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Quiet recreation packs stronger economic punch than motorized recreationFrom the Current-Argus
Submitted to the Current-Argus
Posted: 10/28/2009 09:18:40 PM MDT


ALBUQUERQUE — Hunting, fishing, camping and other quiet recreation activities on New Mexico's National Forests contribute more to local economies than motorized recreation does, according to a new economic model applied to the state's national forests.
The model, one of the first of its kind, estimates a range of economic impacts from recreation, including direct jobs and income, along with the indirect contributions that come from additional spending in local communities. Findings from the model, which is based on U.S. Forest Service data and was built by an Oregon State University professor, were released today by the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance and The Wilderness Society.

Quiet recreation accounts for more than 2.6 million recreation visits to the state's national forests, according to U.S. Forest Service visitor use data. This translates into an estimated 1,234 jobs for New Mexicans who live in the counties near these five national forests, the model found. That job figure is three times the number of jobs that are attributable to motorized recreation, which accounts for only 638,219 visits. The state's natural resource-based recreation industries, such as hunting and fishing, also generate $31 million in direct and indirect labor income in those same counties, compared with only $9.4 million generated by motorized recreation, the model reveals.

The model's economic analysis comes at a critical time because federal land managers in New Mexico are
crafting long-term plans that will chart future use of off-road and all-terrain vehicles on the Gila, Carson, and the state's other three national forests.
Garrett VeneKlasen, a hunter, angler and off-road-vehicle rider who lives near Taos, said he wasn't surprised by the economic model's estimates because many of his neighbors and friends, along with residents in his community, enjoy the economic benefits that come from wildlife experiences. In 2006, quiet recreationists spent $842 million on hunting, fishing and wildlife-watching activities in New Mexico, according to the latest National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

However, a significant increase in off-road vehicle activity in the last 10 years especially ORV user-created routes has taken a dramatic toll on local wildlife, VeneKlasen said.

"If something isn't done soon about this problem, I fear the damage ORV riders are causing will be much more profound than anyone can imagine," said VeneKlasen, adding that everyone has the right to enjoy our public lands, but no one has the right to abuse them. "Those of us in the ORV community have a moral obligation to protect our national forests and show respect for our neighbors whose livelihoods depend on healthy public lands and wildlife."

Because off-road and all-terrain vehicles can damage wildlife habitat affecting migration, breeding and even survival hunters, anglers and conservation groups are urging the Forest Service to protect large segments of national forests from these potentially destructive machines. Off-road vehicles can also pollute streams and rivers, tearing up riverbeds and causing sedimentation that ruins trout habitat.

Former U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth has called uncontrolled ORV use one of the top four threats to the health of national forests. Many agency officials have echoed his concerns.

The model uses the Forest Service's National Visitor Use Monitoring data on recreation visitation, activities and expenditures, along with economic multipliers based on industry characteristics and county population data from the U.S. Census Bureau to generate estimates of the economic contribution of recreation. Kreg Lindberg, a professor at Oregon State University who studies the economic impacts of tourism and outdoor recreation, constructed the economic model. It is based on the Forest Service's own method for calculating economic impacts. More information about the methodology behind the economic model is available at http://www.corsbend.com.

Estimates from the model correspond to similar figures that were produced when it was applied to the Tahoe National Forest in California, the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest in Colorado and the Wallowa-Whitman Forest in Oregon. For example, quiet recreationist visits helped generate 430 jobs for communities near the Tahoe National Forest nearly three times what motorized recreation accounted for.

"The estimates generated by this model clearly show that the economic contribution from off-road and all-terrain vehicles, while significant, in no way matches the contribution from quiet-recreation activities," said Michelle Haefele, an economist for the Wilderness Society who applied the model to New Mexico's national forests.

Donna Stevens, executive director of the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, said it would be wrong for land managers in charge of the Gila National Forest, near her home, to allow ORVs to disrupt hunting, fishing and camping experiences there. In early September, Gila land managers issued a plan that could allow off-road vehicles to use rogue trails as well as routes currently closed to these powerful machines because of conflicts with other forest visitors or threats to wildlife habitat and watersheds.


The findings from the new model for New

Mexico's five national forests include:

Gila National Forest:

Non-motorized recreation Motorized recreation

Employment: 359 jobs Employment: 117 jobs

Labor income: $9.3 million Labor income: $2.7 m

Cibola National Forest:

Non-motorized recreation Motorized recreation

Employment: 307 jobs Employment: 101 jobs

Labor income: $7.6 million Labor income: $3.3 m

Santa Fe National Forest:

Non-motorized recreation Motorized recreation

Employment: 204 jobs Employment: 15 jobs

Labor income: $5.1 million Labor income: $344,000

Lincoln National Forest:

Non-motorized recreation Motorized recreation

Employment: 193 jobs Employment: 69 jobs

Labor income: $4.9 million Labor income: $1.6 m

Carson National Forest:

Non-motorized recreation Motorized recreation

Employment: 171 Employment: 60 jobs

Labor income: $4.3 million Labor income: $1.4 m