InsideOutdoor | WINTER 2023 10 The political battle over the national monuments, however, continues. The two areas were designated as national monuments by President Obama in 2016. The amount of land designated was gutted by President Trump in 2017, which is what prompted OR to move its winter and summer shows to Denver. According to a report in the Desert News, the perceptions of the elected leaders who supported Trump’s action ran low among some outdoor recreation industry heavy hitters. Shortly after his election in 2020, President Biden reinstated the national monuments to the original land size, and that prompted Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes to file suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah alleging Biden’s action was “an abusive federal overreach.” Signing on in support of the suit reads like a “who’s who” of Utah elected officials including Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee and Gov Spencer Cox. The lawsuit argues the two national monuments cover a combined 3.2 million acres and violates the Antiquities Act of 1906, which limits U.S. presidents to create monuments “confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” The day after Reyes filed his suit, a coalition of conservation groups and in partnership with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Native America tribes responded with a countersuit. Earthjustice represents the coalition and says it will use every “legal tool” to defend the monuments and the Antiquities Act itself. The coalition, together with Native American tribes that urged the Obama administration to establish the Bears Ears National Monument, also challenged Trump’s 2017 dismantling of the monuments. That case is pending. “For its 116-year existence, nearly every U.S. President has used the Antiquities Act to protect some of our nation’s most treasured and important landscapes and waters,” said Theresa Pierno, President and CEO for National Parks Conservation Association. “The Grand Canyon, Olympic, Acadia and dozens more of our national parks are protected today because of the existence of this law and the foresight of those who used it. This lawsuit is another blatant attempt to strip away protections for the lands this important conservation law safeguards. As we’ve said time and time again, an attack on one monument is an attack on all. We will continue to fight to ensure all national monuments are protected now and for the future.” In 1920, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Theodore Roosevelt’s use of the Antiquities Act to protect 800,000 acres in Arizona when he declared the Grand Canyon a national monument. Since then, presidents routinely have designated monuments of a million acres or more – like the Death Valley, Glacier Bay, Gates of the Arctic and the Wrangell St-Elias national monuments – many of which have become national parks According to Chris Krupp of WildEarth Guardians, “Most Utahns support the Bears Ears and GrandStaircase-Escalante monument designations and want these places protected.” He called the state’s lawsuit “political theater.” While the legal battle continues in the courts, Utah leaders are happy that OR has returned. The Desert News reported the show is “an economic juggernaut” that generates tens of millions of dollars in economic activity with each of its seasonal show (winter and summer). “But the world’s biggest gathering of outdoor-focused retailers and service providers also drives broader, and harder to measure, reputational cachet for its host cities among outdoor enthusiasts and the multibilliondollar industries that keep those devotees geared up,” the longest-running newspaper in Utah wrote, citing a U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report that finds the national outdoor recreation economy outperformed the overall U.S. economy in 2021, growing 18.9 percent compared to national economic growth that came in at 5.9 percent for the year. Utah’s slice of the outdoor recreation action accounted for 2.7 percent of the state’s gross domestic product in 2021, according to the report, and generated more than $6 billion in economic activity for the year. The analysis found nearly 67,000 Utahns were employed in outdoor recreationrelated jobs in 2021, and their earnings accounted for 4 percent of the total for Utah workers last year. Historically, during the life of the Outdoor Retailer in Utah – prior to its move to Denver – the show generated more than $565 million in direct delegate spending, according to Visit Salt Lake, while accounting for $52 million in local, county and state taxes. Those contributions to tax coffers provided annual tax relief of $1,238 for every Salt Lake County household. m
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