The SHIFT Summit

Set at the forefront of this year’s SHIFT festival is The SHIFT Summit, an in-depth exploration of the opportunities and challenges at the nexus of outdoor recreation and conservation.

Tickets for the 2016 SHIFT Summit may be purchased here. 

A full schedule of events may be found here.

The SHIFT Summit will be held at the Snow King Resort Hotel Oct. 13-15. Discounted lodging at the Snow King Resort Hotel is available here.

The Summit includes panel discussions, breakout groups, and networking opportunities built around the festival’s main theme, “Outdoor Rec & Our Public Lands.”

The 2016 SHIFT Summit will explore the question:

How can outdoor recreation help keep our public lands public, healthy, and accessible to all Americans?

To answer this question, The SHIFT Summit will feature three major topics, each with a core set of discussion questions:

1. Proposed Public Land Transfers: How do we work together to keep America’s public lands and waters public?
2. Funding for Public Lands: How do we secure the long-term funding for public lands necessary to keep them healthy and well-managed?
3. Next-Generation Engagement and Cultural Relevancy: How do we insure that our public lands remain relevant and accessible to new and diverse groups of Americans, today and in the future?

2016 SHIFT Summit Sub-Themes

Public land transfers

With several bills proposed in western states that attempt to transfer public land management from federal agencies to state control, the conservation and recreation communities see the proposed public land transfer as a significant and urgent threat facing public lands. Both communities have been active on this topic, sometimes in coordination and sometimes not.

The SHIFT Summit will:

• Build bridges between the groups working on the topic
• Compare notes and identify opportunities to align efforts and messaging
• Strengthen messaging and information around the economic impacts of the public land transfer movement

Funding for public lands

Long-term reliable funding for public land management agencies is directly related to the public land transfer, since budget cuts limit agencies’ capacity to effectively manage public lands. With agency budgets going to fighting wildfires and a growing backlog of deferred maintenance, the issue, which currently lacks a unified voice, continues to grow more pressing.

The SHIFT Summit will:

• Share information on how investments in public lands contribute to local economies through recreation and tourism
• Share success stories and discuss other creative funding options for our public lands
• Elevate the increasing role for and value of volunteer stewardship and other forms of partnership that engage the next generation in public lands, highlighting success stories and discussing how this potentially powerful tool can be further leveraged.

Next Generation and Cultural Relevance

Insuring public lands are relevant to new and diverse groups, including the next generation of Americans, requires improved diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and a cultural shift. Establishing a stronger culture of stewardship and increasing support for public lands is key to their longterm viability.

The SHIFT Summit will:

• Feature diverse participation to insure a meaningful and valuable conversation about DEI
• Create a framework for thinking about DEI and assessing progress on the topic
• Offer opportunity for honest self-reflection on what is working and not working on DEI efforts in the outdoor recreation/conservation space
• Help individual organizations advance DEI in their organizations by highlighting successes, and challenges, among organizations that have been working on the issue

A complete schedule of events may be found here.

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