On the sixteenth day of the shutdown, one thing is clear: Our national parks and other protected lands are crucial economic drivers in the west. They feed our way of life and serve as anchors for employment and revenue for many communities.
The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees puts the lost revenue to communities located around national parks at over $1 billion. The situation has become so dire in some western states that governors are using state funds to reopen parks on a temporary basis.
State | Funds to reopen national parks |
Arizona | $93,000/day |
Colorado | $40,300/day |
Utah | $1.7 million |
South Dakota | $15,200/day |
Gateway communities at the doorstep of protected lands have built sustainable economies that rely on tourism and outdoor recreation industries. The shutdown has presented western leaders with a case study of the effect of those protected lands being unavailable.
There has been a marked decline in conservation, in favor of oil and gas development, during the Obama Administration but it is a problem easily remedied. The President must put protection and conservation on equal ground with energy development for the sake of local western economies.
In previous Administrations, Republican and Democratic alike, there was a one-to-one balance between conservation and energy development. Now, we only conserve about one acre for every three we lease. This drastically imbalanced approach to public land use is putting western economies at even greater long-term risk than the shutdown.
The small businesses, outfitters, guide services, and others who depend on the national parks must be given the same priority by our elected leaders as oil and gas companies. They offer an invaluable contribution to western states, and in addition to their own economic success, they help make the region attractive to entrepreneurs and businesses that locate here and bring good-paying jobs.
If we allow this shutdown to pass without at least learning from it, that will compound the lack of common sense that caused it in the first place. There needs to be a more balanced approach to land use, one that keeps these economic drivers safe, and it needs to begin immediately.