"Protect public lands to grow the economy." That's the message from dozens of economists and professors who sent a letter to President Obama on Wednesday. It says protected public lands are an economic boost to western states like Colorado - not only for creating recreation industry jobs, but for attracting innovative companies and employees. Dr. Ray Rasker with Headwater Economics organized the letter and its signers. "If you have a community that is surrounded by spectacular landscapes, wilderness areas and parks, companies can move to those areas. One of the things we're seeing is that's how they are recruiting really talented employees." The letter - which includes the signatures of three Nobel laureates - asks the President to invest in improving public lands and establish new wilderness areas, national parks and monuments. It says research shows that quality of life has become a competitive strength for the West and a significant contributor to economic growth...more
The letter and report are available here.
I'm sure their findings are correct, which is why we should turn 50% of the land east of the Mississippi River into federal lands so they can "grow their economy". In one fell swoop we could fix the financial crisis, the housing crisis and the dollar crisis. All we need is more federal land for Headwaters Economics to study.
DuBois Desert Economics finds an amazing number of organizations who receive federal funding produce studies saying we need additional government.
There were two signees from NM: Robert Berrens from UNM and Christopher Erickson from NMSU. Dr. Berrens has received funding from the Forest Service and EPA and Dr. Erickson has stated President Obama's economic plan proposed this year was "mildly negative" because of the proposed "freeze on federal spending."
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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What they need to do is sell all the BLM land to the public. That would take care of part of the problem.
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