Boulder in coming weeks could see vocal protests directed at key representatives of the multi-billion-dollar outdoor retail industry, an effort to stir support for a boycott of an annual trade show in Utah over the position that state’s officials have taken on wildlands protection.
Sparking the protest is a resolution signed by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Feb. 3 calling on President Donald Trump to rescind the national monument status from Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument.
President Barack Obama had granted that status to more than 1.3 million acres of land in southeast Utah, including the eponymous buttes and surrounding landscape, in the waning weeks of his presidency. He did so under the Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the power to take such actions by proclamation.
Durango resident Richard Saunders, wielding the Twitter hashtag #BoycottUtah, is encouraging retailers and manufacturers to hit Utah where it counts. The Outdoor Retailer summer and winter shows, held in Salt Lake City since 1996, draw more than 25,000 people to the city’s Salt Palace Convention Center twice a year, with an annual economic impact of about $45 million.
Saunders said likely targets of the protest he wants to bring to Boulder include the headquarters of the Outdoor Industry Association, the title sponsor of the trade shows, as well as both REI and North Face.
“We’re going to make Boulder the ground zero for this effort. …We’re going to give them an old-fashioned 1960s kind of demonstration,” Saunders said.
“If we’ve got to damage their brand, we’re going to do it. We’re going to tell them, if you’re not with us, and you’re not with these other progressive companies (which have joined the boycott), we’re going to go ahead and call you what you are, which is, you love these outdoor lands as long as you can exploit them for profit and gain.”
Saunders said companies participating in the boycott, to date, include, Patagonia, Arc’teryx and Peak Industries.
On Tuesday, the Outdoor Industry Association announced that Executive Director Amy Roberts, along with key leaders from outdoor industry companies, plan to speak Thursday with the Utah governor.
At that time, according to a statement released by the association, the Outdoor Industry Association and other industry leaders plan to ask Herbert to halt any actions to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument designation, and to support keeping public lands public, “for all Americans to enjoy.”
The statement also says, “They will ask that Utah choose to embrace and actively support the outdoor recreation economy’s role in the state and find ways to grow an economy that is generating more than $12 billion in consumer spending, supporting 122,000 jobs in the state, paying $3.6 billion in salaries and wages and contributing more than $856 million in state and local tax revenue.”
Declaring that Utah is “at a crossroads,” the association stated that if no agreement comes out of Thursday’s discussions, it will continue to work with Outdoor Retailer to move the trade show “as soon as possible.”
‘Need to do what’s best’
Little over a week ago, it was announced that the show is already open to making a move, following its summer 2018 gathering, and is exploring other locations.
In a statement released Feb. 6, Marisa Nicholson, director of the Outdoor Retailer trade shows, said, “We’ve been listening to the concerns from the industry and agree it’s time to explore our options.
“Salt Lake City has been an incredible home to Outdoor Retailer and the outdoor community for the past 20 years, and we aren’t opposed to staying, but we need to do what’s best for the industry and for the business of outdoor retail.”
But Saunders, who alleged “Utah responds well to ridicule,” was not swayed by Tuesday’s announcement of the association’s impending meeting with Herbert. He’s not abandoning his plans for the boycott or for protests in Boulder.
“I think they’re going to try to buy a couple years’ time, so they can get out of their contracts” for the Salt Lake City venue, Saunders said.
In addition to its public statement, the Outdoors Industry Association on Tuesday also circulated a letter sent by some of its members to Herbert, asking that he and the state’s top elected officials reverse course on the Bears Ears National Monument, as well as a separate resolution to shrink the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, created by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996.
Failure to do so, according to the letter to Herbert — and copied to other Utah politicians such as U.S. senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee — will result in the association “emphatically urging our trade group’s leadership to have our show depart with the expiration of the current contract in 2018.”
It was signed by association members including REI CEO Jerry Stritzke; Scott Baxter, president of The North Face Group; and Eric Greene, division vice president of Boulder-based Exxel Outdoor Performance Group — which includes Kelty, Sierra Designs and Ultimate Direction — as well as Jonathan Lantz, president of La Sportiva North America, also of Boulder.
It’s not about Trump
In an interview, Roberts said the statement released by the retailers association on Tuesday was not in answer to Saunders’ threatened protests in Boulder or the boycott he’s urging for July’s Salt Lake City trade show.
“I don’t think it’s anything related to him,” Roberts said. “We’re in alignment, in that we don’t agree with Utah public lands policies, and we’re trying to see whether we can get those changed. And if not, we would be looking for another home for this show.”
Concerns have been expressed throughout the environmental community since President Donald Trump’s election that there could be a significant rollback of gains made on that front under his predecessor’s administration.
But Roberts did not cast this controversy as one battle in a potentially broader political battle.
“I would say that our concerns that are being expressed specifically are with the Utah political leadership and the fact that (Utah) Congressman (Rob) Bishop is chair of the House Natural Resources Committee,” Roberts said. “So they are very much focused on Utah, and their efforts. President Trump has nominated a person to be the interior secretary who we support and is on the right side of this issue.”
Trump’s interior nominee is U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican from Montana. The U.S. Senate vote on his confirmation is not expected until later this month or in March.
Henry Guzman, co-owner of Boulder’s Flatiron Running, has attended the Utah trade show for more than 10 years. But he won’t do so this year.
“They’re not doing this just to thumb their nose at Utah because they don’t like Utah, but to make a stand,” Guzman said of those planning to boycott the show.
Consumers, Guzman said, prefer to support brands that “tell a story,” shedding light on their positions concerning sustainability and other social issues.
“The future of America is not in fossil fuels. It’s wind energy. It’s solar. It’s Utah, you have a chance to do something about it,” Guzman said. “And you can do what you want, but you’re not going to get our tax money from the show to enhance your agenda.”
Charlie Brennan: 303-473-1327, brennanc@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/chasbrennan
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