Press Release
June 22, 2005
Wildsight, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
For Immediate Release
Press conference at 1 pm MDT, June 22, 2005 Fernie Salon, Prestige Inn, Cranbrook
Economic study says Waterton Park expansion would boost economy of East Kootenay
Cranbrook, British Columbia, June 22, 2005 - Resource economist Jim Johnson of Pacific Analytics is in Cranbrook today to release his study, The Economic Implications of Expanding Waterton Lakes National Park into the Flathead Region of British Columbia.
The comprehensive study concludes that "the park expansion would provide significant economic opportunities to regional communities by lessening their dependence on traditional resource extraction."
Surprisingly, these new economic activities would not come primarily from tourism.
The primary benefit is the economic activity that would stem from proximity to a national park. The study finds "One of the most important findings of the many economic studies that have examined the impacts of national parks on local communities is that the majority of jobs are in non-traditional, light manufacturing and services that take advantage of the technological improvements in transportation and communications that have occurred in the last decade".
The driver for this economic activity is a national park that attracts "amenities migrants". These are people with mobile capital and skills who are looking to work and live near high quality natural environments.
"Amenity migrants are disproportionately well- educated, financially established often with transferable sources of income (like investment incomes and pensions) and have work skills that easily transfer to smaller communities. These people bring with them jobs, income and the capital to start new businesses in the community. They also bring with them demands for housing, household services, education and health services" (see backgrounder for more).
Johnson analyzed the costs of reduced logging, hunting and resource extraction and compared them with the benefits of the new amenities migrants and Parks Canada spending that the park would bring and concluded "the economic benefits associated with the park far outweigh the costs"
The report notes that in the past decade the Elk Valley region of southeast BC has underperformed the provincial economy because of its over-dependence on cyclical resource extraction industries. Other communities, like Invermere, that have protected natural amenities nearby have done better. The report concludes that "Protecting one third of the Flathead Valley in an expanded Waterton Lakes National Park has the potential to move the economy to a more sustainable base and to reinvigorate the economy of southeastern British Columbia."
Johnson will be available to answer questions. Copies of the report will be available at the press conference and on the web at wildsight.ca, cpaws.org, cpawsbc.org and y2y.net.
The report was commissioned by three conservation organizations: Wildsight (formerly East Kootenay Environmental Society), Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.
For further information contact:
Casey Brennan, Program Manager, Wildsight
Mobile telephone 250-423-0402
casey@wildsight.ca
CPAWS - British Columbia Chapter