Author says 2022 Writers conference is ideal showcase Casper’s recreation economy

CASPER, Wyo —  Casper College writing instructor, outdoor journalist, and author Dave Zoby told Oil City News he’s already hearing excitement around town about Casper’s winning bid to host the Outdoor Writers Association of America’s annual conference in May, 2022.

Over 200 writers and media professionals are expected to attend. 

Zoby said there’s already  “interest from fly shops, breweries and distilleries who are interested in getting in on this,” he said.

Zoby said he fully expects conference attendees to take Casper as a “total outdoor landing” and a gateway to Yellowstone, the Wind River and Big Horn mountains, and myriad other recreational opportunities within a few hours’ drive. 

“The thing about Casper that’s hard to wrap your mind around is we’ve got blue ribbon trout fishing in an urban environment.”

It’s an opportunity to help make recreation a bigger part of Casper’s economy, as the blue ribbon North Platte and the surrounding landscape are featured in major publications like Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, Fishing and Hunting, and Sierra.

“I don’t think we should just sit around here and be defined by the coal mines that are closing and the downturns in the oil market,” he said. “I think we should grab this opportunity and redefine ourselves.”

Zoby said the conference will be a perfect opportunity to resurrect the “vibe” built up around the 2017 Eclipse Festival, with new breweries and restaurants and a thriving local music scene ready for a presumably post-COVID world.

“The Casper now is not the Casper of 20 years ago when I got here,” he said. “It was a little rougher, a little smokier.”

Zoby credits OWAA membership and conferences with expanding his publishing network. He writes contemporary nonfiction chronicling adventures and misadventures in sport and the outdoors for magazines like Gray’s Sporting Journal, The Sun, and Wyoming Wildlife, and is fly fishing editor of Strung magazine.

He also wrote a monthly column for Visit Casper, and pitched bidding for the conference to CEO Brook Kaufman.

He said the work being done by the Platte River Revival on the 13 miles of North Platte within the city limits will be an ideal showpiece.  In addition to cleanup and shoring up the banks against erosion, the work is creating better habitat and spawning grounds for trout, he said.

“We have this long past where the river was very dirty, it was undrinkable, oil fires and oil spills… the city has really done a lot to change it up,” he said. 

“Now it’s this pristine river that sings to you.”

Christine Peterson is an OWAA vice-president and a freelance writer who started at the Casper Star-Tribune at the age of 16, and was managing editor until 2018. Zoby said she was in back in Casper in August 2020 scouting it on video as a potential location for OWAA consideration, when something happened the may have put Casper over the top. 

“When we were showing Christine the [Platte River Revival Project] by Jonah Bank and Poplar Street bridge, a drift boat came through with a guide and his two clients.

“And just about when they were passing us, one of the clients hooked a great big trophy rainbow trout, and he fought it. We hooted and hollered to him, and he landed it. I was like, ‘this is perfect.’”  

“Something must have happened, because we won the bid.”

Zoby said the OWAA, in additional to offering awards and fellowships to media members, also advocates for open access to public lands *many of which are only accessible through private lands), migration corridor management, and minimizing the environmental impact of recreation.

“They promote an ethical type of journalism,” Zoby said. “They also promote an ethical type of behavior we’re in the outdoors.”

He said the group is working expand participation and representation in the outdoors beyond the expected demographics.

He cited freelance writers like Peterson, Lisa Ballard, and OWAA second vice-president Kris Milgate as examples of women “staking their claim and changing the narrative” in the industry and literature. He said OWAA also advocates for engagement with youth and families.

“The outdoors… it’s for everybody,” Zoby said. “It’s for the citizens of this country.” 

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