The Outdoor Alliance, a coalition of national groups representing human powered outdoor recreation, hosted a partnership summit in Golden, Colorado earlier this month. Inspired in part by Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative, the summit’s goal is to increase public-private partnerships leading to greater stewardship, protection and enjoyment of public lands and waters.
An unprecedented meeting, the summit gave both sides of the land management issue a forum to discuss how to design partnerships for the future and improve the ones that exist. Over 150 people attended including members of the outdoor industry, human powered recreation community, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, National Park Service, Army Corp of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service. The summit highlighted and studied successful partnerships taking place across the country, focusing on the ingredients for success.
“We knew it was going well when at 7:30am on the third day the room was full and the energy level was high,” said Tom Flynn, Outdoor Alliance’s Grass-tops Advocacy Fellow.
Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), in a videotaped address, opened the Summit, praising the Outdoor Alliance for its success combining local efforts with federal initiatives. While Peter Metcalf, CEO/President of Black Diamond gave the keynote speech.
Millions of Americans are represented by the Outdoor Alliance, which includes the Access Fund, American Canoe Association, American Hiking Society, American Whitewater, International Mountain Bicycling Association, and Winter Wildlands Alliance.
