…During the forum titled “Winning the West,” economist Ray Rasker and others cited data and polling results that highlight the vital roles public lands play in the economic prospects and quality of life in Western counties.
Conventional wisdom among Utah’s political leaders and rural county commissioners is that national monuments and federal land management stifle economic development.
But economic data suggest the opposite is true, according to Rasker, director of the Montana-based Headwaters Economics. What Headwaters has found, in short, is: Public lands good, protected public lands better.
“The West has consistently outpaced the rest of the country in terms of job growth, personal income and per capita income. There is something unique about the West,” Rasker said.
He found that a county’s per capita income is $4,360 higher for every 100,000 acres of protected public land in its boundaries.
