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Perhaps it is because the case for the gains that immigrants bring to society is so overwhelming—particularly for the declining rural areas that have been the strongest supporters of the anti-immigrant agenda—that the language of its proponents has become so extreme. 

LWCF has been an important tool for rural communities who want to pursue outdoor recreation as a vehicle for rural economic development according to Megan Lawson, an economist with Headwaters Economics, an independent, nonprofit research group. 

“LWCF has touched all 50 states, touched thousands of local communities, and it’s an important resource especially in rural places,” Lawson told the Daily Yonder.

Wyoming’s coal mining industry lost 20% of its customer base in the past 10 years and will lose another 23% over the next 10 years as the nation’s fleet of coal-fired power plants continues to shrink, according to a report by the University of Wyoming and Montana-based Headwaters Economics. The same trend applies to coalfields in Appalachia, where only mines that produce metallurgic coal anticipate continuing markets in steelmaking. 

Half of the 18 counties in Oregon’s timber-dominant region lost more money from tax cuts on private forests than from the reduction of logging on federal lands, the investigation shows.

Rose, the mountain biker in Spokane, volunteers with a mountain bike club to build new trails in a county that is 92.5% private land, according to data tabulated by Montana-based research firm Headwaters Economics.

The Bureau of Land Management has begun lowering royalties owed by companies that produce oil and gas on public lands, including tens of thousands of acres in Utah, to ease the financial strains created by the coronavirus pandemic… In 2017, Utah reaped about $54 million in federal oil and gas royalties, according to Headwaters Economics. 

“Even after you account for all the economic factors that we can measure, recreation communities still charge a premium,” said Lawson, an economist with the Bozeman-based organization. “It still costs more to live in those places, because they have a quality of life, because they have, in some cases, this social cache.”

According to an analysis by Headwaters Economics, local taxes help fund health-care services — for areas that have hospitals — in more than half of rural Western counties with recreation-based economies.

“The rural health care system is already getting by on a shoestring, with rural hospitals closing and remaining hospitals being easily overwhelmed, especially in these rural communities that have demands beyond the local population.” Haggerty is concerned that public-sector hospitals, partially funded by taxpayers to remain open and available to both year-round local residents, are facing a combined problem of increased demand and declining local government revenues. 

Last year, the federal government took in about $155 million in royalties from the oil, gas and coal operators on public land in Utah, according to Headwaters Economics. About 48% of that money is returned to the state of Utah, and the Republican members of Congress say in their letters that Interior should still flow back to the states where the drilling and mining is happening.

Ray Rasker with Headwaters Economics, a non-profit research group, said recreation-based counties are also particularly vulnerable to the economic impact of COVID-19.

“Recreation works through volume. We need to get lots of people in there, spending money and we need to see each other face to face, right? We need to come into your store and your coffee shop, into your restaurant,” Rasker said, adding that’s mostly impossible right now.

In the West, nearly 100,000 people over 65 years old live in counties without a hospital bed.

As the Western United States continues to see a rise in COVID-19 cases, it’s important to get a sense of the region’s health-care capacity… These maps and charts, compiled by Megan Lawson of Headwaters Economics, help give a snapshot* of hospital bed capacity around the West. 

‘LWCF is very important for rural communities who want to pursue outdoor recreation as a vehicle for rural economic development,’ said Megan Lawson, an economist with Headwaters Economics, an independent, nonprofit research group. ‘LWCF has touched all 50 states, touched thousands of local communities, and it’s an important resource especially in rural places.’

Mark Haggerty with the research group Headwaters Economics says one-industry towns are inherently vulnerable. ‘The real effort that needs to take place is trying to diversify and reach out and branch out into new sectors, into new ideas that will sustain the community going forward.’

The outdoor recreation economy has been a rare bright spot in many rural communities, particularly those places near public lands. Rural counties with recreation-based economies have slightly higher incomes and are seeing more population growth since 2010, according to Headwaters Economics’ 2019 report, Recreation Counties Attracting New Residents and Higher Incomes. 

The country’s largest dune field has been a national monument since 1933, but now it’s our 62nd national park. The new designation will also have positive impacts on the surrounding community: a 2018 study found that turning monuments to national parks could increase visitation by 21 percent (about 100,000 more visitors) in the first five years and result in a $7.5 million increase in the local economy, mainly due to increased visibility. 

Rural recreation counties are growing faster than counties that don’t have a lot of hiking, hunting and fishing opportunities, according to the nonprofit Headwaters Economics.

In total, 16 states now have some kind of recreation office or task force. Each functions slightly differently…That state-specific development approach is becoming increasingly important in rural areas struggling to retain residents. The research group Headwaters Economics found that rural areas with recreation options have both more people moving in and a faster earnings growth.