What National Parks Make Possible for Outdoor Recreation
National parks are some of the most recognizable outdoor destinations in the country, but their impact extends far beyond the people who visit them each year. They give people places to camp, hike, fish, explore and try something new. Around those experiences exists an entire outdoor economy made up of manufacturers, retailers, guides, outfitters, hospitality businesses and local communities. For some visitors, a trip to a national park may also be their first real introduction to an activity that eventually becomes a lifelong pursuit.
For National Park Month, we wanted to look at these places from the perspective of the industry built around getting people outside. What does access make possible for outdoor businesses? What turns a first experience into something someone wants to do again? And what role can marketing play in helping someone feel confident enough to get started?
We asked the TREAD team to tackle those questions from three different perspectives:
- Dan Kahn on business and the outdoor economy
- Kevin Parlett on participation and experience
- Ava Kunze on marketing and the path from interest to involvement
Their perspectives differ, but they all point back to the same idea: The health of the outdoor industry starts with giving people places, opportunities and reasons to participate.
Dan Kahn | The Business and Industry Perspective
What do national parks and public lands make possible for the outdoor industry that we sometimes take for granted?
The outdoor industry only works if people actually have places to be outdoors. We spend a lot of time talking about participation numbers, consumer spending and industry growth, but all of that starts with access. Before someone buys their second pair of hiking boots, upgrades their camping setup or books a guided fishing trip, they need a place and a reason to participate in the first place.
What we sometimes overlook is the size of the ecosystem that grows around that participation. One person deciding to spend a weekend outside can support a manufacturer, an independent retailer, a guide, a campground, a restaurant, a hotel, a local outfitter and any number of small businesses along the way. Multiply that across millions of people, and access becomes much more than a recreation issue. It becomes infrastructure for the outdoor economy.
National parks and public lands also create something businesses can’t manufacture themselves: opportunity for discovery. A company can spend millions introducing someone to its product, but it can’t replicate the experience of someone’s first night under the stars, first trout or first hike to a place they didn’t know existed. Those experiences create enthusiasts, and enthusiasts eventually create markets.
That’s why outdoor companies should think of stewardship and access as more than philanthropy or a cause-marketing opportunity. There is a direct connection between the health of recreation sites and the long-term health of the businesses built around them. If access becomes harder, experiences decline or people lose reasons to participate, the impact eventually travels all the way through the industry.
Outdoor brands have benefited tremendously from access to places where people can recreate. Maintaining that access and supporting the places that make recreation possible isn’t separate from the business of the outdoor industry. It’s part of protecting the ecosystem the industry depends on.
Kevin Parlett | The Participation and Experience Perspective
What turns someone’s first experience outside into something they want to do for the rest of their life?
Trying something once is relatively easy. Becoming the kind of person who says, “I’m an angler,” “I’m a hunter” or “I’m a camper” is different. Somewhere along the way, an activity stops being something you did and starts becoming part of who you are.
I think that transition happens through a combination of confidence, community and repetition. Someone’s first experience doesn’t have to be perfect, but it needs to give them enough of a win that they can picture themselves doing it again. Maybe they catch their first fish. Maybe they successfully set up camp on their own. Maybe someone teaches them a skill that seemed intimidating an hour earlier. That small moment of progress matters because the next trip suddenly feels easier.
The people surrounding that experience matter just as much. Most lifelong enthusiasts can probably point to someone who helped them along the way. A parent, friend, guide or mentor showed them something, answered the question they were embarrassed to ask or simply made them feel like they belonged there. Today, that person might even be a content creator. Someone watching from hundreds of miles away can learn how to tie their first fly, set up camp or prepare for a hunt from a person they’ve never met. Outdoor recreation has a learning curve, but community, whether it’s in person or online, can shorten it.
That’s something brands should pay attention to. If the only role you play is selling someone the equipment they need to start, you’re leaving a lot of the relationship on the table. Helping them understand how to use it, where to use it and who they can learn from gives them a better chance of having an experience worth repeating.
And repeat participation is where things get interesting. The first camping trip becomes an annual trip. A day of fishing occurs every Saturday morning. Eventually, people start bringing their kids, inviting friends and teaching someone else what another person once taught them.
That’s how outdoor culture gets passed along.
Brands can play a meaningful role here, too, especially when they focus on helping people participate rather than simply putting a product in front of them. That could mean partnering with creators who teach, supporting events where people can try an activity for the first time or creating resources that answer the basic questions experienced enthusiasts might take for granted. If a brand can make someone feel more prepared and confident the next time they head outside, it’s adding value to the experience, not just selling into it.
The goal shouldn’t be to make someone feel like they need your brand to belong outdoors. It should be to help them feel like they belong outdoors in the first place.
Ava Kunze | The Marketing and Participation Perspective
Are outdoor brands doing enough to help someone go from “that looks fun” to “I could actually do that?”
Outdoor marketing is really good at showing the payoff. We see the huge fish, the perfect campsite, the successful hunt and the truck sitting at the end of an incredible trail. Those moments inspire people, but for someone who’s never done that activity before, there’s still a big gap between seeing it and knowing how to actually get started.
That’s where brands have a bigger opportunity. Instead of only creating content for people who already understand the activity, we can answer the questions beginners are actually asking. Where can I do this? What do I really need? How much experience do I need? What should I expect my first time? Who can teach me?
Creators, social media, YouTube and educational content can make those first steps feel much more approachable. And that doesn’t mean watering down content for core enthusiasts. It means recognizing that someone who’s been fly fishing for 20 years and someone who just saved their first fly-fishing Reel need very different things from a brand.
If we want the next generation to spend more time outside, marketing can’t stop at making the outdoors look good. We have to help people see a path into it.
The Places Are Only the Beginning
National parks and public lands give people somewhere to recreate, but access alone doesn’t create a lifelong outdoor enthusiast. People also need opportunities to discover activities, the confidence to try them and communities that make them feel welcome once they do. Sometimes that starts with a parent or guide. Sometimes it’s a creator explaining something they’ve never tried before. And sometimes it’s a brand providing the education or experience that makes the first step feel a little easier.
For the outdoor industry, those connections matter. Participation supports an enormous network of businesses and communities, but that ecosystem depends on people continuing to find value in spending their time outside.
Brands have a role to play in that cycle. Not by inserting themselves into every outdoor experience, but by helping make those experiences possible, approachable and worth repeating. That can mean supporting access and stewardship, investing in education, working with credible creators or simply answering the questions that help someone feel more prepared for their first trip.
National Park Month gives us a reason to celebrate some incredible places. It should also remind the outdoor industry just how much it depends on people having the opportunity to experience them.
Because before someone becomes an outdoor customer, they have to become an outdoor participant.