Outdoor Retailer Leaving Utah

[Deleted User]

No way do I give the governor nor our legislature a free pass on this one. For years Outdoor Retailer has said knock it off with the public lands issues or they were moving on. Its not like this just happened overnight. The governor and the legislature decided to ignore this so what do you expect? This only hurts Utah, not OR. They will probably just join SIA in Denver to draw an even bigger crowd from the industry. $45 million a year in revenue for the state, not to mention the tourism it generates. Loosing OR also takes Interbike out of the equation as well, which is as big if not bigger than OR. That would have brought another $45 million to the state. $90 million in revenue loss will only cause businesses to lay off employees and will hurt the local economy in so many ways. Not to mention the national eye sore Utah will now become, impacting our tourism in negative ways. Leadership is a responsibility to make things better than they were not worse. The governor and the legislature over ideology and back door corporate interests just screwed the working class and the state economy over. But the people of this state continue to elect these morons who are not leaders, but more in the realm of a bad office temp. $90 million lost? Your taxes are going up, that I can guarantee.

I feel Pat Bagley's image in the Tribune on Saturday summed it up best. Make sure when you are in Utah you buy "Gary's Gas."

 

[Bob]

What do you mean when you say multiple use.

K, if I need to spell it...... hiking, scenery, oil/gas, mining, grazing, logging, hunting, fishing, outfitters, etc. Yyou know what I am talking about. Should be if you eliminate a area from multiple use....you get another into multiple use... The problem isn't the use ... its the management and supervision of the uses. I can give you areas that are trashed by all the backpacking/hiking going on...it's not limited to the other uses. I know most here won't like that comment, but oh well.... I can respect yours and differing views should be respected as well.

 

[Ben]

I can respect your opinion. i'm trying to understand it.
from what you've said, it sounds like you're disconcerted that the federal government manages 66% of Utah because they don't allow multiple use. i was unaware that there was that much of the state where those uses were not allowed.

also, while i agree that it's an issue, i have a hard time seeing your comparison of hikers and backpackers trashing areas as equitable to other uses. i'm unaware of damage caused by hikers that is as difficult to repair as a pit mine, or a clear cut, or even the construction of a road. or just how bad cattle can muck up some area that they shouldn't even be in the first place. i'm not suggesting that there shouldn't be mining or logging or grazing. just that your characterization seems unfounded.

all that being said, no thing in my personal experience has given me reason to believe that states would do a better job managing the land than the federal government does.