A first-of-its-kind survey shows that nearly two-thirds of visitors to the 246 million acres of public land across 11 western states and Alaska enjoyed quiet — as in nonmotorized — recreation activities.
In California, there were 4.9 million visits during 2014 to the state’s 15.2 million acres overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, says a recent study from Pew Charitable Trusts.
Pew’s study, “The Economic Value of Quiet Recreation on BLM Lands,” was released late last week.
There are more than 5.8 million acres of BLM-managed lands in San Bernardino County, although the study did not delve into county-level numbers.
These quiet-seeking visitors to California BLM land:
•Directly spent $244 million on quiet recreation visits within 50 miles of recreation sites.
•Generated $97 million in income to people specifically tied to quiet recreation on BLM lands, including wages, salaries and benefits.
•Supported 2,605 jobs.
The study comes out at a time when California BLM managers are wrestling with a court-ordered revision to the West Mojave Route Network Project, which has the goal of designating routes for off-highway vehicles while protecting sensitive desert resources, on more than 2 million acres...
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You can access the report here, the Pew press release is here and the NM Fact Sheet is here. Keep in mind the Pew Charitable Trusts are huge supporters of Wilderness and other restrictive designations, and these reports will be used to further that objective.
I wonder how many of those visitors were in vehicles?
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