…All the parks and trails in and around Bozeman are more than just nice to look at: They’re main drivers of the local economic engine, according to a new report by a local nonprofit economic research group.
The group Headwaters Economics says that over the last four decades, non-metropolitan counties in the West with more than 30 percent federally protected lands increased jobs by 345 percent. Much of that job growth has come in service industries like health care, real estate and high-tech. Similar counties with no protected land increased jobs by 83 percent…