The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR) convened a first-of-its-kind meeting with the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR), bringing together all of the land and water management agencies and leading top outdoor recreation and technology companies to advance collaboration on recreation data, technology and access, ORR said in a recent release. The meeting with the FICOR, which was formally reestablished by the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act, was a key outcome of ORR’s Outdoor Recreation Technology & Innovation Summit last year.
The discussion marked important stakeholder engagement by the FICOR and focused on how improved data sharing, interoperability and public-private partnerships can enhance visitor experiences, support land management decisions around recreation and conservation, and strengthen outdoor recreation economies across the country, ORR said.
“Outdoor recreation is one of the most powerful tools we have to support public health, local economies, and our natural resources,” said Jessica Turner, president of Outdoor Recreation Roundtable. “This meeting represents an important step toward aligning how government and industry use data and technology to expand access and improve outcomes for communities and public lands and waters alike. We look forward to continuing to work with the FICOR as EXPLORE Act implementation advances, ensuring that innovations deliver for businesses, agencies and the millions of Americans who recreate on public lands and waters every year.”
Federal agency participants highlighted ongoing efforts to implement the EXPLORE Act, including a coordinated approach to reporting recreation data across agencies and proposed pilot projects on Federal sites nationwide to improve recreation visitation estimates.
Industry leaders emphasized their ability to complement federal data efforts by providing anonymized, aggregated insights that can help validate trends and improve decision-making, while maintaining strong privacy protections.
“Better data leads to better decisions,” said Ambreen Tariq, senior program director at ORR. “By working together, we can move toward a more connected recreation ecosystem where agencies, businesses and communities have the information they need to improve access, manage resources and meet growing demand. This work must also address key challenges, including differences in data collection across agencies, the need for clear privacy and compliance guardrails, and barriers to integrating federal systems with state, local and private recreation platforms.”
The conversation also identified key challenges to be addressed moving forward by agency leaders and industry partners to create more interoperability and data validation.
ORR and its members will continue to engage with the FICOR in the coming months, the organization said, including providing input on upcoming pilot projects during the public-comment period once the projects are published in the Federal Register, and identifying opportunities for deeper collaboration on data interoperability and innovation.
