The budget reductions sought by President Donald Trump on government agencies that address outdoor recreation are hurting the Southern Nevada economy, a group of industry experts told Rep. Dina Titus Monday in an informal roundtable meeting in Boulder City.
Titus, D-Nev., said massive budget reductions to the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service are preventing those agencies from being staffed well enough to perform routine maintenance let alone undertake programs that will enable them to thrive.
Titus, who is co-chair of the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus and senior member of the Transportation & Infrastructure subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, believes the lack of staffing eventually hurts dozens of Southern Nevada outdoor recreation businesses that depend on regular upkeep to remove trash and keep trails in good shape at Lake Mead National Recreation Area and a host of nearby national parks and monuments.
“Everybody kind of agreed that this is something that needs to be promoted,” Titus said after the roundtable attended by five panelists at a Boulder City coffee shop. “We need to get the resources to build the infrastructure and we need to get the word out that this is a priority.”
Southern Nevada’s outdoor recreation economy is a $24 billion industry that generates $13.7 billion in economic output annually and supports more than 75,000 jobs.
Organizations such as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority advocate on behalf of tourism generally, but outdoor tourism companies that serve as guides to Colorado River kayak and canoe adventures and other outdoor attractions rely on the businesses themselves or nonprofit organizations to advocate on their behalf.
For the 2026-27 fiscal year, Trump proposed slashing $1.2 billion from the U.S. Department of Commerce budget in 2026 and another $736 million to $760 million in 2027.
Titus has promoted the idea of appointing a secretary or undersecretary of tourism within the Department of Commerce to coordinate directing funding to where the resources are needed.
Titus said there’s a shortfall in outdoor recreation funding, accusing Trump of “siphoning off funds to build a monument.”
Titus said the United States is the only country in the world that doesn’t have a dedicated tourism minister to advocate on behalf of small businesses.
“We got the position created,” she said. “That was something that I felt very strongly about. But they’ve never appointed anybody to the position.”
Other participants in the panel were Mandi Elliott, executive director of the Nevada Outdoor Business Coalition; Christy Sakamoto, executive director of Get Outdoors Nevada; Bertha Gutierrez, senior program director of the Conservation Lands Foundation; Fletch Brunelle, vice president of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; and Chad Taylor, director of operations-hospitality for Fairfax, Virginia-based Guest Services Inc.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
