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Media Coverage

Recent press coverage of research by Headwaters Economics.

Daily Yonder

 Federal Grant Requirements Make it Hard for Rural Communities to Prepare for Climate Change

Published by The Daily Yonder on February 13, 2023

A 2023 study from Headwaters Economics shows that qualifications from federal grant programs disproportionately hurt under-resourced rural areas.

Related research
  • Match requirements prevent rural and low-capacity communities from accessing climate resilience funding
  • A rural capacity map
  • Capacity-limited states still struggle to access FEMA BRIC grants
The Montana Standard

 Powell County and Deer Lodge focus on jobs and housing

Published by Montana Standard on February 4, 2023

Cooley said a study of potential statewide impacts conducted by the Bozeman-based firm Headwaters Economics showed that the alternative transportation route would bring $229 million in visitor spending, 2,500 new jobs, and $22.8 million in new tax revenue.

Related research
  • The economic potential of the Great American Rail-Trail
  • The Outdoor Recreation Economy by State

 ‘Where is this money going to come from’: Local match rules keep rural communities from federal grants

Published by KUNC on January 27, 2023

“We know that communities really struggle when a disaster hits, and we also know that these disasters are getting more frequent and more extreme,” said Kristin Smith, the head researcher on the Headwaters Economics study. “One of my big questions is how are we ensuring that rural and disadvantaged communities have the money, the staffing, the capacity, just the resources that they need for the future?”

Related research
  • Match requirements prevent rural and low-capacity communities from accessing climate resilience funding
  • A rural capacity map
Helena Independent Record

 Patty Hernandez: Montana must build housing for the fires and floods of tomorrow

Published by Helena Independent Record on January 25, 2023

The Governor’s Housing Task Force was charged with an enormous job: identify solutions to build more homes and ease Montana’s housing crisis.

Every Montanan deserves affordable, attainable housing. Legislation that considers the task force’s report can help us get there.

But if we want new housing to be safe, healthy and durable, we must also ask how can we build new housing today that is ready for the floods, wildfires and heat waves of tomorrow?

Related research
  • Yellowstone Flood reveals Montana’s mobile home flood risk
  • Building a Wildfire-Resistant Home: Codes and Costs
  • Wood roofs are a $6 billion wildfire problem

 Barriers prevent rural communities from accessing climate funds

Published by KUOW on

“About 60% of the funding is going to require a local match,” says Kristin Smith, applied researcher at Headwaters Economics. “Local matches are really features of federal funding, they have been for decades. But as we’re thinking about how to help communities get the resources that they need, the local match can actually be a barrier to accessing that funding.”

Related research
  • Match requirements prevent rural and low-capacity communities from accessing climate resilience funding
  • Capacity-limited states still struggle to access FEMA BRIC grants
  • A rural capacity map

 The unexpected barrier preventing American small towns from accessing federal climate funds

Published by Grist on January 20, 2023

The analysis — by Headwaters Economics, an independent research group that focuses on community development and land management — warns that local match requirements are putting rural communities in particular at a disadvantage. Many lack the resources to both apply for grant projects and also to sustain their portion of funding through the lifetime of a project.

Related research
  • Match requirements prevent rural and low-capacity communities from accessing climate resilience funding
  • Capacity-limited states still struggle to access FEMA BRIC grants
ABC News

 Feds send $930 million to curb ‘crisis’ of US West wildfires

Published by ABC News on January 19, 2023

“Given the scale of how much needs to be done, we are just skimming the surface,” said Headwaters Economics researcher Kimiko Barrett. “Risks are increasing at a scale and magnitude that we haven’t seen historically. You’re seeing entire neighborhoods devastated.”

Related research
  • Wildfires destroy thousands of structures each year
  • Wood roofs are a $6 billion wildfire problem
  • Construction costs for a wildfire-resistant home: California edition

 Economic think tank spotlights Mountain West ‘micropolitans,’ but ignores wealth inequalities

Published by KUNC on January 12, 2023

While the report highlights a number of growth factors, [Megan Lawson, an economist with the nonprofit research group] said it leaves out data on income and housing inequalities. She pointed to No. 2-ranking Jackson, Wyo., and Teton County, which boasts the highest per capita average income in the country, putting housing out of reach for teachers and police officers.

Related research
  • A rural capacity map
  • Unaffordability for renters made worse during the pandemic
  • Housing costs broke records across the U.S.
The Guardian

 Can America’s low-cost mobile homes withstand the climate crisis?

Published by The Guardian on December 16, 2022

In her research with the non-profit Headwaters Economics, [Dr. Kristin] Smith found that more than one in five mobile homes in Montana are situated in high flood risk neighborhoods – something that the state has been waking up to.

Related research
  • Yellowstone Flood reveals Montana’s mobile home flood risk
  • Mobile home residents face higher flood risk
  • Capacity-limited states still struggle to access FEMA BRIC grants

 Share of rent-burdened households drops in Montana, Census Bureau says

Published by Yellowstone Public Radio on December 13, 2022

That came as a surprise to economist Megan Lawson with Headwaters Economics in Bozeman, who examined the five-year data.

“Rents increased over that time period across the state, but incomes increased more,” Lawson said.

Related research
  • Housing costs broke records across the U.S.
  • Unaffordability for renters made worse during the pandemic
Marketplace

 Wildfires are more frequent, getting worse — and straining government budgets

Published by Marketplace on December 12, 2022

“For many, many years and decades, really those other costs that come to the surface following a wildfire event have been overlooked,” said Kimiko Barrett, a wildfire researcher and policy lead at Headwaters Economics in Montana.

Related research
  • The unequal impacts of wildfire
  • Wildfires destroy thousands of structures each year

 Millions of homes are being built in fire-prone areas of Mountain West as wildfire risks grow

Published by KUNR Public Radio on November 28, 2022

“It’s concerning the fact that we continue to grow in high wildfire risk areas, rebuild in high wildfire risk areas, assuming that a wildfire won’t occur,” said Kimiko Barrett, a wildfire researcher with the Montana-based research group Headwaters Economics.

Related research
  • The unequal impacts of wildfire
  • Building a Wildfire-Resistant Home: Codes and Costs
The New York Times

 It’s Public Land. But the Public Can’t Reach It. Edit

Published by The New York Times on November 26, 2022

“That would affect more than wealthy landowners, said Megan Lawson of Headwaters Economics, a community development nonprofit in Bozeman, Mont.

“Amenity economies depend on guiding services, lodging and hospitality in general,” Ms. Lawson said. “That’s the lifeblood of the economy in several states.”

Related research
  • Innovative New Ways to Count Outdoor Recreation
  • The Future of the Outdoor Recreation Economy
  • The Outdoor Recreation Economy by State

 Colorado wildfire was most costly in the region

Published by Aspen Public Radio on November 1, 2022

Wildfire Researcher Kimiko Barrett with Headwaters Economics says those homes were built close together and had high property values, increasing insurance claims.

She says urban areas traditionally thought of as safe from wildfires are more exposed as fires intensify.

“It’s entire neighborhoods being burned, in some cases hundreds, if not thousands, of structures being lost in one wildfire,” she said. “These trends unfortunately are going to increase because the risks are increasing across the board.”

Related research
  • Construction costs for a wildfire-resistant home: California edition
  • Wood roofs are a $6 billion wildfire problem
  • The unequal impacts of wildfire

 Mountain West housing markets may be cooling down 

Published by Wyoming Public Radio on October 19, 2022

“In the last few months, the Fed has been raising interest rates,” said Megan Lawson, an economist with Headwaters Economics. “And that’s slowing down new home purchases because borrowing costs are just more expensive.”

Related research
  • Housing costs broke records across the U.S.

 Making room for the river: Communities look at nature-based solutions

Published by Northern Public Radio on October 6, 2022

So far, Mississippi River communities have also received a smaller percentage of BRIC dollars than coastal states, according to a Headwaters Economics analysis.

Related research
  • A rural capacity map
  • Capacity-limited states still struggle to access FEMA BRIC grants
Center For American Progress

 How To Improve Community Wildfire Defense Grants To Build Rural Resilience

Published by Center for American Progress on

Organizations such as Headwaters Economics have developed tools for federal agencies to identify at-risk populations and have begun exploring data that can measure capacity. These creative and innovative tools may be useful to a range of communities that are often missed by traditional measures of income and vulnerability.

Related research
  • Neighborhoods at Risk
  • A rural capacity map
knpr icon

 A breakdown of the big bucks visitors spend at national parks

Published by Nevada Public Radio on September 21, 2022

Montana-based nonprofit research group Headwaters Economics compiles National Park Service data annually, and this week it published data showing that NPS units — which can include national monuments, forts, historical locations, parks and preserves — saw a big surge in visitors from 2020 to 2021.

Related research
  • Economic Impact of National Parks
KJZZ logo

 Experts say it’s time to think beyond battling wildfires — and find a way to live with them

Published by KJZZ on

“Currently, at the federal level, through the land management agencies — primarily the U.S. Forest Service — we’re spending $65 million per wildfire, which is doubling the cost since 1999,” said Kimi Barrett, a wildfire and policy analyst with Headwaters Economics, a nonpartisan independent research organization based in Bozeman, Montana.

Related research
  • Living with wildfire
High Country News

 When a housing crisis meets a megaflood

Published by High Country News on September 20, 2022

Kris Smith, a researcher at Bozeman-based Headwaters Economics, said that when the flood hit, one of her first thoughts was: “What’s going to be the plan for making sure that we’re not worsening the housing crisis that we know is already existing in Montana?”

Related research
  • Yellowstone Flood reveals Montana’s mobile home flood risk
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