Staring down the fiscal cliff

…The benefits of living and working next to public lands are well-documented. Headwaters Economics found that rural Western counties containing over 30 percent protected federal lands experienced 345 percent job growth between 1970 and 2010, compared to only 83 percent in counties with no protected public lands. National parks, in particular, have a huge economic impact. Visitors to Grand Canyon National Park, for example, spent nearly $430 million in the area in 2010, and the park supported almost 7,000 jobs between NPS staff and local tourism employees. If the sequestration goes through, Grand Canyon stands to cut a million dollars from its FY 2013 budget of $21.3 million.…

Author:
Ben Alexander

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