]> http://www.funoutdoors.com/recroundtable/about en http://www.funoutdoors.com/node/view/867 The Recreation Roundtable was formed in 1989 to provide a key group of creative outdoor recreation industry CEO’s with a forum for discussions regarding public policies affecting recreation and to serve as a catalyst for partnership actions which enhance recreation opportunities in America. Membership includes the CEO’s of such companies as L.L. Bean, Walt Disney Attractions, Times Mirror Magazines, Outdoor Technologies Group, KOA and more. <p> The full Roundtable meets twice annually, although its committees and task forces are active throughout the year. Among its present priorities are responding forcefully to proposals for a federal tax on a wide range of recreation products to support state non-game wildlife programs and assisting federal agencies seeking to better understand and serve their customers. Tue, 25 May 2004 16:51:11 -0400 http://www.funoutdoors.com/node/view/866 Among the tangible accomplishments of the Roundtable are: <ul> <li>landmark research -- conducted annually -- on recreation motivations, satisfaction levels and barriers which is now shaping federal agency decision-making and is likely to prompt new, cooperative research on public recreation wants between the public and private sectors -- meaning better service to our common customers; <li>the National Scenic Byways Program, a network which will eventually stretch some 60,000 miles across the United States and provide high quality experiences for one of the nation’s top pastimes -- driving for pleasure; <li>a tripling of funding for federal recreation programs of the Forest Service, National Park Service and BLM in fiscal years 1990 through 1993; <li>legislation allowing commissionable corporate sales of the Golden Eagle Pass, which allows unlimited access to federal recreation sites charging entrance fees; <li>a new Career Development Exchange Program for federal executives and recreation industry employees to transfer skills between the sectors and to sensitize federal officials to the realities of a for-profit business, with the ultimate goal of again better serving our common customers; <li>an exciting annual program called Partners Outdoors, now in its eighth year, which unites carefully picked federal officials likely to rise to the highest ranks of their agencies with recreation industry officials to discuss trends and challenges and to craft action plans to serve our common customers; <li>a Partners Outdoors Fair, staged in June on Capitol Hill, designed to showcase the best public/private partnerships serving recreationists and protecting the lands and waters upon which recreation experiences depend; <li>an Outdoors Agenda for 1996, outlining recreation industry recommendations on ten key public policy areas, which will be presented to the nation’s political parties’ platform committees, to the National Governors Association and to other key forums this summer; and <li>a dramatic initiative to keep America’s urban kids in touch with the outdoors called WOW -- Wonderful Outdoor World, led nationally by Disney, Coleman and Chevy and based around weekend camping adventures staged in the neighborhood parks of America’s biggest cities. Tue, 25 May 2004 16:49:59 -0400