anything for that matter) that sound too good to be true, look a little further at the actual data.
And hell yes, the outdoor economy is indeed VITAL to many of the states we all love in the West and to the pursuits we all cherish; spend freely on your travels this late summer and fall, and support local businesses working hard to make your trip better.
Images via the linked Outdoorsy.com article.
