Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Patagonia Launches Campaign to Defend Bears Ears from Utah Politicians

atagonia isn’t done in its fight with Utah politicians. The company led the charge to leverage the economic impact of the Outdoor Retailer trade show, which has long been held in Salt Lake City, to try to change the stance of Utah politicians towards public lands in general, and the newly-designated Bears Ears National Monument in particular. That effort failed, and the organizers of the trade show are pulling up stakes in Utah after this summer. But OR's departure doesn't mean that Patagonia is ready to leave Utah politicians alone. This morning they are launching a campaign to flood Utah Governor Gary Herbert's office with comments in favor of Bears Ears National Monument. The company is using Phone2Action, a site that allows organizations to connect supporters with elected officials. The company will use Facebook and Twitter to share a Phone2Action link which will supply followers with a brief set of talking points and then patch their phone call directly into the governor’s office. Patagonia hopes to generate thousands of calls from Utah citizens with the effort. (Though it also hopes non-Utahns will voice their support as well.) It’s not just Bears Ears that’s in jeopardy from Utah politicians, notes Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario. On Friday, February 17, just days after speaking with representatives from the Outdoor Industry Association in an attempt to keep OR in Utah, Governor Herbert signed a resolution that urges President Trump to shrink the boundaries of 20-year old Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. "It's not surprising that he would double down by trying to lift longstanding protections on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument," says Marcario. "It sure is disappointing, and not just for the outdoor companies driving an enormous economy in Utah based on protected public lands, but for the 122,000 Utahns whose jobs largely depend on the very places Herbert denigrates."...more

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think this is a great exemplar of the "old" and "new" West. Patagonia, based out of Ventura, California, started out as Great Pacific Iron Works manufacturing hardware needed by an emerging activity in the 1970s, rock climbing. At that time, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties were largely rural with ranching and agricultural interests. The company rapidly evolved into a upscale softgoods company offering "lifestyle" products, reflecting the changing culture of Southern California. The diaspora brought about by rising property values in Socal spread this culture throughout the West as equity refugees and the Malibu/West LA crowd sought the very environments whose end they had brought about.