Published April 20, 2026 03:00AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Outdoor recreation has earned a place in the health and wellness conversation. Now, it\u2019s time to put it at the center. Next month, the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable <\/a>(ORR) and its partners are laying out how.<\/p>\n In a first-of-its-kind event being held in Washington D.C. from May 6 to 7, the ORR, a leading coalition and powerful policy voice in the outdoor industry, is holding a National Executive Forum. The forum will invite major players from the government and health sector to align to activate a national vision, Jessica Wahl Turner, president\u00a0of ORR, told Outside. <\/em>The hope is that progress won\u2019t take five to ten years, but five to ten months, she said.<\/p>\n Outside CEO Robin Thurston will speak at the forum. In addition to participating in the event, Outside Inc. (our parent company) will also officially join ORR\u2019s Outdoor Business Council, a group uniting outdoor industry leaders to drive sustainable, inclusive economic growth.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re proud,\u201d he shared. \u201cThe outdoor recreation economy is a $1.3 trillion force. It\u2019s time it\u2019s recognized as one of the most impactful industries shaping the future of American health and wellness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at the convergence of three powerful forces,\u201d said Turner. \u201cThe unprecedented demand for outdoor recreation and access, global trends that are pulling people indoors and disconnecting them from one another and nature, and rising rates of chronic disease and mental health challenges,<\/strong> alongside unsustainable healthcare costs.\u201d If these trends continue, we risk poorer health, rising debt, and deeper disconnection from each other and the natural world. \u201cThis is our moment to change that,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n The roundtable event will drive home the point that spending time outdoors has been a part of the answer to these issues all along, and it will recognize the groups that have been working hard to bring about real change.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a long time, the outdoor industry felt like it was pushing against the current\u2014advocating for something people understood but hadn\u2019t fully embraced in their daily lives. That\u2019s changing,\u201d said Thurston. \u201cWe are at an extraordinary moment where culture is finally moving toward us. The digital fatigue we are seeing has triggered a \u2018biological revolt\u2019 against screen saturation, making the outdoors not just a trend, but a human necessity. Our job now is to meet that moment and accelerate it.\u201d<\/p>\n The three pillars of vision that the ORR has set in motion and built the forum around are infrastructure and investments, health systems and institutions, and culture and messengers.<\/p>\n \u201cEach of these pillars is equally important to the success of this vision to mainstream the push for outdoor recreation as a public health intervention,\u201d said Turner. \u201cBut particularly notable is the potential to activate the health industry\u2014and state health agencies around the country\u2014as investors in the recreation economy.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. healthcare spending<\/a> is up to $5 trillion, at least, according to our most recent numbers, and one in five kids<\/a>\u00a0has a\u00a0mental or behavioral health diagnosis, according to the CDC. Heart disease is still the leading cause of death<\/a>, and the outdoors is an underutilized tool of prevention.<\/p>\n \u201cMy hope is that every attendee\u2014whether they are an outdoor CEO, health expert, federal leader, elected official, or state director of outdoor recreation\u2014understand that integrating outdoor access into health strategy is a practical, bipartisan, and scalable opportunity,\u201d said Turner. \u201cI want the health sector to see the outdoor recreation industry as a genuine partner in solving America\u2019s health crisis, and I want our industry to fully understand the role it must play.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we leave with concrete commitments to formally recognize outdoor access as a public health solution, that\u2019s a win,\u201d said\u00a0Thurston.<\/p>\n The roundtable will present decades of research, political momentum, infrastructure, and a passion for the outdoors.<\/p>\n During the two-day event, sessions will cover topics like what it will take to make outdoor prescriptions reimbursable and measurable, how to align Cabinet and C-suite leaders around a shared health vision, where bright spots are already working on public lands and in communities, and what a real long-term partnership between care systems and the outdoor economy could look like.<\/p>\n Key speakers include Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez, U.S. Department of the Interior Undersecretary Michael Boren, and the United States Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n Alongside discussions across sectors, Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods,\u00a0<\/i>will receive the Outdoor Recreation Lifetime Achievement Award.<\/p>\n Thurston\u2019s panel, titled No More Bowling Alone: Shifting Culture Towards the Outdoors as a Health Solution, will address how leaders in the outdoor industry can \u201cpromote outdoor time as more than a lifestyle perk and start embedding it into the everyday fabric of how people live, work, and find balance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Like the recent success experienced in passing the EXPLORE Act<\/a>, \u201cwe\u2019ll have to come together in major ways to bring this national vision to life,\u201d said Turner.<\/p>\n \u201cThe research is already there,\u201d Thurston told Outside<\/em>. \u201cWhat we need now is the institutional will to act on it. The best outcome is that this forum isn\u2019t a moment, but the start of a sustained national movement.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI want attendees to look back on this forum in five years and see it as a turning point for public health,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n You can read more about the ORR\u2019s vision for the forum and beyond here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/div>\nOutdoor Recreation: The Answer All Along<\/h2>\n
Potential to Activate the Health Industry<\/h2>\n
Preview of the Roundtable<\/h2>\n