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Local businesses lament smoke-related losses Friday Sep 22, 2017 at 6:38 PM Sep 22, 2017 at 6:38 PM Nick Morgan Mail Tribune @mtcrimebeat Tourism business leaders told Congressman Greg Walden Friday about revenue losses they suffered from this summer's wildfire smoke, but their larger concern was that increasingly common summer wildfires could cause people to move their summer vacation plans out of Oregon. At a Medford-Jackson County Chamber of Commerce roundtable, local Republican officials, along with real estate, hospitality and tourism-related businesses, met with Walden to discuss economic impacts from the wildfires that blanketed the state, as well as to discuss forest management reform. Oregon Shakespeare Festival Development Director Torrie Allen said the festival had to cancel nine outdoor shows at the Allen Elizabethan Theatre in August and September because of air quality that reached hazardous levels, directly costing the festival about $400,000, and indirectly causing a "substantial drop" in renewals for the upcoming season, "because they're thinking this might be part of a new normal." About 85 percent of festival-goers come from outside of the state, he said. "We're thinking about how we can alter the campus to prevent this in the future," Allen said, mentioning ideas such as adding a cover to the outdoor theater or building new facilities. Rogue Regency Inn General Manager Bruce Hoevet said the hotel lost 400 room nights this summer because of the smoke. "That's a room that had two people in it," Hoevet said. "Rule of thumb is about $150 a night a person spends within the city, so that's huge, and that's not counting the people that just didn't come because they're all smoked-in." Rogue Valley ZipLine Adventure owner Lindsey Rice said her business suffered a 30-percent loss in gross receipts this summer. "I do feel that because of the fires being an off-and-on thing over the six years of business ... people have in their mind, 'I'm not even going to go to Oregon, because why waste my time planning something that's going to get cancelled?' " Rice said. Travel Medford Sales Director Angela Wood said she spent a year working to bring a U.S. Tennis Association sectionals tournament to Southern Oregon, but smoke forced a late cancellation. "They cancelled the event and moved it to Olympia (Washington), because they didn't want to put the athletes out in the smoke," Wood said. Chamber President Brad Hicks said that for more than a week in late August and early September, he got daily emails from Wood regarding new cancellations of events. Though wildfires are a challenge for tourism, Southern Oregon's largest industry, it is also a "matter of public health," Hicks said This summer's wildfires burned 8 million acres in the U.S. and cost the country $2 billion, said Walden, who is proposing legislation that calls for a more hands-on approach to firefighting in national forests, along with increases in timber harvests. Among ideas in the legislation is a streamlined appeals process for environmental groups. Walden said appeals shouldn't drag on endlessly. "We not only burned up millions of dollars, we put it in our atmosphere," Walden said. "If you're concerned about climate change, you should be concerned about our forests." — Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat.