By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff
The U.S. Department of the Interior is devoting important new resources to outdoor recreation on America’s public lands and waters. Secretary Ryan Zinke announced the creation of a Recreation Advisory Committee to help improve visitor experiences through expanded public-private partnerships. The committee will be “dedicated to looking at public-private partnerships across all public lands, with the goal of expanding access to and improving the infrastructure on public lands.”
The Outdoor Recreation Industry Roundtable (ORIR) had urged the creation of the new advisory committee. The ORIR is comprised of leading industry associations, including SEMA, which represent off-roading, camping, fishing, boating, hiking, archery and other sports. The Recreation Advisory Committee will help to advance the ORIR’s primary mission, which is to spotlight the economic value of outdoor recreation and pursue federal policy reforms for rebuilding and expanding the nation’s recreation-related infrastructure.
The creation of the Recreation Advisory Committee is an important step in harnessing the might of the $887 billion-per-year outdoor recreation economy, and shows the Interior Department’s commitment to supporting its continued growth. The Committee will offer new opportunities for private-sector collaboration with the Interior Department on a wide range of issues, including expansion of world-class visitor services and infrastructure, skillful management of peak visitation, improving fee collection, incorporating new technologies and much more.
For more information, contact Stuart Gosswein at stuartg@sema.org.