Federal investments in land management projects protect Federal trusts, ensure public health and safety, and preserve and enhance the benefits provided by ecosystems to people. These investments also generate business activity and create jobs. However, limited information often exists on the costs and associated economic impacts of public land management activities.
Economic impacts refer to the business activity and jobs supported by money spent on goods and services. These can be considered as distinct from the economic benefits or values associated with activities. For example, economic impacts of ecological restoration can include the jobs supported by tourism in a restored landscape or an increase in farm, range, or fisheries productivity (as described in Figure 1), even if the restoration was conducted mainly for ecological or habitat objectives. Consideration of both economic impacts and the benefits associated with achieving the goals of land management activities helps develop a more comprehensive understanding of how public land management affects people and the economy.
Economists at the Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) support efficient public lands management by estimating the economic impacts of public lands management across multiple projects. For example:
- In cooperation with the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management, FORT economists have piloted data collection methods and analysis tools to enable partners to assess the economic impacts of restoration expenditures through a series of case studies associated with DOI lands and programs.
- FORT economists have published numerous reports (see Publications tab) investigating the economic impacts of investments in public land management in different contexts, including conservation projects by the Wyoming Land Conservation Initiative interagency partnership, wildfire risk reduction projects in the Rio Grande River Basin, and the impacts of spending by visitors to U.S. National Parks.
- FORT economists also incorporate economic impact assessment into other related projects to support a more comprehensive understanding of how land management can affect people and the economy. For example, the Economic assessment of addressing annual invasive grasses across the sagebrush biome | U.S. Geological Survey project is simulating the ecological outcomes and economic costs of different strategies for managing invasive annual grasses. Economists are using these results to estimate the number of jobs and business activity that would be supported by different land management strategies.
Federal investments in land management projects protect Federal trusts, ensure public health and safety, and preserve and enhance the benefits provided by ecosystems to people. These investments also generate business activity and create jobs. However, limited information often exists on the costs and associated economic impacts of public land management activities.
Economic impacts refer to the business activity and jobs supported by money spent on goods and services. These can be considered as distinct from the economic benefits or values associated with activities. For example, economic impacts of ecological restoration can include the jobs supported by tourism in a restored landscape or an increase in farm, range, or fisheries productivity (as described in Figure 1), even if the restoration was conducted mainly for ecological or habitat objectives. Consideration of both economic impacts and the benefits associated with achieving the goals of land management activities helps develop a more comprehensive understanding of how public land management affects people and the economy.
Economists at the Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) support efficient public lands management by estimating the economic impacts of public lands management across multiple projects. For example:
- In cooperation with the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management, FORT economists have piloted data collection methods and analysis tools to enable partners to assess the economic impacts of restoration expenditures through a series of case studies associated with DOI lands and programs.
- FORT economists have published numerous reports (see Publications tab) investigating the economic impacts of investments in public land management in different contexts, including conservation projects by the Wyoming Land Conservation Initiative interagency partnership, wildfire risk reduction projects in the Rio Grande River Basin, and the impacts of spending by visitors to U.S. National Parks.
- FORT economists also incorporate economic impact assessment into other related projects to support a more comprehensive understanding of how land management can affect people and the economy. For example, the Economic assessment of addressing annual invasive grasses across the sagebrush biome | U.S. Geological Survey project is simulating the ecological outcomes and economic costs of different strategies for managing invasive annual grasses. Economists are using these results to estimate the number of jobs and business activity that would be supported by different land management strategies.