…Salmon, McCall, Stanley and Riggins have benefited from the tens of thousands of whitewater rafters, hikers, hunters, anglers and horse packers attracted to the Frank. But without commercial air service, broadband Internet connections and other convenient links to the outside world, higher-income development hasn’t followed.
“It’s not a case of ‘protect natural areas and the income will come,’” said Ray Rasker of Headwaters Economics in Bozeman, Mont., who signed the letter. “It’s more nuanced.”
The places that have benefited more are Boise, Ketchum-Sun Valley and Idaho Falls, Rasker said. These are the places with the airports, education systems and other amenities that allow footloose, high-income workers — engineers and architects — to do business while having access to Idaho’s wild places.…