Nathan Fey, who took over as director of the Colorado Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry in 2019, is leaving his post next month. Fey, a sixth generation Coloradan who spent 12 years as the state’s regional director of American Whitewater, is leaving the state’s recreation office to serve as director of a Colorado-based philanthropic foundation. […]
Nathan Fey
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Sale of Osprey Packs marks yet another public-company acquisition of a Colorado-raised outdoor company
Osprey Packs, a 47-year-old pack maker in Cortez, has sold to publicly traded consumer company Helen of Troy for $414 million. It’s the latest in a growing list of out-of-state, publicly traded companies buying Colorado outdoor businesses since last year. Compass Diversified spent $454 million to buy Denver-based Boa Technology last fall, marking one of […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Energy, Environment, News, Outdoors
Coal is fading in northwest Colorado. The region is betting its economic future on another natural resource.
DINOSAUR NATIONAL MONUMENT — The 10 rafts are secured to the banks of the Green River. The tents are up. The sun is setting over the sandstone canyon walls. As 30 rafters dig into steaming bowls of chili, it’s time to start planning for the future. How can northwest Colorado entice and manage visitors, protect […]
Posted inColoradans, Culture, Environment, News, Outdoors, Wildfire
Matriarch of Colorado outdoor volunteerism stepping down from “mothership of community stewardship”
BRECKENRIDGE — Ann Baker Easley deftly navigates an icy trail that winds past a wooden troll, an ice rink and a railroad park. “Pretty sure we built this. We worked on a lot of trails around here,” says the chief executive officer of Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, which in the past five years has funneled […]
Posted inNews
Outdoor recreation leaders ask Congress to loosen rules restricting Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars
The pandemic has pushed an unprecedented number of Americans outdoors. It’s also crushed state and local budgets that are struggling to match federal dollars used to support public lands and parks. It’s an administrative paradox that the 13 states with outdoor recreation offices are hoping to fix. The diverse Confluence of States — which champions […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Newsletters, Outdoors, Outsider
“Outdoor Business Town USA”: Steamboat Springs has become a proving ground for outdoor innovation
With more than 90 and counting, Steamboat Springs is well known as a breeding ground for Olympians. But it’s also just as fertile an environment for outdoor businesses, nurturing them with all the right ingredients to succeed. Forget its snappy “Ski Town USA” moniker. How about “Outdoor Business Town USA”? Somehow, a veritable Who’s Who […]