Thursday, Aug 11 2011 10:13AM
National forest recreational activities pump billions of dollars into the country's economy annually, a new report shows.
Billions of dollars are contributed annually to the economy from recreational activities taking place in national forests and grasslands, in turn helping rural communities nationwide, a recently released report shows.
According to the U.S. Forest Service's National Visitor Use Monitoring report, $14.5 billion is spent on forest recreational activities each year. In the year ending in July, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell stated national forests attracted 170.8 million visitors and supported roughly 223,000 jobs in rural communities.
"This data shows once again just what a boon our forests are to local economies. Because of forest activities, thousands of jobs are supported in hundreds of rural communities," Tidwell said. "We are proud of helping to put a paycheck into the pockets of so many hardworking Americans."
Many rural jobs supported by forest recreational activities are in wilderness areas located east of Fresno, California, where $88 million in revenue was accrued from activities in the last year, the report shows.