Blog Archives for Economics

Wildlands CPR & groups remove, repair Wash. forest roads

By cathy - September 2, 2010    Groups remove, repair Wash. forest roads A coalition of 18 groups is pushing to restore national forest lands in Washington state through the removal and repair of forest roads left behind from decades of timber harvesting.

Remediation project a win-win

By cathy - August 31, 2010    Read the original news article in the Helena Independent Record here.

New Report from New Mexico Highlights Economic Benefits of Nature

By Sarah Peters - August 27, 2010    Headwaters Economics released a report detaling the benefits from natural areas for New Mexico's economy. 

Brief video on the politics of a restoration economy

By cathy - June 23, 2010   Why should a climate change bill fund natural resource projects in your community? Scroll to the bottom of this article to watch a video to see what some green jobs experts have to say.

University of Oregon releases new report on restoration jobs.

By Bethanie Walder - April 15, 2010    The Ecosystem Workforce Program at the University of Oregon just released three new reports about jobs related to forest AND watershed restoration. (There are two versions of each report, all available at the link above.)

Politicians recognize the importance of watershed restoration

By Greg Peters - February 22, 2010   At the tail end of 2009, two prominent political bodies, the Western Governors Association (WGA) and the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) each sent letters to the USDA extolling watershed restoration, the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative, and "Right-Sizing" the Forest Road System.

State of MT publishes new Restoration Economy report

By Bethanie Walder - October 2, 2009    Last week the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, in partnership with the MT Dept of Natural Resources, released a new report entitled: An Estimation of Montana’s Restoration Economy.   The  purpose of the project was to “estimate the economic activity resulting from public spending on restoration activities in Montana.”

National Assessment of Travel Management Planning

By Bethanie Walder - July 1, 2009    The Institute for Environmental Negotiation at the University of Virginia conducted a national assessment of the Forest Service's off-road vehicle travel management planning process.  Several of Wildlands CPR's staff were interviewed for this report. We hope it will be useful.

2008 Legacy Roads Final FS Project Reports

By Bethanie Walder - April 30, 2009    In FY 2008, the Forest Service received $39.4 million for the new Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative.  These funds were designated to protect and restore aquatic habitat for threatened or endangered fish, and clean drinking water for communities.  The money was allocated for watershed restoration through road reclamation of unneeded roads and culvert upgrades/critical maintenance on needed Forest Service roads.

The End of Good Times for Debt-funded Restoration?

By Josh Hurd - April 9, 2009    General obligation bonds, approved through ballot initiatives, finance the majority of California’s restoration activities. Since 2000, the state has raised over $13 billion for water-related projects through the issuance of these bonds (see Table). Of this, $3.3 billion has gone to watershed restoration and protection. However, the general public appears increasingly less willing to support bond-funded restoration programs, as the margin of victory for the measures has steadily decreased, from 30-percent in 2000 to 8-percent in 2006.