Looking to benefit more from public lands

A report Thursday by the National Park Service found that more than 2 million people visited national park units in New Mexico last year, spending $116 million in the state. That produced 1,720 jobs and an overall impact to the state’s economy of $141.6 million.

And, those numbers are only for the seven sites managed by the National Parks Service: Carlsbad Caverns National Park; Aztec Ruins, Bandelier, Capulin Volcano, El Malpais, El Morro, Fort Union, Gila Cliff Dwellings, Petroglyph, Salinas Pueblo Missions and White Sands national monuments; Chaco Culture, Pecos and Manhattan Project national historical parks and Valles Caldera National Preserve. It doesn’t include the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument and other public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Clearly, outdoor tourism is big business in New Mexico.

Which is why we are pleased to welcome the New Mexico Outdoor Economic Conference, which will be held this week in Las Cruces. Industry experts from both business and government will be in town to help local officials and business owners better capitalize on the opportunities provided by the national monument and other outdoor recreation sites in the area.

Speakers will be coming from six Western states, and a dozen communities in New Mexico.

The conference starts Thursday morning at Hotel Encanto with a panel on public lands marketing featuring Ralph Becker, former mayor of Salt Lake City; Anna Olson of the Jackson Hole Wyoming Chamber of Commerce; Kevin Dugan from Visit Bend Oregon; Mike Caldwell, mayor of Ogden, Utah; and Suzanne Catlett of the Escalante and Boulder Utah Chamber of Commerce.

Other panels will focus on outfitters and outdoor recreation industry leaders, creating jobs through conservation, and state offices of outdoor recreation.

U.S. Sen Martin Heinrich will be the featured speaker Friday, followed by a tour of OMDP.

Along with the panel discussions there will also be an aerial tour of the Organ Mountains, rafting on the Rio Grande, an old west stagecoach ride at the site of the old Butterfield Trail and a guided hike in the Organ Mountains.

This will be the first event of its kind in New Mexico, where tourism and outdoor recreation are huge drivers of the state and local economies. It should be a terrific opportunity for both outdoors enthusiasts and business leaders looking for ideas as to what has been successful in others areas.

For more information, go to OutdoorEconomicsNM.com/tours.

The designation of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in May, 2014 created new economic opportunities for our region, and numbers show that visitation is up since then. But we know there is more that can be done to fully take advantage of this unique asset.

It is our hope that the conference will result in greater exposure for our region, and new ideas for both business and government to preserve and profit from the monument.