The Bears Ears region in southern Utah is sacred and beautiful, not to mention a hub for outdoor recreation.
Tim Peterson
The protection of Bears Ears National Monument has sparked a firestorm of controversy within the outdoor industry. Get all the background on the debate and stay up to date on the status of this issue.
I am a veteran and an outdoor enthusiast who has spent the last 10 years working in the outdoor industry. Without a doubt, our industry is the first in which I experienced the same level of camaraderie and commitment to purpose as I did during my 22 years in the Navy on active ...read more
Here are today's top headlines: New leadership: OIA has concluded its six-month search for an executive director and named Lise Aangeenbrug as the new head of the organization. Aangeenbrug will transition from her role as head of the Outdoor Foundation, the OIA’s philanthropic ...read more
Keep up by reading Industry Buzz. Here are today's top headlines: Have a news tip? Email us at snewsedit@aimmedia.com. Good To-Go's good deed: Through its DoBetter campaign and with the help of customers, Good To-Go donated one meal for every two purchased on their website and ...read more
Varying levels of excitement, hope, and anxiety reached fever pitch last week as Americans went to the polls in record numbers for what many considered to be an extremely consequential election. With the fate of public lands, climate change action, tariffs, and more in the ...read more
Keep up by reading Industry Buzz. Here are today's top headlines: Have a news tip? Email us at snewsedit@aimmedia.com The outdoor gear industry is expanding in Western North Carolina. The Appalachian Regional Commissions POWER Initiative just gave a $940,000 grant to expand the ...read more
Keep up by reading Industry Buzz. Here are today's top headlines: Have a news tip? Email us at snewsedit@aimmedia.com. We're already busy planning for Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in November and we need your help putting together The Daily, the official magazine of the show. ...read more
A Canadian mining firm has staked claim on land that was, until recently, part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. The acquisition comes six months after President Donald Trump slashed nearly half of the national monument along with a large part of Bears Ears ...read more
On Thursday, Patagonia’s homepage slideshow featured pictures of a surfer riding a wave, the new micro puff, a dam, and other colorful scenes. By the end of the day, another, more stark image had been added to the mix. The black screen is back, with a new message this time: “The ...read more
Remember when a Utah legislator proposed renaming the Utah National Parks Highway after President Donald Trump? Yeah, that won't happen. Republican Rep. Michael Noel's legislation did not gain traction in the House, and therefore didn't even make it to the Senate floor. It was ...read more
Environmentalists are shaking their heads in disgust at the thought of having a Utah highway named after President Donald Trump, especially one that winds through canyons and by public lands that he shrunk last year with the stroke of his presidential pen. State legislators in a ...read more
In eight days, more than 2 million acres that was formerly within Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments (before President Trump shrank it) will open up to possible mineral and geothermal leasing. Conservation Lands Foundation, The Wilderness Society and ...read more
What a year in politics! This year in particular, politics and the outdoor industry were so intertwined, the SNEWS team definitely covered our share of controversial stories. Here are the top five: Utah asks Trump to rescind on Bears Ears NM, Patagonia pulls out of Outdoor ...read more
President Trump’s proclamation to cut two national monuments in southeastern Utah was the match that lit a public lands fire and Patagonia’s reaction has been nothing but gasoline. With the swipe of the president’s pen, the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National ...read more
It's not what you say, it's how you say it. In this case, it's not what you tweet, but what you retweet than can cause an uproar. From the second President Trump announced he would take Ryan Zinke's advice on slashing the size of two Utah monuments, Patagonia has vocalized plans ...read more
Yesterday, we reported on President Trump's controversial announcement that he would officially reduce the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Escalante-Staircase national monuments. Outdoor Industry Association Executive Director offered suggestions for action steps: Write a ...read more
“There are no words. It’s heartbreaking,” Ace Kvale, outdoor photographer, told SNEWS as he was leaving the Salt Lake City protest against President Trump’s controversial announcement to downsize both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. With much resistance but little ...read more
National Public Lands Day is this Saturday, September 30th. This week we launched a limited-edition Bears Ears sock to celebrate the event and help support the Conservation Alliance Public Lands Defense Fund. We recently learned from the report submitted to the White House that ...read more
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended President Donald Trump decrease the size of at least four national monuments, according to a leaked memo obtained by the Associated Press. Aside from Bears Ears, which Zinke recommended shrinking earlier this summer, he also proposed ...read more
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is expected to recommend to President Donald Trump that he should decrease the boundaries of some national monuments. Zinke told the Associated Press Thursday morning that he would not recommend eliminating any monuments, and that none of the land in ...read more
With the comment period for the review of 27 national monuments totaling 11.3 million acres at the U.S. Department of the Interior coming to a close on July 10, there's a possibility for some sweeping changes in federal public lands. We've already expressed our opinion, but we ...read more
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says he spent days learning "more about Bears Ears than [he] ever thought possible." After taking a multi-day tour through the area, he announced Monday that he has recommended President Donald Trump shrink the boundaries of Bears Ears National ...read more
Bears Ears National Monument stands quiet. Sunbaked terracotta pillars hold sentinel like broken chess pieces over a sandy board. Wind stirs the pinyon pine, flicking drifts of sand at the feet of thousand-year-old petroglyphs. Waves of heat vibrate in the valleys, a soft pulse. ...read more
Leaders from the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition called Trump's national monument review a thinly veiled attack on the monument. If President Donald Trump tries to rescind the protected status of Bears Ears National Monument, he’ll be hit with a lawsuit to the fullest extent ...read more
Patagonia has launched a series of 360-degree videos highlighting the beauty, history, and outdoor recreation opportunities of Bears Ears National Monument. The monument’s status—as well as the Antiquities Act, which allowed former President Barack Obama to designate it—is ...read more