A lone angler fishes on the Rio Costilla in the Valle Vidal of northern New Mexico. |
The conference at the Grant
County Conference
Center will feature seminars and
speakers from numerous outdoor related federal and state agencies, private
businesses, advocacy organizations and political leaders.
The conference will include panel discussions about
successful community and company programs that promote outdoor recreation
opportunities, eco and wildlife tourism, state promotional resources, benefits
of trails, sustainable tourism, federal partnerships with land management
agencies and equal access to the outdoors.
The public is invited and more information about attending
can be found on the website www.outdooreconomicsnm.com.
With over 40 percent of New Mexico ’s
land in public hands, great weather and friendly people, the state has long
been an outdoor recreation mecca.
But the industry as a whole has long suffered from neglect
due to its diversity and lack of a trade association.
That is slated to change now that the state has created an
office of Outdoor Recreation under the State Economic Development Department.
The office’s new director, Axie Navas, who managed digital
media and marketing for Outside magazine in Santa Fe
is scheduled to speak at the conference.
Navas said in a recent interview that her first priorities
will be to take stock of the industry, get out and meet the players and develop
a strategy for helping support and promote them.
The industry is diverse,
including hunting, fishing, hiking, boating, camping, sightseeing, bird
watching, golfing, skiing, mountain biking, horseback riding, motorized
off-roading and other outdoor activities.
Taking inventory of all the state’s businesses, agencies and
others involved in the outdoor industry is already underway and plans to
provide digital media and other promotion support also are being considered,
Navas said.
The state’s outdoor recreational industry brings in about
$10 billion in consumer spending each year accounting for an estimated 10 percent
of the state’s gross domestic product, according to the recent academic and business
studies.
The industry supports close to 100,000 jobs across the state
and generates almost $3 billion in payroll while providing more than $600
million in taxes to government coffers.
The fly fishing industry on the San Juan River at Navajo Dam
alone produces up to $30 million in business every year while anglers spend
about $268 million statewide, according to New Mexico Department of Game and
Fish reports.
Other areas of the outdoor industry are more difficult to
quantify due to a lack of information and studies. That also could change now
that the outdoor industry has an office within state government dedicated to
it.