What??? Will be the Economic Base?

[Ten Bears]

If we remove all the grazing from public lands, dry up the farming portion of three states with irrigation stoppages and dam removals, stop the mining industry from breaking rock, and halt all those evil road building logging operations?

 

[BigHornyRam]

Tourism and latte stands. Maybe an art gallery or two.

 

[JoseCuervo]

As Ronald Reagan always claimed, by lowering taxes, you have a stronger economy. And we should be able to lower taxes by not having to subsidize Welfare Ranchers as they graze on public lands.

Irrigated farming on most lands in Idaho is subsidzed by the very nature of the agencies providing the water. And the Forest Service routinely loses money on Timber sales, when the costs of building roads is figured in, as I understand it.

Therefore, if Reagan was right, that great leader who brought us Morning in America, and was able to invade Grenada and stop the menace that was there, then we will have a stronger economy, as we can have lower taxes.

 

[Ten Bears]

I haven't seen tax breaks amount to much, and lowering interest rates hasn't done much for the economy either. Tax breaks would just mean we'd send more money over seas in foreign aid. Maybe even Mexico to keep cjcj's pals at home.

 

[1_pointer]

Hunting, fishing, ecotourism, birdwatching, etc. There are some towns (Moad, UT for example) that are counting on tourism for the economic base.

Say a county is 75% public land and the majority of that land is held by just a few permittees. How much money is actually relayed to the county or other locals?

However, I don't see the stuff being completely eliminated.

 

[Ten Bears]

I hope Moab isn't putting all their eggs into one "tourism" basket. That seems to be the same basket all these other communities are being sold. Kinda like a shell game.

Around here public lands are open, and it's almost impossible to get an exclusive lease to it. If the land is owned by the state the state pays the county. I'm not sure how that works with the feds.

 

[1_pointer]

From my experience, the driving economic force in Moab is tourism, whether that be the local Natl. Park, Mtn Biking, whitewater rafting, ATV riding etc. That source of income could dry up as well, but with a growing population (especially in the urban areas) tourism may be a more stable base than counting on a publicly owned resource. The public can be a might fickle!

 

[Ten Bears]

When resource based communities all change over to tourism, do you believe that there will be enough tourists to support the economies. Remember, there are those that would also abolish the ATV/Snowmobile side of tourism as well as the resource extraction based economies. How soon will it be before there is a movement to remove powerboats and jetski's from the waterways (I don't like them).

 

[1_pointer]

They are already trying to get jetski's off of Lake Powell. There is no garantee that the economy will be as strong. But as with everything in life, things change...

 

[JoseCuervo]

Ten,

Welcome to Idaho... Perhaps you will start reading the local papers here....

We have already got Jet Boats banned out of Hells Canyon on a couple of days per week, every other week.

Small steps....

 

[Ten Bears]

Yes, GRINNER, I had heard that. I'm not a rafter, but I don't think Hells Canyon is any place for powerboats, even jet sleds.

Welcome to Idaho your self, I'm a native of Idaho.

 

[ELKCHSR]

ElkGunner!!!
It's very easy to be sarcastic and to needle any one that doesn't put out the same agenda as you, but you never answered Ten's question, just filled a post full of usless drival!!!

 

[JoseCuervo]

Actually, it is very difficult to be sarcastic. One must have a knowledge of the facts, impeccable timing, and a keen wit. Much more challengin than you would imagine.

It was Paul who was advocating Tourism and latte stands. Please direct your comments to him.

I on the other hand, was advocating Tax Cuts, and as we all know from President Bush, Tax Cuts for the Rich are the best way to have a strong economy.

 

[Nut]

Wish I was one of the Rich

 

[ELKCHSR]

Don't we all!!!

 

[Ten Bears]

Well, BHR & 1-P are the only ones to answer the question so far.

Many would complain, yet few want to provide solutions. HMMMMMMM

 

[dgibson]

Ten, my only answer is that they will have to do what communities did when all of that was done in places "back east." Either find ways to bring in new industries, or hit some hard times. Some folks like to make fun of eastern Kentucky because of its perceived "backwards" ways, but the fact is that after the mining dried up (salt and coal) they haven't had much income to build on. What you'd call a "depressed economy," I suppose. They didn't even have the tourism dollars to fall back on, because everybody decided that Kentuckians were a bunch of sullen rednecks with guns who'd rather shoot you than look at you (which in some cases may be true

). There but for the grace of God goes the West.

 

[RockyDog]

The thing is Ten Beers, the country is a hell of alot bigger than our little idaho and montana towns, and the rest of the country has decided that alot of the west will be saved from the never ending industrial revolution.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Splash!!!!! There is a bucket of water on ol' Ten...

Ten,
In Sun Valley, there is no mining left, no logging, and that is where Marvel is headquartered, so grazing is being limited. And that economy is just fine, and not only do they have the tourism base, but they also have a business base. Power Engineers has a large staff up there. And other professional staffs are up there.

If you have access to an airport, and an educated populace, you can bring jobs in anywhere. If you don't have those things, then people will struggle. It is called competition, and many towns live, and many towns die, it just isn't that big of a deal. Nobody gets a guarantee to live next door to the their momma. Sometimes you just got step outside of your momma's skirt.

Lots of people who have choices in life, choose to live in beautiful places. These are the people who live in Vail, Ketchum, Bozeman, etc.. etc.. Only those who don't have choices are forced to live somewhere. And if you don't have choices in life, it is your own fault.

I can live anywhere I want, and I choose to live in Idaho. I would prefer to live in McCall, as it is beautiful, has great fishing, great hunting, an awesome lake, and not too far from great WhiteWater. Unfortunately, I can't, as I need access to a major airport, I need access to an always on infrastructure, and I need access to rail lines and freight terminals as do most people who want to be productive. Therefore I live down in the Treasure Valley, and dream of the day I move to McCall

. And the people of McCall are quite fine without me, and they know I will swing by and have a Margarita or two at Si Bueno...

 

[RockyDog]

Hey Elkgunner, i havent been to McCall, but i grew up in Darby just over the hill from Salmon. Right now i live in the real chic hippy trustafarian town of Missoula because i need a job too. We hope to move to Salmon within the next 3 years.

I still have relatives with a small logging operation in Darby and they do just fine on small jobs. The big mills are closed and gone, and most of my family got out.

Depending on who you talk to everybody seems to share the blame between the enviros and the greedy corporate timber company that cut all the land quick and ran right after they screwed everybody's retirement accounts, it was a quite a scandal a few years back.