Thanks to Congress, the gates to our national parks remain locked, and families that traveled to experience protected lands like Yosemite, Yellowstone, or Arches are being apologetically turned away from these natural treasures. As they leave, their departure is driving home the reality of the extent to which protected lands drive the western economy; the closed parks are sending away tourism and recreation dollars, too, depriving gateway communities of their economic lifeblood.
According to the National Parks Service, the parks’ closure is taking $76 million per day out of local economies in states across the nation. Think Progress went one step further and broke out the cost in jobs and revenue state-by-state. Here’s what they discovered for western states:
State | Jobs Supported by Spending in National Parks | Total Daily Economic Impact of National Park Closures |
| Colorado | 4,621 | $2,008,219 |
| Montana | 4,492 | $1,578,082 |
| Utah | 11,240 | $4,367,123 |
| Wyoming | 9,098 | $3,397260 |
Visit ClimateProgress for the full national list
Sooner or later the shutdown will end. Park gates will be unlocked and those tourists and outdoor enthusiasts will return. What this sad episode has done is give the West a Ghost of Christmas Future-like glimpse at what could come, if conservation isn’t put on equal ground with energy development. If our protected lands are sold off piecemeal, or steps aren’t taken to protect them from the side effects of drilling and fracking, there will come a day when the crowds don’t return.
Oil industry executives and pundits tend to portray protected lands-based industries as small and beneficial to only a chosen few. Because of this shutdown, thousands of men and women across the United States are learning just how wrong that portrayal is:
- BLM Utah said it would furlough 744 of its approximately 750 employees.
- 677 of BLM Colorado’s 708 employees are out of work until the shut down ends.
- According to the National Parks Conservation Association, more than 21,000 parks employees will be indefinitely out of work.
And, it’s not just direct jobs. The effects on a community of losing access to protected lands can be surprising. In Estes Park, Colorado, for example, the Rocky Mountain National Park’s closure shuts down one of the two remaining roads into town. The rest were damaged or destroyed by recent flooding.
Hopefully a lot of lessons will be learned during this shut down. Elected officials, public land managers and residents in the West need to make certain they learn one in particular – that public lands are an economic driver for their communities that must be protected and grown.
(photo: NPCA, Flickr)