Minnesota Task Force Recommends Establishing Office Of Outdoor Recreation

Following the draft recommendations offered earlier this year by the Minnesota Outdoor Recreation Task Force, this week, the group released their final recommendations that call for the creation of an Office of Outdoor Recreation (OREC).

Since April 2020, the Minnesota Outdoor Recreation Task Force has worked to develop a set of recommendations intended to support accessible and equitable outdoor recreation across multiple sectors, as well as build a stronger outdoor recreation community in Minnesota. Winnebago Industries’ Katy Friesz  serves on the task force. The recommendations put forth by the task force identified three key action areas and recommended the creation of an Office of Outdoor Recreation to accomplish them. The key action areas are:

• Increase participation to advance equity, diversity and inclusivity
• Unite Minnesota’s outdoor recreation community
• Unify communications amongst Minnesota's diverse outdoor recreation sector

This recommendation to establish an OREC Office affirms the years-long efforts by the RV Industry Association to establish an Office of Outdoor Recreation in Minnesota to better invest in the outdoor recreation economy. Creating a Minnesota OREC office will help focus and amplify efforts already underway across state agencies and drive Minnesota’s economy forward. In 2019, outdoor recreation in Minnesota generated $9.1 billion and made up 2.4% of the state’s GDP while supported 99,100 jobs.

To learn more about the efforts to establish Offices of Outdoor Recreation across the country, contact RV Industry Association Legislative Analyst Ashley Brinkman at abrinkman@rvia.org.