Leading outdoor and camping brands won’t support Utah trade show

America’s Conservation Alliance, alongside 24 outdoor industry companies, are urging the organisers of the Outdoor Retailer trade show not to move to the show to Utah, stating that they will not support or attend a trade show event in the state as long as its elected officials continue their attacks on national monuments and public lands protections.

Leading names in the camping industry such as REI Co-op, Kelty, Sierra Designs, Nemo Equipment, Therm-A-Rest, MSR, and Helinox USA are all lending their support for the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and its longstanding efforts to protect the homeland of the Tribes and Pueblos with cultural ties to the Bears Ears landscape. Emerald Expositions, the Outdoor Retailer show’s organisers, are said to have demonstrated continued interest to move the event to the state of Utah, which the Conservation Alliance believes to be a move at odds with what they stand for.

“In 2017, REI Co-op strongly supported the decision to move the outdoor industry trade show out of Utah when the state’s leadership refused to protect duly designated national monuments and natural treasures,” said Ben Steele, executive vice president, CCO of REI Co-op. “Although those protections have since been restored by President Biden, Utah’s leaders are again aiming to undermine those monuments and their protections. As a result, REI will not participate in any Outdoor Retailer trade show in the state – nor will we send members of our merchandising or other co-op teams – so long as Utah persists in attacking our public lands and the laws that protect them.”

In 2017, the outdoor industry pulled its $45 million trade show out of Utah in objection to efforts by the state’s elected officials to illegally roll back national monument designations for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante, over the protests of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and more than 3 million Americans who submitted public comments. The subsequent reduction in land protections was the largest loss of federally protected lands in U.S. history. Although those protections have since been restored, Utah’s elected officials, led by Governor Spencer Cox, are once again moving to strip these magnificent lands of federal protection while simultaneously attempting to woo Emerald to move the Outdoor Retailer trade show from Denver to Salt Lake City.

The following companies are calling on Emerald to support tribes and public lands:

  • REI Co-op
  • Patagonia, Inc.
  • The North Face
  • Public Land
  • KEEN Footwear
  • Oboz Footwear, LLC
  • Kelty
  • Sierra Designs
  • Peak Design
  • Toad&Co
  • SCARPA
  • MiiR
  • NEMO Equipment
  • Backpacker’s Pantry
  • Smartwool
  • Therm-A-Rest
  • MSR
  • Timberland
  • Helinox USA, Inc.
  • GU Energy Labs
  • La Sportiva N.A., Inc.
  • Alpacka Raft
  • Icebreaker
  • Arc’teryx

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