Haven Scott

hscott@thespectrum.com

A study by the Montana-based Headwaters Economics suggests rural western counties with the highest proportion of federally-owned land tend to have faster growth than areas with the least amount of federal land.

The study reviews 276 non-metro counties in 11 western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Using economic data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Regional Accounts, the non-partisan research group sought to find if federal lands hurt or helped rural counties in the west.

“It was found that rural counties with the highest percentage of federal land averaged quicker expansion in population, jobs and income than other western counties,” the study suggests.

In Iron County, the federal government owns roughly 58 percent of the land, or 1,214,128 acres, ranking the county 91 out of the 276 counties studied in proportion of land that is federally owned, according to the study.

The study also indicated that Iron County’s population grew fourfold, from 12,314 in 1970, to nearly 47,000 in 2014.

During the same period, jobs in Iron County have increased from 5,202 to 24,418, and per capita income increased from $17,679 to $26,774.

By comparison, the average county saw population growth of 79 percent, employment increase of 150 percent, and per capita income climbed by nearly 80 percent, the study suggests.

However, the lead researcher for the study, Meg Lawson, said the research does not prove that federal lands cause economic growth.

But it does contradict claims that federal land is a detriment to the local economy, she said.

“We don’t see any evidence that federal lands are impeding growth either,” she said in a news release. “Federal lands are an asset. It’s not just about natural resource extraction or just recreation. There can be a mix of uses, and diverse economies tend to do better.”

Southern Utah has experienced a flurry of publicity regarding federal lands issues recently, with a U.S. House Subcommittee meeting in St. George, organized meetings encouraging ranchers to renounce their grazing contracts with the Bureau of Land Management and a visit by Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, who was later shot by law enforcement authorities after allegedly reaching for a gun as authorities attempted to arrest him in connection with the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge standoff in Oregon in January.

In the January subcommittee hearing, Paul Van Dam, former Utah Attorney General, said the federal lands issues play neatly into a prevailing narrative in the west that an overbearing government needs to be curtailed.

“Somehow people have been able to create the perception that Utah used to own this land and the federal government somehow came and took it,” he said. “My frank impression of this hearing is it’s been put together for the purpose of getting people up in the air about the issue.”

Yet in a Rural Summit meeting in Cedar City last August, Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock, told Gov. Gary Herbert about the decline of children enrolled in school in Escalante — from 150 in 1996 to 50, claiming the government owns more than 93 percent of his home county.

“Public lands can be a blessing and a curse, because I think it is both,” Herbert responded. “I do believe we can manage them better than the federal government on many levels.”

Utah lawmakers have recently indicated they are willing to pay the $14 million price tag that was estimated to wage a lawsuit against the federal government to gain more control over public lands.

Follow Haven Scott, @HavenWScott. Call him at 435-865-4522.

Related Stories

Managing lands for years to come

The cost of fight isn’t worth it for Utah

Western workshop discusses property rights

Federal lands fight comes to St. George

Southern Utah gets raw deal on lands package

Local ranchers discuss grievances