DENVER—The Center for Western Priorities released a new report, 290 Million Reasons to Invest in America’s Public Lands, estimating that U.S. public lands in Western states see more than 290 million visits each year.
The report represents a first-of-its-kind analysis of total annual visitation to U.S. public lands in 11 Western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Visitation to all types of public lands and waters administered by the four U.S. land management agencies—National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service—were considered in the report.
“We knew public lands are popular, but we were surprised to learn just how deep America’s love for our public lands runs,” said Lucy Livesay, Policy and Communications Manager at the Center for Western Priorities, who led the research. “To put it in context, 290 million visits is equivalent to nearly 90 percent of the entire population of the United States. It’s more than the amount of people who visited zoos and aquariums, watched the Super Bowl, or attended every NFL, NBA and MLB game combined last season. In a country with so many recreation, leisure, and entertainment options, our public lands take a backseat to none.”
According to the report, the popularity of public lands continues to grow. National park visits in the 11 Western states jumped from 81 million in 2006 to more than 108 million in 2017. National monument visits have nearly tripled since 2000.
The popularity of national public lands is a significant factor in their local economic impact, according to the report. A recent study by the Outdoor Industry Association found the outdoor industry contributes $887 billion in consumer spending to the national economy and supports 7.6 million jobs across the country. The positive economic impact of public lands is especially outsized in Western states.
Despite the enormous and growing popularity of U.S. public lands across the West, they are being funded and protected less by President Trump and his administration.
According to the analysis, funding for all federal land management agencies as a percentage of the annual discretionary budget has declined since 2000. President Trump’s 2019 budget proposes a 16 percent cut to the U.S. Department of Interior. At the same time the Trump administration has undertaken an unprecedented attack on public lands by eliminating more than 2 million acres of national monuments in southern Utah, an action facing multiple legal challenges.
“The way we fund and protect our public lands should reflect the high regard Americans hold them in and the value they return to our local economies and way of life in the West,” said Jennifer Rokala, Executive Director at the Center for Western Priorities. “That’s not the case today under the Trump administration and this report shows 290 million reasons why our policies and priorities need to change.”
A PDF of 290 Million Reasons to Invest in America’s Public Lands is available for download at westernpriorities.org/visitation. To speak with an expert on public lands visitation, contact Aaron Weiss at 720-279-0019 or aaron@westernpriorities.org.
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The Center for Western Priorities is a conservation policy and advocacy organization focused on land and energy issues across the American West.
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
LIMITED SEATING: Get your (free) TICKETS HERE
POPUP LOCATION:
221 25th St, Ogden, UT 84401
exhibit runs though April 3
Introducing Scott R. Horsley. A veteran artist whose work has been shown in LA, Chicago and Miami, Scott has spent the last three years in Ogden UT as professor of visual arts at Weber State. This exhibition will feature many works from his March of Progress Series, as well as a curated selection from his I Learned it from Watching You series.
About March of Progress:
Scott says "My work looks at how technologies at every age of human civilization exert control, loudly or subtly, over human choices... In these works, Islamic geometric patterns, (an early abstract homage to the divine) pair with imagined, hallucinogenic depictions of the jet engines and rockets that have permanently changed the way we relate spatially to our place and planet....
Exploded diagrams, scientific-style illustrations, isometric projections...geometric patterns and rendering that directly references photography create a dissonance that echoes the interplay of eras and technologies."
About: I Learned it from Watching You:
"I learned from a documentary that some of the first tools that humans taught each other to make were stone spear-tips. Did you know that too? The earliest spear-tips predate spoken language. People taught each other to use them to hunt food and to fight each other.
Later: spoken languages
Later: written words
Later: books
Later: instructional videos
When my son was born, we received a pressure cooker as a gift. ... It came with instructions. We learned how to use the tool to make family food. Later, a pressure cooker was used to make a bomb in Boston. Then they were bombs in New York.
When I was younger I heard about a book called the Anarchist Cookbook. No one I knew had ever actually seen it, but people told me it was full of dangerous information.
I learned there is Dangerous Information. There are Secret Family Recipes. Uncommon Knowledge. The tools that nourish also destroy. I learned it from watching you."
Can't make it to the show? No worries: SHOP HERE
I am the CEO of a top 100 online retail company and fashion website recently launched a charity called Believe in Yourself to fight cyber bullying and promote positive body image.
Believe in Yourself (www.believeinyourself.org) is a 501c3 organization launched in January 2017 that provides brand-new, never-worn dresses to low-income girls around the country, while at the same time works reduce cyber bullying and to inspire girls to believe in themselves and their dreams through mentoring and speakers.
Dress donations are tied to the girls’ progress in achieving goals. Each girl receives their first dress based on need and from there they are entered into a system where they are then tracked to see their progress, whether towards improving their academics or pursuing an extracurricular interest such as music, dance, sports, etc. and Believe in Yourself provides the girls dresses for any upcoming events they have during the school year.
Believe in Yourself is part of a broader initiative. The charity brings in Mentors and speakers to motivate the girls to believe in themselves. These mentors also provide tips if the girls are experiencing a negative body image or bullying of any kind, and they counsel the girls to help them achieve their dreams and goals.
This month, Believe in Yourself will be traveling the country, distributing dresses and having the girls set their 2018 goals.
