“At the end of the day, what is the outdoor industry without clean air, water, or land?”

The goal of Granite Backcountry Alliance is to advance the sport of backcountry skiing in New Hampshire and Western Maine. We do this by providing a network of low-impact, human-powered backcountry skiing opportunities to the public assisting in the creation, improvement, and maintenance of ski glades.

We work with landowners and land managers to thin the woods, creating skiable terrain. As a result, this below-tree line network—which we call Graniteland—makes a significant economic impact in the areas we serve. We see it most with local small businesses: whether they’re in the outdoor space, hospitality or retail, the impact is evident in increased visitation and returning customers. We leverage the sport of backcountry skiing as an economic development tool, attracting not just visitors, but folks who decide they want to live and work in northern rural communities.

When we clean up the woods, we’re allowing the forest to breathe. We implement a low-impact, sustainable forestry methodology for all of our projects by partnering with certified foresters and high-level land managers like the White Mountain National Forest. We stay low impact by maintaining natural wildlife habitats with the design methods we utilize. We work with primarily second-growth forests—ones that were previously decimated over one hundred years ago by the logging industry.

I often tell people we have a tree density problem. What I mean is: you can’t ski it unless you cut it. Thinning the forests using our methodology is the open, honest approach. Prior to GBA’s involvement, people would just cut trails on their own, without the permission of land managers, changing the landscape and the nature of the forest. What we do helps to protect wildlife habitat. Whatever we cut, we slice into small pieces and lay back down on the ground, which is important for mitigation and soil erosion. Ultimately, we're skiing on what we’ve created.

We have current projects that are tied to logging, which allows us to leverage multiple resources from the forest: number one is timber, number two is recreation. This brings everything full circle, making the forest a more immersive area that people who live there can participate in. It provides for the economy, supports forestry-related jobs, and fosters healthier communities by providing space for residents and visitors to enjoy the outdoors.

Over the past seven years, we’ve created over fifty-five thousand vertical feet of terrain. We’ve accomplished this through thirty-three thousand hours of volunteer work, which I’m always stunned by. There has been such a huge interest in these projects. We average about one hundred volunteers on our glade days, when we do the actual forest work. People are into it!

While Granite Backcountry Alliance is a roll-up-your-sleeves, nitty-gritty non-profit, Granite Outdoor Alliance exists at a higher level: it functions as an advocacy group, or business alliance.

Granite Outdoor Alliance aims to mobilize the outdoor recreation business community to support sustainable and environmentally friendly initiatives. This includes exploring ways for the outdoor industry to address climate change, enhancements in infrastructure, improving workforce and education, and creating healthy communities. Essentially, it’s a trade association meets a chamber of commerce that specializes in the outdoors.

Historically, you have environmentalists on one side and capitalists on the other side, where nothing gets done and the dukes are up. We take more of a Switzerland approach: there must be a bridge between the outdoors and business. We want people to understand that you can leverage natural assets for rural or urban economic development in a responsible and sustainable manner.

In November, the federal government announced the measurement of the outdoor industry. It just broke the barrier of 1.1 trillion dollars. That’s more than oil and gas extraction, mining, and agriculture. The outdoor industry is a whole ecosystem that’s hidden in plain sight, made up of many like-minded folks who prioritize environmental protection and sustainability in their work.

As New Englanders, we’re accustomed to surfing, sailing, and being in the mountains as just “something you do”. But there’s a supply component to the industry. Whether it’s a gear shop, a coffee shop, or an outdoor apparel manufacturer like PK Health Gear, we have this backbone that supports it all. We are now realizing the enormity of it, and that it is a powerful economic tool.

A big selling point for the outdoor industry is that it’s a recruitment tool for non-outdoor companies to say, “Why don’t you come work for us?” Take Walmart in Bentonville, Arkansas, for example. Arkansas has hundreds of miles of trails—it’s become a mecca for mountain biking. Everyone wants to go there and bike—and work—near these trails systems that Walmart helped to fund. This alone has built more industry.

Outdoor recreation is made up of many small businesses, so working with these small businesses and helping them continue to thrive is so important. When we harness the passion of small business owners to advance the platform of good, sustainable policy, they can push those efforts collectively. The small business community together is large, and money talks! That’s how we’re trying to drive change to have friendlier policies to protect and preserve the industry. Because at the end of the day, what is the outdoor industry without clean air, water, or land?