Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** National park visitors contributed $42.5 billion to the U.S. economy
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Friday, June 24, 2022
Arches National Park, N ([link removed]) ational Park Service/Marty Tow ([link removed])
A new Department of the Interior report ([link removed]) released this week revealed that visitors to National Park Service lands contributed a whopping $42.5 billion to the economy in 2021, up about 25 percent from 2020. This spending supported around 268,900 jobs in park gateway communities, proving that public lands are an essential economic force for these communities.
“Nature is essential to the health, well-being and prosperity of every family and community in America, as well as to the local economies of gateway communities that support our national parks,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in a statement ([link removed]) . “As we continue to welcome families to our parks and public lands across the country, the Interior Department is committed to making investments in our lands and waters that will support tens of thousands of jobs, safeguard the environment, and help ensure that national parks and public lands are ready to meet the challenges of climate change and increased visitation.”
In 2022, the National Park Service will implement a new socioeconomic monitoring project that will conduct annual surveys at 24 parks for at least 10 years. This project will give an in-depth understanding of visitor spending and experience.
** Wildland firefighters just got a raise… but is it enough?
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Grassroots Wildland Firefighters vice president Lucas Mayfield and advocate Michelle Hart come on The Landscape ([link removed]) to talk about what it’s like to be a wildland firefighter and what the federal government can do to attract new people to the profession. They talk about historic, but temporary, increases to firefighter pay and benefits announced by the White House this week, as well as legislation called Tim’s Act ([link removed]) —after Michelle’s husband who died while fighting a fire—that would make those changes permanent, in addition to providing comprehensive mental and physical health coverage, housing assistance, retirement savings, and more.
Quick hits
** Arizona wildfires gut observatory buildings, endanger artifacts
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Washington Post ([link removed])
** $3.5 billion sale targets Permian Basin oil and gas as drilling grows in the region
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Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed])
** Forest Service: Copper-nickel mining poses threat to Boundary Waters
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Duluth News Tribune ([link removed])
** Colorado’s drought is bad. Tree ring history shows it could get a lot worse
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])
** Alaska’s June wildfires break records, fueled by hot, dry weather
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Washington Post ([link removed])
** Forest Service report reveals what went wrong with prescribed burns in New Mexico
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E&E News ([link removed]) | Reuters ([link removed]) | CNBC ([link removed])
** Biden administration tosses Trump definition of ‘habitat’ for endangered species
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New York Times ([link removed])
** Opinion: Rethink how water is used in the West
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” We’re asking our folks to work in riskier and riskier environments now, and we’re seeing it more where firefighters are being killed. It does weigh on you. Our folks are fatigued.”
—Fire Chief Jim Morgan, A ([link removed]) rizona Republic ([link removed])
Picture this
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** @NatlParkService ([link removed])
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When you get out of the shower and then sit on the bed trying to get yourself pumped up to get dressed and start your day… You got this!
📸 Devils Tower National Monument
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