Small towns get help building outdoor rec
Anew national set of best practices might help small towns in New Mexico help build local outdoor recreation economies that can help them keep pace with the Moabs and Durangos of the world.
Late last month, the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, a coalition of outdoor industry trade associations and other organizations, released a document aimed at giving rural communities the tools they need to develop an ecosystem of outdoor recreation businesses.
Axie Navas, director of New Mexico’s Outdoor Recreation Division, said the Rural Economic Development Toolkit provides concrete, step-by-step instructions for communities looking to embrace outdoor recreation but unsure where to begin.
“It is so refreshing to be able to now say: This is the blueprint, here’s a place to start,” Navas told the Journal.
Chris Perkins, a fellow at ORR and the study’s author, said rural communities in New Mexico and elsewhere have struggled to keep pace with the economic growth in urban centers. The report says the Great Recession contributed to the loss of 17,500 businesses in counties with fewer than 100,000 people.
In New Mexico, all but four counties outside the state’s metropolitan areas lost population from 2009 to 2019, according to a recent report from the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce.
Perkins said building an economic strategy around outdoor activities, from hiking to mountain biking to hunting, can help struggling New Mexico communities start replacing lost jobs as power plants shut down and mining complexes close.
“What we see in the development of outdoor (recreation) economies, is an opportunity to supplement existing industries and ... help build more balanced and resilient economies,” Perkins said.
Still, making the transition is easier said than done. Navas said one barrier, at least in New Mexico’s smaller communities,
is that many cities and counties lack the dedicated staff to oversee this kind of transition.
“When it comes to actually creating that brand, putting together the marketing strategy, potentially investing in infrastructure ... that’s a lot of work,” Navas said. “And some of our communities struggle to bring those resources together.”
The toolkit, assembled by ORR in conjunction with local leaders across the country, is designed to help circumvent that.
The document lays out 15 best practices for rural communities to follow as they begin working to build an outdoor recreation economy, ranging from identifying funding partners to generating public support. Just as importantly, the document lays out how to identify funding sources.
Perkins said one of the most important parts of the toolkit is creating collaboration between community stakeholders.
“There’s so much strength in building collaboratives.”
Gabe Vasquez, a Las Cruces city councilor, said he has already seen the impact of focusing on outdoor recreation in southern New Mexico. He said the designation of the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument and other similar changes have already established his community as a jumping-off point for outdoor recreation enthusiasts. With some work and community collaboration using strategies from the toolkit, he said he expects that effect to trickle into other southern New Mexico communities as well.
“I think it’s imperative on our community to really meaningfully start to shape what our next generation of jobs are going to look like,” Vasquez said. “I think outdoor recreation plays a big part in that.”