Why We’re Joining The Conservation Alliance

After five years in business, we’re incredibly proud to become a member organization of The Conservation Alliance (TCA). TCA is an organization we’ve looked up to for years—one that channels the collective power of businesses across the U.S. to amplify our voices in the ongoing effort to conserve our wild places.

 

About The Conservation Alliance

The Conservation Alliance is a coalition of more than 270 companies—spanning the outdoor industry, brewing, finance, renewable energy, and more—that pool resources to fund and advocate for the protection of cherished and significant outdoor spaces.

Since 1989, TCA and its member companies have awarded more than $30 million in grants, helping protect over 81 million acres and 3,580 river miles, remove or halt 37 dams, purchase 22 climbing areas, and designate five marine reserves.

At its core, TCA connects conservation work with businesses that value—and rely on—public lands and wild places.

 

The Significance For Our Business

PACT Outdoors creates tools that make responsible bathroom practices easier in the backcountry. Our work depends on people having safe, reliable, and abundant access to public lands.

Today, those lands are facing significant and coordinated threats. As a business operating in rural Gunnison County on Colorado’s Western Slope, we have a unique connection to—and understanding of—the role public lands play not only in outdoor recreation and tourism, which anchor our local economy, but also in legacy industries like ranching.

Approximately 78% of Gunnison County’s 3,200+ square miles are federally owned, and people choose to live and visit here because of that fact. World-class recreation, working landscapes, and abundant wildlife are central to our community’s identity. Public lands are the largest source of employment in the region and fundamental to our way of life.

Stewardship of these places isn’t solely the responsibility of agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, though they carry an enormous share of the work. It’s also the responsibility of every community member who values their existence. Through organizations like Gunnison Trails, Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association, The Crested Butte Land Trust, The Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, Gunnison Valley OHV Alliance of TrailRiders, The Rocky Mountain Biological Lab, Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, and dozens of local businesses, land and trail stewardship is woven into life here—and our community willingly accepts that responsibility.

 

TCAs Priority Campaigns

Each year, The Conservation Alliance identifies Priority Campaigns—strategic, high-impact efforts that address immediate threats to public lands, waters, and the communities that depend on them. These campaigns focus on safeguarding iconic landscapes, defending foundational conservation laws, and championing outdoor spaces that support biodiversity and vibrant local economies.

Among the current campaigns is the defense of Inventoried Roadless Areas—vast tracts of undeveloped Forest Service land that support world-class recreation and contribute billions to the outdoor economy. The Alliance is working to uphold the Roadless Rule and ensure these landscapes remain free from damaging development. Across the West and beyond, they’re also mobilizing against efforts to privatize or transfer public lands, advocating that these shared resources stay in public hands for future generations of trail users, anglers, hunters, and outdoor lovers.

The Alliance’s work also extends to specific places that define the outdoor experience. From protecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness against mining threats (more detail on this below) to standing with tribes and local partners to defend national monuments like Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni near the Grand Canyon, these campaigns tie conservation outcomes to both ecological integrity and community well-being. Efforts in regions such as Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands and for native fish and recreation exemplify how business-led advocacy can support resilient landscapes and sustainable outdoor economies.

 

Protecting The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

In January, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted almost unanimously to revoke a 20-year mineral withdrawal, finalized in 2023, that bans sulfide-ore copper mining within the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Located in northern Minnesota, the Boundary Waters is the most visited wilderness area in the United States. It contains more than 1,100 lakes and 2,000 designated campsites and represents the largest contiguous area of uncut forest in the entire National Forest System.

The region supports world-class fishing and hunting, hosts more than 150,000 visitors annually, and sustains 17,000 jobs and over $1 billion in annual sales. Study after study shows that protecting the Boundary Waters delivers strong, long-term economic benefits.

Despite this overwhelming evidence—and broad public opposition to mining in the area—Congress used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to sidestep the traditional environmental review process and force a vote to reopen the watershed to mining.

The legislation now heads to the Senate, where—without the voices of voters, businesses, and advocacy organizations—it could be signed into law. If you value the protection of the Boundary Waters, make your voice heard by calling your U.S. Senator at 202-224-3121, asking for them by name, and sharing your perspective.

 

Closing

We’re honored to join this legacy of conservation advocates, and we also recognize the tremendous amount of work still ahead. Our priorities as new members are simple: first, to learn more about how effective conservation advocacy works, and second, to develop our own voice and playbook for operating in this space with intention and impact.