economy

  • Montana Wilderness Deficit

    George Wuerthner

    Montana has a wilderness deficit. People may be surprised to learn that only 3.4 million acres out of the state’s nearly 94 million acres are congressionally designated wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act. There are at least 6.3 million more U.S. Forest Service acres that potentially could be designated as wilderness, as well as additional…

  • BLM Public Lands Grazing Accounts for Only 0.41% of Nation’s Livestock Receipts

    Ken Cole

    The recently released Department of Interior Fiscal Year 2012 Economic Report shows that Grazing on BLM Public Lands Accounts for only 0.41% of the nation’s livestock receipts and only 17,000 jobs.  In contrast, recreation accounts for 372,000 jobs and contributes $45 billion to the economy. According to the report, the BLM permits 12.4 million animal unit…

  • Not even close . . . jobs from recreation on public lands versus jobs from public land ranching

    Ralph Maughan

    Why does this economically modest and destructive economic activity get so much priority? A recent report published by the Department of Interior demonstrates what conservation advocates have been arguing for years:  Recreational use of public lands creates many more jobs and much more economic value than public lands ranching. Department of the Interior’s Economic Contributions…

  • Yellowstone Park visits soar in August

    Ralph Maughan

    All time visitation record for a month- With the sorry economy it is surely good we have Yellowstone Park in our area. Visit are also up at Grand Teton NP. Yellowstone visits soar. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole Daily.

  • 3/4 billion dollars stimulus funds now spent on national parks

    Ralph Maughan

    About $15-million on Yellowstone- My opinion. Anyone who has traveled extensively will find many Park and public land projects were originally built with stimulus funds from the Great Depression. You will often find a cabin, amphitheater, trail, etc. was built by the New Deal’s CCC or WPA.  Despite the controversy over the stimulus funds for…

  • A nearly complete reversal on idea to close Idaho State Parks System

    Ralph Maughan

    There was almost no political support for the governor’s original plan- Idaho Parks and Recreation Board reverses park closures. Shuttering parks ‘is not the direction the state should be headed,’ says Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston. ‘Not now. Not ever.’ By Cynthia Sewell. Idaho Statesman. “We had a paradigm shift,” said board Chairman Steve Klatt of…

  • NYT uses Boise to illustrate the recessionary spiral and its aftermath

    Ralph Maughan

    The importance of this feature article is how irrelevant the governor and the rural dominated legislature are to the economic well being of most Idahoans- Free Fall’s Over, but Where Are We Landing? By Peter S. Goodman. New York Times. This article is a bit unusual for this blog, but a continuing theme here is…

  • Wolves are bringing tourists and money to Montana

    Ralph Maughan

    This is based on the work of University of Montana economist John Duffield. Wolf tourism in Yellowstone region. Wolves are bringing tourists and money to Montana. Update: Here is Duffield’s original paper in the Jan. 2008 issue of Yellowstone Science. duffield-economic-impacts.pdf

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

“Our forests offer much more than just beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Each one has a different story to tell.”

Raveena Tandon

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