{"id":32960,"date":"2021-04-07T13:40:50","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T17:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=32960"},"modified":"2021-04-09T11:18:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T15:18:58","slug":"maryland-names-first-group-of-outdoor-recreation-ambassadors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2021\/04\/07\/maryland-names-first-group-of-outdoor-recreation-ambassadors\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Names First Group of \u2018Outdoor Recreation Ambassadors\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Public, Private Sector Partners will Promote State\u2019s Status as Recreation Destination<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 390px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/4883\/43952294040_c1626bc885.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/4883\/43952294040_c1626bc885.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of man on a paddleboard with two dogs\" width=\"380\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Norma Broadwater, submitted for 2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Pages\/photocontest.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryland Natural Resources Photo Contest<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Maryland Department of Commerce and Maryland Department of Natural Resources have announced that 18 Marylanders from the public and private sectors have been named as the state\u2019s first Outdoor Recreation Ambassadors. As part of their responsibilities, the ambassadors will work to enhance the state\u2019s status as a leading destination for outdoor recreation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ambassadors all served as members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/pages\/more\/home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryland Outdoor Recreation Economic (MORE) Commission<\/a>, which was established by Governor Larry Hogan in 2017 to develop strategies and make recommendations to strengthen the state\u2019s outdoor recreation industry and help ensure increased investment in our state\u2019s outdoor recreation resources.\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cDeputizing\u201d ambassadors was one of the recommendations from the commission to create an opportunity for word-of-mouth social media campaigns that could be used among the partners to amplify messages. The secretaries of the departments recognized them at a virtual event and plan to announce additional ambassadors in the coming months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe are very pleased to recognize these individuals for their work with the MORE Commission and for their ongoing efforts to promote outdoor recreation in Maryland,\u201d Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio said. \u201cThey are important partners as we work to promote Maryland as a premier destination for year-round recreation and expand economic development opportunities in our state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMaryland is rich with an abundance of outdoor recreation options, from our federal, state and local parks, to our Atlantic beaches and Chesapeake Bay, and mountains to the west,\u201d said Maryland Commerce Secretary Kelly M. Schulz. \u201cWe are so excited to have all of these outstanding Marylanders help us shine a light on our outdoor recreation industry and its importance to Maryland\u2019s economy and quality of life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ambassadors are:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cathleen C. Bramble &#8211; Tolchester Marina Inc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Hamilton Chaney &#8211; Herrington Harbor<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kelly Collins Choi &#8211; Casey Trees (former Maryland Department of Natural Resources staff)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Richard W. Decker &#8211; U.S. Army<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Joel Dunn &#8211; Chesapeake Conservancy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Paul C. Edwards &#8211; Garrett County Board of County Commissioners<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Walter Ficklin &#8211; Bladensburg Town Council<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Deanna Flood &#8211; <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Providing Outdoor Recreation Services<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Liz Fitzsimmons -Office of Tourism, and Film, Maryland Department of Commerce<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Steven G. Green &#8211; High Mountain Sports<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scott Knoche &#8211; PEARL Laboratory, Morgan State University<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thurmond L. Jenkins &#8211; Muddy Marsh Outdoors<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Matt Liddle &#8211; Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sean E. Mann &#8211; Sean Mann Outdoors<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tamika Newkirk &#8211; District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">William Pickrum &#8211; Kent County Board of Commissioners (former)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brian N. Raines &#8211; Calvert Design Group, Inc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">David Sutherland &#8211; Maryland Sportsmen&#8217;s Foundation<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The MORE Commission met numerous times in 2018 and 2019 with local representatives of every region of the state, getting an in-depth view and analysis of the state\u2019s outdoor recreation facilities, businesses, and possibilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sec. Riccio and Sec. Schulz recognized them at a virtual event April 6 and plan to announce additional ambassadors in the coming months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public, Private Sector Partners will Promote State\u2019s Status as Recreation Destination The Maryland Department of Commerce and Maryland Department of Natural Resources have announced that 18 Marylanders from the public and private sectors have been named as the state\u2019s first Outdoor Recreation Ambassadors. As part of their responsibilities, the ambassadors will work to enhance the<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2021\/04\/07\/maryland-names-first-group-of-outdoor-recreation-ambassadors\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,3171,11,4998,3172,12],"tags":[4035,2952,4587,5000],"class_list":["post-32960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-boating","category-fisheries","category-hiking","category-hunting","category-parks","tag-jeannie-haddaway-riccio","tag-larry-hogan","tag-more-commission","tag-outdoor-recreation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32960"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33027,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32960\/revisions\/33027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}