By Bella Butler EBS EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
BIG SKY – In many ways, Montana may be considered the
flagship for wild places in the United States. With just over a million people
spread out across nearly 150,000 square miles, there is a bountiful offering of
wide-open spaces with exceptional access to entertain sportsmen and women of
all kinds.
In Gov. Steve Bullock’s second campaign, he made it a
priority to protect the land privileges enjoyed by recreationists in Montana, running
largely on a public lands platform. When in office, he followed through on the
promise and established the Montana Office of Outdoor Recreation, making
Montana the fourth state to establish such an office.
Based in the Montana Governor’s Office for Economic
Development, MTOOR is a one-employee operation run by director Rachel
VandeVoort, a native Montanan who grew up in Whitefish and graduated from the
University of Montana.
Each state’s office of outdoor recreation hones their focus
on priorities and missions that satisfy their state’s unique needs. For
Montana, that looks like fostering continued growth for outdoor recreation,
which VandeVoort says is an essential and critical segment of not only the
Montana lifestyle, with over 80 percent of Montanans participating in outdoor
recreation, but also its economy.
“[The] outdoor recreation economy is a significant
contributor [to Montana’s economy overall],” VandeVoort said. Citing figures
from the 2018 MTOOR Economy Report, she noted that 10 percent of all Montana
jobs are directly related to outdoor recreation. The report also concluded that
the outdoor recreation industry accrues $7.1 billion dollars in consumer
spending and generates $286 million in state and local taxes.
Looking through an economic lens, growing the industry can
only mean a stronger state economy, which in turn translates to higher
standards of living for Montanans and more opportunities for prosperity within
the state.
However, increased recreation in fragile natural climates
may seem like a “Catch 22.” As the economy trends upward with the growth of the
industry, the health of Montana’s environment could potentially see a reversed outcome.
As VandeVoort pointed out, there is no such thing as a type of recreation that
has no impact.
As the outdoor recreation industry expands and consequently
so do the repercussions to the environment, a divide has surfaced between
conservationists—those looking to preserve the land—and recreationists who
prioritize heavy use.
In an essay published by “High Country News,” Ethan Linck writes
the narrative of this rift, claiming that blurring the lines between
recreationist and conservationist is misguided. He poses this question: “Can outdoor recreation really
support conservation for the long-term health of the land, not just human
access?”
Linck’s
argument is that the conservation that recreationists believe they are
participating in is actually born out of self-interest; people will fight to
protect something if they have a vested stake in it. To Linck, this is what distinguishes
a recreationist from a conservationist, the latter being someone who he believes views the
environment with the absence of anthropocentric perspective and honors the intrinsic
value in nature.
Randy
Carpenter, project manager for the nonprofit organization Future West, hopes
attitudes will shift toward thinking about what is best for nature.
“As our population grows … as we see more and more impacts, I hope that people will start to look at the intrinsic value of our wild lands and see that value alone as meaningful,” he said.
VandeVoort
does agree that participating in outdoor activities does not inherently make you
a conservationist of that place solely based on that interaction with nature. Despite
recognizing the partition between the two acts, she also suggests that in our
current world, conservation and recreation cannot exist exclusively from each
other.
“[Conservation]
takes time and energy and effort and money to maintain,” VandeVoort said.
According
to the MTOOR director, the outdoor recreation industry has the resources to
support conservation efforts in a way that otherwise wouldn’t be possible; a portion
of MTOOR is improving outdoor recreation infrastructure and access with a focus
on stewardship and conservation. She also believes that allowing people the
opportunity to experience the outdoors instills in them a passion for those
outside spaces and a desire to protect them. This concept is often known as
“place attachment” and has been debated as a sound theory by many.
With
outdoor recreation playing such a large role in Montana’s culture and
livelihood, it will not likely dissolve from the region anytime soon. However,
in order to meet environmental needs spurring from rapidly increasing use by
recreationists, the Montana outdoor recreation industry and those that it
serves may need to “practice restraint,” as said by Carpenter.
The
question remains as to what these restraints look like and how large of a push
they must be. Carpenter pointed out that there are a great deal of impacts by
recreationists that have yet to come to light, so determining solutions is an
especially challenging feat.
An
example VandeVoort offered up is the Smith River permit system, which limits
the number of floaters allowed on the prized Smith River in the central part of
the state.
The
solution to growing the outdoor recreation industry responsibly is thus far
inconclusive, but VandeVoort and Carpenter both believe it must include a
balance of respecting conservation efforts and honoring the role that outdoor
recreation plays in Montana.
