Some of the biggest names in the outdoor retail industry are vowing to keep up their battle with the Trump administration over public lands.
Two years after jumping into a fight with the Trump administration over public lands, the U. S. outdoor industry is turning up the political pressure — though its impact is difficult to measure.
Thousands of manufacturers and retailers gathered in Denver starting Wednesday for the annual Outdoor Retailer and Snow Show, and some of the biggest names vowed to keep pushing to preserve public lands.
«We will always — this is really core to who we are,» said Corley Kenna, a spokeswoman for Patagonia, the brashest political fighter among the industry’s major players.
The Outdoor Industry Association and some big retailers, including Patagonia, Columbia Sportswear, REI and The North Face, have campaigned together and on their own to protect public lands.
Some of their forays are unobtrusive get-out-the-vote campaigns, lobbying for national parks funding and email blasts to customers about public lands news.
But Patagonia took the unusual step of endorsing U. S. Senate candidates in the November election. The company publicly accused President Donald Trump of stealing public lands and sued his administration.
The campaigns made headlines and energized the industry, but it’s hard to measure the effect on voters and policymakers.
Now, show organizers have made climate change and sustainable manufacturing a priority and announced the formation of the Outdoor Business Climate Partnership to lobby for state and federal climate policies.
Issue campaigns can be effective if they are done well and if voters are receptive to the message, said Josh Kalla, an assistant professor of political science at Yale University.
«You do tend to see issue advertising does change public opinion to a much greater extent than candidate advertising,» he said.
