Outdoor Recreation & Rural Tourism Solutions Roundtable
Wednesday, May 6, 2026 • 11-2 p.m. PT/12-3 p.m. MT
Live via Zoom
Free • Open to everyone
Across the West, rural communities are embracing outdoor recreation as part of their tourism and community development strategies — and discovering real sources of possibility along the way. Trails, waterways, public lands, wildlife, historic sites, and outdoor experiences can all be invested in and stewarded to boost quality of life for residents, bring new energy to downtowns, support local businesses, and create reasons for people to visit, stay longer, and return. When approached with care and meaningful local engagement, recreation-based tourism can strengthen both local economies and community life.
This WeCAN Solutions Roundtable will explore how rural places are putting outdoor recreation to work as a tourism strategy on their own terms. Rather than promoting a single “right” model, the session will feature real examples from communities at different stages of outdoor recreation tourism development — showing how local leaders are thinking ahead, learning from peers, and adapting as conditions evolve. We’ll look at challenges honestly while exploring the many creative, practical paths communities are forging.
Co-hosted by the Western Community Assessment Network (WeCAN) and the Western Rural Development Center.
Downtown Whitefish, Montana, with Big Mountain in the background. Brian Schott photo.
More about the roundtable
This WeCAN Solutions Roundtable on Outdoor Recreation and Rural Tourism will explore how rural communities across the West are using outdoor recreation as a tourism strategy in thoughtful, community-centered ways. You’ll hear — and have the chance to share — what’s working, what communities are learning along the way, and how local leaders are shaping tourism that supports businesses, respects residents, and fits the places they call home.
We’ll look at how rural places are making decisions that reflect local priorities, set expectations early, and respond to challenges and unintended consequences as they arise.
You’ll leave the roundtable with new ideas you can adapt in your own community, clearer insight into the tradeoffs recreation-based tourism can bring, and new connections and inspiration to shape visitor economies that are sustainable, right-sized, and rooted in what makes your place unique.
What you'll experience:
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A keynote conversation with Elizabeth Sodja, Lindsey Romaniello, and Jake Powell from the Gateway and Natural Amenity Region (GNAR) Initiative, exploring how western communities are navigating both the opportunities and pressures of recreation-driven tourism.
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Six solution-focused community stories, shared by rural leaders, land managers, Extension staff, and nonprofit partners working on the ground. These short, practical examples will highlight real decisions, lessons learned, and approaches communities are testing and refining. (Story presenters will be announced soon.)
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Peer learning and exchange with participants from rural communities and supporting organizations across the Western U.S. and beyond.
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A resource list to help you work in your own community after the event.
Presentations will be recorded and available on the WeCAN website after the event, but the discussions won't. So make plans to join us live!
About our keynote speakers
We’ll begin with a candid conversation featuring Elizabeth Sodja, Lindsey Romaniello, and Jake Powell from the Gateway and Natural Amenity Region (GNAR) Initiative. Drawing on GNAR’s research and work with western communities, Liz and Lindsey will share insights into how recreation-driven tourism is shaping local economies and community life. With Jake guiding the exchange, they’ll explore what communities across the West are experiencing as outdoor recreation becomes a larger part of their economic future — including the opportunities, tradeoffs, and hard questions that come with it.
Lindsey Romaniello is a PhD student at the University of Utah and a researcher with the Gateway and Natural Amenity Regions (GNAR) Initiative, where she studies planning challenges in rural and gateway communities across the western United States. She previously worked as a recreation and community planning consultant, supporting towns and regions across the country, and has experience in local government as a municipal planner in the Rocky Mountain West. Her work focuses on long-range planning and land use policy, with current research exploring housing affordability, infrastructure development, and water access. Lindsey is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Elizabeth Sodja, MNR, MCMP, is the Program Coordinator for the Gateway & Natural Amenity Region (GNAR) Initiative at Utah State University (USU) Extension. She has a decade of communications and community outreach experience, and has worked with federal, state, and local government agencies. Before joining GNAR, she worked for USU's Center for Community Engagement and the National Park Service. She grew up in a small town in Utah where most family vacations were either camping, fishing, or in a National Park, and has a passion for helping small towns around the west preserve what is special about them. When she isn't working, you can usually find her and her husband climbing a rock, living out of a tent, or driving down a dirt road covered in dog hair.
Jake Powell is an Associate Professor and Extension Specialist in Utah State University's Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. Jake graduated from Utah State University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and a minor in Watershed Sciences. After working professionally as a land planner and designer, Jake returned to pursue a Master of Science degree in Landscape Architecture from Penn State University. Jake’s subsequent professional career has focused on uniting communities to their surrounding landscapes through collaborative planning and design efforts. He has worked throughout the Intermountain West to envision and implement projects that span the scales from watershed planning and restoration efforts, natural resource conservation plans, recreation infrastructure designs, and developing community economic growth opportunities.
Jake’s research and extension efforts focus on analyzing how the design and planning of communities, infrastructure, and sites affect water quality, quantity, and conservation at both the site and watershed scale, gateway community design and planning challenges, and recreation amenity development and stewardship. Jake is the co-director of the Gateway and Natural Amenity Region (GNAR) Initiative and works with his colleagues to provide a hub for all things gateway community related.
You'll also hear Solution Stories from across the Western U.S.
Solution Stories are part of the heart and soul of WeCAN's Solutions Roundtables. These short presentations highlight approaches that rural communities are using as they put outdoor recreation tourism to work. You'll glean new ideas from their experience and hear what's working, what the challenges are, how communities are working together, and how you can adapt these approaches where you live. We have three of our six Solution Stories confirmed — check back for updates as we confirm more!
Eastern Sierra Regional Council of Governments | California | Ken Etzel and Aaron Wilcher
Ken will talk about the Eastern Sierra Council of Governments (ESCOG), which is leading efforts in collaborative outdoor recreation planning and also works in housing, workforce development, and other challenges faced by communities in this rural region on the eastern flanks of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. ESCOG coordinates with local governments, land managers, private sector partners and others on planning and project development. Aaron will showcase how Extension is involved, supporting this work in some key areas.
Short-Term Rental Regulations and Resort Tax Investments | Whitefish, Montana | Dana Meeker
Dana will talk about the challenges that Whitefish, a community of around 9,000 residents, has faced with vacation rentals and managing tourism in a way that contributes to community quality of life. In addition to how Whitefish has managed short-term rentals, Dana will talk about the 2023 voter-approved reallocation of resort tax revenue toward community housing and infrastructure — which 83% of voters backed.
How Wyoming is Strengthening Rural Outdoor Recreation and Tourism | Brynn Herschman and Hailey Sorg
Brynn will talk about Wyoming's Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Trust Fund, a legislatively created permanent fund for improving outdoor recreation infrastructure, and talk about how some rural communities have put these grant funds to work. Hailey will add some detail about the Jay Kemmerer WORTH Institute at the University of Wyoming and how it supports the outdoor recreation, tourism and hospitality industries across the state. Hailey will highlight how Extension can be a resource for communities pursuing this kind of work.
Sponsors
This event is co-hosted by the Western Community Assessment Network (WeCAN) and the Western Rural Development Center (WRDC). Together, we are committed to bringing rural leaders, organizations, and residents together to share practical solutions and strengthen communities across the West.
