Nevada’s federally-managed public lands bring in nearly $172 million a year from so-called “quiet recreation.” That’s according to a new study released by Pew Charitable Trusts.
“Quiet recreation” refers to activities that generally don’t require motorized equipment--think hunting, biking and camping.
Kristin Lee is the study’s director. She says this type of recreation on federally-owned land has a total economic impact of nearly $3 billion across 12 Western states, including 25,000 jobs.
"It's folks working in local stores, and then it stems to the suppliers for all of the products and services,” she says. “Then it ripples out from there. So, it's likely that it touches almost every sector of the economy."
Ken Rait is the director of Pew Charitable Trusts' Public Lands Program, an organization that advocates for nature conservation.
"Traditionally, Bureau of Land Management lands have been managed to benefit the extractive industries, like the oil and gas industry, and mining and ranching." he said. "What we're finding is that BLM lands benefit a much larger segment of American society."
Heated debates over public land ownership and management have been ongoing since January, when Ammon Bundy and other armed protestors took over a federally-owned national wildlife refuge in Oregon.
You can read the full study here.