Figure 24—Recreation opportunities and metropolitan areas account for higher rates of population growth by county.
80
This file was created by scanning the printed publication.
Text errors identified by the software have been corrected;
however, some errors may remain.
81
4.7
11.7
5.2
14.1
0.6
4.8
Construction
Manufacturing
SIC 242
Transportation
12.2*
4.2*
10.4
4.1
State & local
Federal
7.8*
13.0*
14.6
23.2
3.9*
4.7*
14.0
18.8*
26.8
6.7
22.1*
4.3
2.8*
11.2
4.6
0.6
1.1
4.9*
4.5*
10.5
15.0*
27.4
6.2
21.4
5.7*
5.0*
11.5
5.4*
0.6
1.9*
7.3*
4.0
11.8
15.8*
27.2
5.5
21.9*
3.7
0.5
9.6
5.4*
0.8*
2.7*
percent
14.2*
2.0
9.0
11.0
21.4
5.6
21.1
4.7
0.5
11.7
5.4*
0.3
4.7*
4.4*
12.2*
6.0*
13.4
17.8*
20.9
6.0*
10.3
16.3*
24.2
4.5
19.0
20.4
7.7*
4.5
2.7*
2.3*
4.9*
15.0*
3.5
0.0
2.6*
Pendleton
12.6
5.1
0.4
2.5*
Idaho
Falls Twin Falls Boise
8.5*
4.1
11.1
15.1*
23.7
5.5
20.7
3.8
5.5*
16.0*
4.6
0.0
2.1*
1.8
4.6*
18.5*
23.1*
31.7*
6.8
20.3
6.0*
2.4*
4.4
3.5
1.5*
0.9
Redmond'
Bend1
Butte
Note: Farm employment is calculated as the difference between total employment and covered employment. Because it is calculated as a difference it includes
rounding errors.
'Redmond-Bend is the portion of the Portland-Salem BEA region that is in the Basin.
2Timber and wood products,
financial, insurance, and real estate industries.
2.2
2.7
16.4*
14.6
Government (all)
Farm employment
11.9
25.0
28.4
4.6
Services
6.0
7.5
21.1
FIRE3
21.1
21.5
3.3
1.0*
11.3
4.2
0.2
4.4*
Trade
4.3
2.5*
0.5
0.7
Mining
2.6*
Basin
average Tri-Cities Spokane! Missoula
1.1
Nation
Agriculture services
Industry
Table 15—Employment in economic sectors of United States, the Basin, and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) regions for 1995; asterisks
indicate values above the national average.
The non-metropolitan counties in the Basin
have even better economic indicators than
metropolitan counties. Per capita income is
higher than the national average in all four
states, although, except for Montana, growth
rate is lower than the national average. Earnings per job in non-metropolitan counties are
higher than the national average in the three
Basin states, excluding Montana.
The Basin's economy is small relative to the
United States, accounting for only one percent
of U.S. employment in 1995. The economic
strengths of the Basin were characterized by identifying those economic activities within it that have
a higher percentage of employment than the
benchmark economy of the United States. Data
for the percentage of employment in various economic sectors and areas (see table 15) suggest that
the traditional notion that manufacturing is the
driving sector of the Northwest economy, is too
narrow (for example see Beuter 1995). The economic strengths of the Basin include agriculture
and agricultural services. Mining and manufacturing, are less important to economies in the Basin
than for the nation. Basin-wide, including both
public and private lands, timber and wood products account for 2.5 percent of the jobs, cattle
grazing accounts for 1.0 percent of the jobs, and
mining accounts for 0.5 percent of the jobs. The
percentage of jobs attributable to recreation is not
shown here because the Bureau of Economic
Analysis (BEA) does not define it as an industry.
In the discussion of recreation below, we calculate
that 14.6 percent of jobs in the Basin are attributable to recreation.
A more complex story emerges by looking at
individual economic areas (called BEA regions;
fig. 25) within the Basin. Agriculture is an
economic strength in every region except the
Butte BEA region. Mining in the Butte BEA
region is double that of the national average,
and it is important in the Idaho Falls BEA
region as well. Manufacturing is a strong activity only in the Pendleton and Redmond-Bend
BEA regions, and forest products and food
82
processing are important components of both.
The importance of trade in each BEA region
(except the Pendleton region) mirrors the
United States. The same can be said about
the service sector except there is more variability around the Basin. In the Boise BEA region,
finance, insurance, and real estate are important
activities. In several BEA regions construction
and transportation are strong parts of the
economy. The percentage of jobs supported
by recreation is highest in the Idaho Falls
(30%), Missoula (31%) and Redmond-Bend
(25%) BEA regions.
The past two decades have seen rapid population
growth, and the evolution of what was a mature,
resource-based, economy into a diverse economy
oriented toward technology-based, transportation,
and service sectors, with manufacturing, agriculture, and government sectors expected to decline
over the next 50 years. Changes in current FS and
BLM activities have little effect on the economy
of the Basin. FS and BLM activities may have
greater affect in specific communities, however.
This study found there are 29 out of 539 censusrecognized places that may be sensitive to levels
of public timber harvest14 (fig. 26).
People hold both existence values and use values
for ecosystem goods, functions, and conditions.
Of the value provided society by the FS- and
BLM-administered lands in the Basin now and
by 2045, the existence of unroaded areas provides
47 and 41 percent; recreation provides 41 and 53
percent; timber provides 11 and 5 percent; and
range provides less than 1 percent at both times.
Market basket values per acre of FS- and BLMadministrated lands in the Basin are shown by
ERU in figure 27. This market basket is only
a subset of the measurable values of FS- and
BLM-administered ecosystem goods, functions,
and conditions: existence value of unroaded areas,
recreation, timber, and range. This is the subset of
ecosystem values (goods, function, and conditions)
u
The Component Assessment— Economic chapter defined
isolated timber- dependent communities as those communities located more than 50 miles from another incorporated
area with more than 10,000 people, and not located in either
recreation or metropolitan counties.
Figure 25—Economic subregions as defined by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
83
that could be measured from information generated by the SIT; it is not comprehensive nor does
it represent the total value of BLM and FS-administered lands in the Basin. It is an improvement
on measuring only timber and range flows. Table
16 disaggregates the value of recreation for 12
recreational activities.
Mining has long been an important activity in
specific areas of FS- and BLM-administered land
in the Basin. The Economics chapter of the Component Assessment has details on the three major
components of the Basin mining industry: metallic minerals, phosphates, and aggregates (sand,
gravel, and crushed stone) each of which has
distinct economic characteristics. For metallic
minerals and phosphate, activity is minor in spatial scale but significant in national and international commodity markets. Aggregate mining is
more widely distributed throughout the Basin and
lower in value; aggregates are primarily traded in
local markets and used to construct buildings and
infrastructure associated with human populations
(photo 6). Although mining is important to jobs
and income in a few communities in the Basin,
when compared with a large, diverse, and growing
economy, it represents a minor share of gross state
product. Future minerals activity forecasts are in
figure 28; the distribution depends on the locations of the deposits—quite specific for metals,
minerals, and phosphate, but scattered for aggregates. Across the Basin, there are 180 mining and
mineral processing sites in operation, 11 under
development, and ten maintained on standby
status; the value of production from these sites in
1992 was approximately $2.7 billion. Future
activity will depend on a number of factors, most
of them not directly affected by BLM or FS
policy: the minerals present and their grade, global
prices, extraction and remediation technology, and
access.
Counties differ in their reliance on timber and
forage from FS- and BLM-administered lands. In
some counties, FS- and BLM-administered lands
provide a high proportion of the timber harvested
Photo 6—Production of aggregates is a common mining activity on FS- BLM-administered lands.
84
Figure 26—The location of isolated timber-dependent communities within each BEA area.
85
Figure 27—Per acre market basket value of selected goods and services from FS- and BLM-administered lands.
from all ownerships; in others, medium or low
proportion (fig. 29). Similarly, forage from FSand BLM-administered lands is a high, medium,
or low proportion of the total feed in each county
(fig. 30). Those areas most reliant on Federal
grazing are in the southern portion of the assessment area. These latter areas are dominated by
rangeland vegetation types and large blocks of
Federal ownership.
Social15
Most of the social issues of interest relate to the
rapid change occurring within the Basin. Changing economies are testing the ability of communities (both in the sense of "place" and in the sense
of "communities of interest") to adapt to external
changes. Increasing human populations focused
primarily in metropolitan and high amenity areas
are raising questions about the extent to which
15
Details are in the Component Assessment-Social chapter.
86
environmentally-based amenities are important in
attracting population and business. Like people
everywhere, the people of the Basin desire a higher
quality of life.
The Bureau of Census recognizes 476 communities within the project area, including 29 cities
larger than 10,000 in population and 49 CensusDesignated Places, locations that are unincorporated but have an identity to the local population.
Of the other 398 small rural communities, 68
percent are communities in the smallest size class
of 1,500 or less. These range from 22 to 1,500 in
size, with an average population of 520. In general, more-resilient communities tended to be
larger, have an economy based on a mix of industries, be more autonomous, rated by residents as
having a local government responsive to the public, and to have plans for dealing with change.
87
CONTINUED
89.28
5.43
5.87
9.28
5.09
0.60
0.04
0.05
0.34
0.16
35.49
Winter sports
Camping
Trail use
Motor viewing
Viewing wildlife
Motor boating
Non motor
Off road vehicle
Snow Mobile
Total by ERU
0.15
4.20
Day use
0.14
1.21
0.19
12.24
5.44
5.40
6.33
14.88
12.80
6.96
3.22
Hunting
23.57
1.22
10.00
0.04
0.02
0.06
0.23
0.39
0.01
10.56
7.19
0.02
0.07
0.02
0.06
0.05
0.02
0.11
1.85
0.48
24.29
0.06
0.07
0.04
0.06
1.07
0.68
2.53
0.48
0.32
0.34
0.72
3.29
0.24
0.34
0.86
2.80
3.02
0.68
0.19
0.50
0.31
5.59
6.02
1.47
6.58
0.39
0.80
1.58
0.36
1.48
2.26
1.44
2.05
16.18
0.05
0.07
0.21
0.12
0.46
1.01
1.24
1.52
1.35
2.35
4.44
3.34
0.25
0.18
0.25
0.17
0.98
1.14
2.03
1.83
2.31
3.50
14.29
5.16
42.87 32.09
0.16
0.33
0.27
0.41
0.82
2.33
2.84
3.44
2.24
6.89
15.56
7.57
Dollars per acre (in 1994 dollars) -
8.32
0.01
0.05
0.03
0.38
0.13
0.17
0.32
0.49
1.10
0.29
2.86
2.50
10.95
0.02
0.11
0.04
0.10
0.64
0.29
0.58
0.64
2.11
0.71
2.82
2.88
23.58
0.20
0.11
0.77
0.32
0.68
0.92
2.62
1.41
5.68
3.13
4.03
3.71
1.72
2.51
39.37
0.14
0.31
0.52
0.77
1.26
21.62
0.07
0.12
0.21
0.25
0.88
0.98
1.81
2.78
2.25
2.65
2.77
4.97
5.18
5.78
6.08
8.90
8.07
ERU1 ERU 2 ERU 3 ERU 4 ERU 5 ERU 6 ERU 7 ERU 8 ERU 9 ERU 10 ERU 11I ERU 12! ERU 13
Fishing
Activity
Average
by
activity
Table 16—Net economic value (willingness to pay) of current recreation activities on ' FS-BLM lands, by ecological reporting unit (ERU).