When the Obama administration, in 2014, that all guides operating on federal land be paid $10.10 per hour鈥攁 nearly $3 bump鈥攑lus overtime, the outfitting industry was contemplating its demise. 鈥淚mplementation of this would basically put me out of business,鈥 an owner of a Wyoming backpacking company in 2015. The logic was pretty simple: Once overtime pay was factored in, wages for guides were going to double or triple with the new requirements, and outfitters wouldn鈥檛 be able to handle the cost. As you may have noticed, there wasn鈥檛 a mass die-off of fishing, hunting, and rafting companies over the past four years.
Even so, last week President Donald Trump signed an that reversed the minimum wage requirements for guides; in doing so, he actually cleared up some regulatory confusion. The reason? Based on multiple interviews with outfitters and guiding associations, it seems that pretty much nobody complied with the rule anyway.
The outfitters I interviewed called Obama鈥檚 policy a hasty decision that lacked follow-through. (The business owners I interviewed spoke only on condition of anonymity due to their noncompliance with regulations.) The administration provided little, if any, guidance on how companies should treat these matters, so they determined how to pay guides under the new rules on a case-by-case basis.
鈥淢y personal politics are more in line with the previous administration than this one, but this is a good thing.鈥
Other public land concessionaires, like those working in lodging or food services, must still meet minimum wage requirements (now at $10.35). But after Trump鈥檚 order, the increase won鈥檛 apply to the folks who lead rafting trips down Grand Canyon or backpacking tours in Yellowstone. If you think of what their average day looks like, it begins to make more sense. Unlike other service industry employees swept up by the minimum wage requirements, guides work odd hours that are challenging to regulate. Does a guide鈥檚 day end when she finishes setting up camp? When she goes to sleep? Or is she on the clock 24 hours?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know of anybody who pays an hourly wage,鈥 says John Dillon, executive director of the Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 done that in our industry鈥檚 history, I鈥檓 told, ever. All of these multiday trips are generally paid per trip or per day.鈥
The industry struggled with Obama鈥檚 order for many reasons, one of them being that the wage requirements arrived in fits. They were supposed be implemented smoothly, but after Congress issued a short-term exemption in a 2016 appropriations bill, which gave outfitters a free pass, the same exemption wasn鈥檛 included in 2017. So, all of a sudden, this year the National Park Service contracts began requiring compliance, which triggered a dozen western lawmakers鈥攊ncluding Republican representatives Doug LaMalfa from California and Rob Bishop from Utah鈥攖o ask Trump for a permanent exemption in February. 鈥淲hile most federal agencies are not implementing the provision into contracts with small outfitter and guides,鈥 the legislators wrote, 鈥渢he National Park Service is.鈥
The NPS requirements went into effect in December, well after companies had booked trips. 鈥淢any had already sold out at the previous wage range,鈥 says David Brown, vice president of government affairs for the America Outdoors Association. 鈥淪o they couldn鈥檛 pass those costs on.鈥
Another reason the wage increase flopped, outfitters told me, was because there was no enforcement. 鈥淓verybody has struggled to be 100 percent compliant,鈥 the Arizona outfitter says. Some firms continued business as usual, while others got creative with their accounting. The owner of a Utah company says he pays guides a monthly salary to avoid the overtime. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hourly on paper鈥攚e just make it work.鈥
鈥淢y personal politics are more in line with the previous administration than this one,鈥 an Arizona outfitter tells me, 鈥渂ut this is a good thing.鈥
Guides won鈥檛 necessarily be getting a pay cut after Trump鈥檚 rule, though. The Arizona outfitter told me that in an attempt to stay aboveboard, he started paying his staff an hourly wage. It led to a pay raise for most employees, especially entry-level workers who started at $10.50 an hour, higher than Arizona鈥檚 minimum. But he said most multiday guides understand they probably won鈥檛 be getting paid full overtime rates. So, in reality, Trump鈥檚 exemption won鈥檛 change much. Mostly it will eliminate the need for outfitters to get creative with their accounting, and it also allows outfitters to more clearly鈥攁nd legally鈥攏egotiate wages with their guides.