Rural economies don’t appear to swell or shrink after large national monuments are designated in their backyards, according to new research.
When it comes to metrics like population and job growth, or local earnings per capita, rural communities largely continue their existing trajectories, the report by Headwaters Economics found, with only minor positive impacts from the creation of expansive monuments.
“It’s a shockingly consistent story, really, across all the big monuments that national monuments support stable, diversified local economies,” said Megan Lawson, the study’s author. “They’re not a destructive force; they’re a stabilizing force.”
The Montana research nonprofit completed the study against the backdrop of the Trump administration considering reducing the scope of some national monuments or eliminating them altogether, responding to criticism from some conservative lawmakers that national monuments reduce the economic benefits of lands by barring activities like hard rock mining or energy development.
