There are fears I hear over and over from outdoor industry leaders.
“I don’t know how to safely run my business anymore. Each season, the air gets worse, and everything I read makes me worry more about how wildfire smoke harms my staff and participants. What happens to me if I can no longer bring people into the mountains?”
I’ve spent most of my professional life managing risk in the wilderness. For three decades, I trained outdoor leaders to navigate hazards and respond to sudden illness or injury. But in recent years, the conversation has shifted to worries about extreme heat, super-charged weather events, old diseases in new places, and, most crucially, poor air quality.
When I present on building climate resilience for the outdoor industry, I’m flooded with variations of the worries above. These are not distant hypotheticals. Wildfire smoke, heat waves and polluted air are already reshaping the outdoor industry. In a recent survey of recreation service providers, 82% reported new impacts from poor air quality compared to just three years ago.
Many of us grew up after the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970. We take for granted blue skies and breathable air because of its landmark protections. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that greenhouse gases are air pollutants. In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency issued the “endangerment finding,” establishing that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. This finding is the scientific basis for emissions regulations in the U.S. It’s what requires the EPA to protect us from pollution by setting limits on emissions from cars, power plants and industry.
Now, the EPA is proposing to repeal the endangerment finding and eliminate its duty to regulate greenhouse gases. This is a direct attack on public health. It ignores decades of scientific consensus, frees the fossil fuel industry to pollute without accountability, and dismantles critical protections against worsening wildfires, smog and extreme heat.
The evidence that greenhouse gases are bad for us has only grown stronger in recent years. Air pollution has been the number one risk factor for disease worldwide for more than 20 years. In the U.S., oil and gas pollution causes more than 90,000 premature deaths each year and sickens hundreds of thousands more, with communities of color bearing the greatest burden.
It contributes to over 10,000 pre-term births annually, 216,000 cases of childhood asthma and more than 1,600 cancer cases every year. Wildfire smoke, a daily stressor for outdoor workers and participants, adds another layer of harm.
For outdoor programs, this is an existential threat. Client safety, staff health and financial viability are already at risk. Will worried parents send their children to camp if they could get sick from the outdoor environment? Will outfitters take participants into the smoky backcountry?
Can employers protect their staff or will they face liability for long-term exposure? Without strong protections, outdoor organizations cannot provide safe, reliable experiences, and communities across Wyoming will feel the impact. Outdoor recreation is core to Wyoming’s economy and identity, and protecting clean air protects our way of life.
During four days of testimony in August, more than 600 scientists, health professionals, lawmakers and members of the public urged the EPA not to reverse the endangerment finding.
Thousands more have submitted comments. Please add your voice and let the EPA know you will not stand by while they abandon their mission to “protect human health and the environment.”
The EPA is accepting public comments on the proposed repeal until Sept. 22.
Go to https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194 to submit your comment sharing why clean air matters to you, your family, your community and your work.
Clean air is not a luxury. It’s the foundation of Wyoming’s health, outdoor and tourism industries, and our future.
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
Shana Tarter is managing director of the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Diploma in Climate Medicine and a past president of the Wilderness Medical Society. She previously served as Associate Director of NOLS Wilderness Medicine and chaired the Wilderness Risk Management Conference Steering Committee. For three decades she has taught and written on wilderness medicine and organizational risk management, and now works at the intersection of climate, health, and the unique challenges of operating in remote environments. The views expressed here are her own.
