Alabama’s first Outdoor Recreation Summit highlights recreational, economic opportunities
T.C. McLemore, executive director of outdoor recreation for Innovate Alabama, addresses the lunch crowd at Alabama's first Outdoor Recreation Summit, held at Lake Guntersville State Park. (Peritus Public Relations)
It was a wet Tuesday. In the morning, a low-lying fog misted the surrounding woods and hung above the broad expanse of water below. Bank after bank of dark clouds drifted overhead, bringing a succession of downpours that kept up throughout the day.
Some might have described the weather as downright gloomy, but in its way, the scene as viewed from the lodge atop the high ridge overlooking the woods and water only emphasized the stunning natural beauty of Lake Guntersville State Park. Certainly, the weather didn’t dampen the excitement of the 225 people gathered at the lodge for Alabama’s first-ever Outdoor Recreation Summit, nor the event’s organizer, Innovate Alabama.
“Lake Guntersville is a beautiful place to showcase what Alabama has to offer people who love the outdoors,” said T.C. McLemore, executive director of outdoor recreation for Innovate Alabama. The two-day conference, held April 21-22, convened representatives of the broad range of people and organizations — including businesses and governmental entities — engaged in supporting the continued growth of outdoor recreation as a driver of Alabama’s economic future.
Participants in Alabama’s first Outdoor Recreation Summit listen to a lunchtime presentation. (Peritus Public Relations)
Currently, outdoor recreation accounts for 65,000 jobs in Alabama, along with $6.6 billion in annual revenue. Innovate Alabama is helping to drive the state’s investment in infrastructure to support outdoor activities that attract people and businesses to locations across Alabama. In addition to camping, McLemore pointed out, the state offers ample opportunities for hiking, biking, trail running, canoeing, kayaking and fly fishing, to name just some of the lures to outdoor enthusiasts.
“Already, it’s a huge part of our economy,” McLemore said. “The purpose of this summit is to help answer some questions. What’s being done right in Alabama? What can we learn from others? How can Alabama best use outdoor recreation as a tool to attract and retain the talent we need to make our state successful? We want people to come away with a sense of the true impact and the true potential involved with these investments.”
The keynote breakfast speaker on the summit’s second day was Whitney Potter Schwartz. As senior vice president of communications for the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable — a coalition of industry, government, trade associations and other stakeholders in the $1.2 trillion economic impact now being generated by the outdoor recreation business — Schwartz said she was “amazed” at what she’d seen of Alabama’s outdoor amenities. She sees the state’s future as a place that promotes — and benefits from — the positive impacts of outdoor activity.
“It’s tremendous to be here and see what Alabama is doing around outdoor recreation and supporting the growth of the industry,” Schwartz said. “It’s an economic driver for states that devote resources to capitalizing on it, and we want to continue to support that.”
Beyond the role it can play in attracting visitors and even new residents, Schwartz noted, access to outdoor recreation opportunities has positive impacts on both physical and mental health of the population. It can also turn young people drawn to jobs in Alabama by its outdoor recreation options into lifelong residents who benefit from the economic and health benefits of the state’s investments in the outdoors.
“In the immediate term, it can draw workers, small businesses, entrepreneurs,” Schwartz said. “Over time, you’ll be getting people who come to Alabama to work and find that it’s a great place to stay and raise a family.
“Recreation is a solution.”
Not only that, but it’s a solution that builds bridges between various communities and their respective interests. That fact was noted by both Schwartz and the summit’s lunchtime keynote speaker, Brandi Horton, vice president of communications for the Rails to Trails Conservancy.
Echoing Schwartz’s comment that “the outdoors is nonpartisan,” Horton noted that across the country, market research shows strong support not just for building more public trails but for increasing federal, state and local allocations for building out trail systems and connectors between them.
“Trails bring people together,” Horton declared. “In terms of support across partisan lines, geographic lines, the lines of rural, urban and suburban places, it’s universal. Access to trails transforms quality of life and economic development. When we get out of our houses, out of our cars and come together outdoors in community, we experience that firsthand.”
Alabama college students enjoy a rainy kayaking session on Lake Guntersville as part of the experiential track of the Outdoor Recreation Summit. (Peritus Public Relations)
Rails to Trails is the national voice for the rail-trail movement, which preserves unused rail corridors and works with public and private partners to create connections between them. Horton has been aware of Alabama’s potential as a trail destination because of the 33-mile Chief Ladiga Trail from Anniston to the Georgia state line. That was one of the first Rails to Trails projects to cross a state boundary, linking the Chief Ladiga trail and Georgia’s Silver Comet Trail to form a 90-mile corridor of paved trail for non-motorized transportation.
According to Horton, Alabama’s potential is not the secret it once was. At the Lake Guntersville summit, she saw the attention and enthusiasm the state is devoting to bringing it to fruition.
“Alabama was a hidden gem for a long time,” Horton said. “Now, we’re seeing not just plans but the vision and energy to build out a statewide trail network that will give Alabama an opportunity to be a national trail leader. Doing that will help accomplish other goals the state has, not only in terms of trails, but its many other opportunities in outdoor recreation.”
The range of those opportunities, along with a detailed overview of what is being done to take full advantage of them, was apparent in the varied agenda of the Outdoor Recreation Summit. Topics included trail system planning, building regional cooperation around recreation, public-private partnerships, accessibility issues and attracting aspiring entrepreneurs, among others, with subject-matter experts participating in panel discussions on each topic.
Subject tracks of the summit were tailored to two primary audiences: outdoor rec practitioners and communities, and aspiring entrepreneurs. In addition, there was an experiential track for college students with specific interest in careers in the field. After classes in trail building and archery and a workshop on conservation on Monday, students from the University of Alabama, Alabama A&M University and the University of Alabama in Huntsville trekked eagerly into the wet morning on Tuesday for a hike around Lake Guntersville, followed by kayaking.
“Yes, we got to hike in the foggy, misty rain,” Maggie Callahan said, with a laugh. “But being out there meant that we got to see herons, osprey, two eagles and other wildlife. It was incredible!”
A junior at Alabama majoring in environmental engineering, Callahan plans to work in the outdoor industry. She was attracted to the summit by the opportunity to make direct connections with people in the industry but came away most impressed with the quality of interactions taking place between attendees and participants in the program.
“It’s so important to be having all of these conversations,” Callahan said. “It’s encouraging to see the amount of thought and planning and effort being put into this opportunity. It’s good to have this emphasis on the direct benefits tied to economics and quality of life and the impact of that on future growth.”
The Outdoor Recreation Summit was sponsored by the Alabama Power Foundation. Staci Brown Brooks, president of the foundation and vice president of Charitable Giving for Alabama Power, was a panelist in a summit discussion on working with private foundations and corporate funding partners. Later, she said the foundation’s support was in keeping with the focus of the summit on two of its key areas of engagement: environmental stewardship and workforce development.
“The summit brought together national thought leaders, students and many of our state, nonprofit and municipal partners,” Brooks said. “We were pleased to support this inaugural event and proud to lend our voice to this conversation as it directly supports our mission to elevate the state and improve quality of life for Alabamians.”
Innovate Alabama’s leadership in convening and facilitating the summit is part of its ongoing strategy for enhancing outdoor recreation resources throughout the state. Chris Blankenship, Alabama’s commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources, has been closely engaged with implementation of Gov. Kay Ivey’s economic development initiative that included creation of Innovate Alabama.
Standing amid the crowd gathering for the lunch that ended the summit, Blankenship said the level of attendance and enthusiasm at Lake Guntersville illustrated the return Alabama is already seeing from its investments in outdoor recreation. The success of the first Outdoor Recreation Summit demonstrated the momentum building for the state’s efforts and set the stage for future summits.
“This has exceeded expectations,” Blankenship said. “People from all parts of the state are here together with people who are building trails, with entrepreneurs and governmental folks, all to talk about how to capitalize on this great opportunity for Alabama.
“This summit is part of that, and we see it continuing to grow.”
