A couple weeks ago, I was dangling from a rope on the side of El Capitan, 2,500 feet above the ground. I鈥檓 working toward free-climbing the Nose, one of the most iconic climbing routes in the world, and on this morning, I had lost track of time. It鈥檚 easy to do that while climbing, which is a big part of why I love it so much. I was about 500 feet from the summit when I realized that I鈥檇 need to hustle if I wanted to get to Fresno in time for my flight. I started to move quickly, because the next day I was supposed to be in Washington, D.C., for the advocacy effort. There were a few things I wanted to tell our politicians.
Almost all of my climbing is done on public lands. estimates that of all outdoor climbing is on land we all own. I鈥檝e participated in Climb the Hill鈥攁n annual event organized by the and the Access Fund鈥攆or the past two years. Both organizations represent the interests of climbers like me, and lately we鈥檝e had a lot to be both proud of and worried about.
One point of pride: The outdoor economy is much larger than most people realize. Consumer spending on outdoor recreation contributes an estimated $887 billion to the national economy, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. And it鈥檚 estimated that around 7.6 million jobs (including mine) depend on outdoor recreation. As an industry, we鈥檙e just starting to flex this muscle. Highlighting our industry鈥檚 economic clout is probably the best way to counter the other economic forces competing for the use of our public lands: extractive industries like oil and gas development and mining. The American public overwhelmingly supports our parks and wild spaces, and the exploitation of those areas comes down to solely economic interests.
The Outdoor Industry Association reports that participated in outdoor recreation last year. The vast majority of these people take pride in our American heritage of untrammeled wilderness and don鈥檛 want to see unchecked develo