The Win-Win of Outdoor Recreation: How Conserving Nature Supports Economic Resilience

Historically, local governments, in their quest to stimulate economic prosperity and resilience, have found it in an unexpected ally: nature. The creation and promotion of open spaces, trails, greenbelts, and other accessible protected lands have proven to be a boon for local communities in more ways than one. Let's dive into how historic communities pivoted to outdoor recreation to create thriving communities and how we can embracing the outdoors can bolster local economies.

From Exploitation to Recreation: A History of Transformation

Many towns across the West were founded on industrial exploitation of natural resources: mining, timber, fur, etc. Once those resources failed them in one way or another, they faced an uncertain future as these sectors waned. However, a pivot towards protecting and promoting access to their natural assets allowed these towns to around, revive, and thrive.

• Mining Towns: During the gold rush, a horde of people settled in the Rockies with dreams of riches. While the gold rush was a bust, some of these townships were able to turn back to nature as the source of community connectivity and, surprisingly, economic resilience. In Colorado, towns like Aspen, Breckenridge, and Telluride have transformed from mining centers into coveted destinations for skiing and other outdoor activities, enhancing their cultural and economic footprint by multiples over the imaginary gold would have given them.

• Timber Towns: The old-growth forests of the western United States lured many to build timber towns across Oregon, Washington, Northern California, Montana, and Idaho. The “Timber Wars” of the 1980s and 90s brought an environmental protection wave across as we were nearing the last acres of old-growth forest left. This forced an entire culture built in the West over a generation to course-correct their relationship with nature or leave. The towns that made the change to cherish their natural spaces and support access to them flourished! Places like Bend, OR; Coeur d'Alene, ID; Eureka, CA; and Bellingham, WA, transitioned from logging to outdoor recreation, drawing tourists and adventure seekers with activities including hiking, biking, skiing, fishing, mountaineering, etc.

Trails to Connecting Communities: Weaving the Outdoor Culturing Directly to the Town Center

Looking at historical examples of how towns prioritize nature to support their community adds a lens for how we can apply that today. Up-and-coming outdoor communities are finding success by understanding how the visitors of their public lands engage with their community. This way they can strategically connect natural spaces with public epicenters, fostering community cohesion, and driving economic activity.

Towns like Eagle, Colorado and Sedona, Arizona exemplify. Their trail networks connect open spaces and federal land to the down town areas. This allows for the trail networks to pick up at multiple access points and centralizes parking near the communities business and restaurants. This can be found in many outdoor hubs like Bend, Oregon and San Luis Obispo, California who’s breweries and cafes are packed with hikers and bikers.

If we understand how people are using public land and what shares their experiences we can link these public assets to community outcomes. New Terrain Brewery in Golden Colorado exemplifies this. The brewery is also the primary parking area to one of the main trail access points to North Table Mountain Open Space. This brings the community together around both the outdoor activities it charities as well as provides a hub for music, food trucks, and beer. This subsequently drives revenue for the city and county whose open space programs are funded by sales tax.

Economic Resilience through Conservation: How to Support Local Economies by Supporting Nature

When the economy fluctuates, there are few industries that remain undeterred: ice cream, movies, and outdoor recreation are a couple of resilient ones. The one thing they have in common is that, for the most part, they are affordable comforts. After all, hiking on public lands is more or less free to visitors. Historically, even national parts appear unimpacted by recessions and even the great depression when their visitation number increased by 500% in 10 years. This trend holds for local public lands, too and supports why building a community connected to nature drives economic resilience like we’ve seen with the mining towns and timber towns of the past.

Local governments can solidify their economic foundation by intertwining conservation efforts with smart strategies to support them. Buying and protecting land while building and maintaining trails is expensive and quantifying the impact and potential of doing so isn’t easy. It’s harder when you don’t have systematic tools to support those efforts natively. The value of nature is not becoming an easier science to measure as we’re able to forecast the economic impact of outdoor recreation on communities. With this information, we can create community solutions to support the longevity of our natural spaces and our community in one fell swoop. Here are some methods to do this:

Purchasing and Protecting Land: The hardest step is getting the space to protect, so prioritizing acquisition is often the first step in building a community supported by the outdoors. There are many methods to do this, such as partnering with non-profits, engaging in conservation easements with private landowners, or purchasing the properties yourself. Actively preserving natural lands, on top of supporting biodiversity and all the ecological benefits, ensures sustained tourism interest, engages citizens in local activities, and bolsters property values. It’s an investment that pays dividends in community well-being and economic vitality. You can work with consultants and non-profit groups to evaluate the economic impact of these conservation efforts to justify the money and time spent.

Connecting Outdoor Spaces to Town: Linking conserved lands to community hubs drives a continuous flow of visitors into town centers, benefiting local businesses and generating steady revenue streams. The key here is to understand where your visitors are coming from and how they are spending their time. If your main trailhead is just funneling visitors back onto the interstate, they are only eating up your trails and not your local delicacies. Everyone loves to stop for a bite after a hike, giving them the ability to come down to city planning. Considering building connector trails, these trails can save your local neighborhood parking headaches while linking your town center to your open spaces.

Mirroring Incentives: Trails aren’t free, and you need a system to support their creation, maintenance, and expansion. As tourism flourishes and property values rise, local governments can leverage this growth through a mirrored incentive. If tourism is the primary driver, a sales tax can capture revenue from visitor spending. Conversely, if the appeal of living next to conserved lands boosts property values, a property tax can be an effective tool. By calibrating taxes based on the economic dynamics at play, local governments can ensure sustained revenue without burdening the local populace. This is how the mining towns and timber towns turned it around. Using these mission and community-aligned incentives to build and support a better future.

Conclusion:

Embracing and investing in nature is more than just environmental conservation; it’s a strategic move for local governments to ensure economic resilience. Our connection to nature is supported by our connections to our community and they can fuel each other. By weaving together conservation, connectivity, and smart taxation, towns and cities can unlock a future of prosperity and community cohesion.

‍