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Updated: February 20, 2025

UMF and outdoor recreation industry launch workforce development program

A person stands in a retail area. Photo / University of Maine at Farmington Oliver Woodward, a UMF senior from Sedgwick, has an internship in retail operations at Sugarloaf Mountain as part of the outdoor recreation business administration program.

By Laurie Schreiber

A 10-year plan unveiled last month calls for growing Maine’s outdoor recreation economy from $3.3 billion in 2023 to $3.7 billion by 2035.

“Maine’s Outdoor Recreation Economy Roadmap,” drafted by a coalition of stakeholders, identified workforce expansion as one of the keys to that quest.

The University of Maine at Farmington recently launched an initiative designed to help meet the state’s current and future needs for skilled outdoor recreation professionals.

Anchored in UMF’s outdoor recreation business administration program, or ORBA, the “Outdoor Recreation Hub” initiative will work with industry leaders to recruit students and provide them with the latest business knowledge, internship experience and industry connections, according to a news release.

The Outdoor Recreation Hub received $584,750 in external grant funding. 

That includes a three-year $475,000 grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and a three-year Betterment Fund grant of $105,000. 

The Betterment Fund makes grants exclusively to benefit Maine residents with a focus on the Western Mountains region including Oxford, Franklin and Somerset counties. 

Additional funding was contributed by Sugarloaf ski resort in Carrabassett Valley, Sunday River ski resort in Newry, Camp Manitou in Oakland and Camp O-AT-KA in Sebago.

The program will include internships with an outdoor recreation businesses in Maine or elsewhere.

Internships are key to helping the industry achieve 10% growth by 2035, said Austin French, UMF internship coordinator and project director for the hub.

Industry partnerships will also include project-based learning opportunities in the classroom, French said. 

The grant will help to bring outdoor recreation employers and partners into UMF classrooms to collaborate with students on industry challenges and solutions, according to the release.

“This new workforce development hub addresses Maine’s growing need for skilled workers in outdoor recreation by recruiting and developing leaders in all areas of resort operations, including accounting, lodging, mountain operations, retail and marketing,” said Dana Bullen, Sunday River’s president and general manager.

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