In a challenging year, Vermont’s outdoor business leaders are full of optimism

Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger. LUDLOW — For Vermont’s outdoor economy, it’s been no ordinary year. State officials estimate that the sector — which by their reckoning includes businesses ranging from ski resorts to bike shops and inns — generated roughly $2.2 billion for Vermont’s economy in 2024. But this year, federal policy has left some businesses on shaky ground, forced to face tariffs and strained relations with the Canadians who used to frequent the Green Mountain State. Vermont’s outdoor commerce operates in the fading shadow of New England’s older forest economies, said Sarah Waring, who leads the Northern Border Regional Commission, a joint federal and state economic development agency. “For this region, both wood and paper industries were our (source of) rural capital,” she told audience members at the Vermont Outdoor Economy Summit in Ludlow on Thursday.

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