Leavenworth Echo, September 1, 2004
Wildlands promote small town economic vitality
by Dr. Gundars Rudzitis, University of Idaho
Leavenworth is one of the most successful towns in both the Northwest and the nation to make the conversion from an "Old" West economy based on logging to a post-modern "New" West economy rooted in theme-based tourism. Its success is also proven by the number of people who have moved to live in the surrounding region because of its beauty and quality of life. For that it is to be congratulated! Other places have either resisted adapting to a changing American West, or they have tried and failed.
Not only have tourists been coming to the area in droves but people moving into the region are driving much of its growth. Chelan County grew 28 percent between 1990 and 2000 and continues to increase in population. And it will continue because the strength of rural areas now lie in providing what more developed areas cannot, solitude, wildness and beauty. Counties with protected wildlands like wilderness areas, national parks and notable tourist attractions grow more than twice as fast as counties without protected areas.
Leavenworth and Chelan County are literally just over the mountains from Seattle, which some say has grown too rapidly with poor planning, and is beginning to suffer the same ills as Los Angeles and Phoenix. Chelan County will continue to become an even more attractive place for people both to visit and to move to, especially from the Seattle metropolitan area.
People moving to more rural areas have to make sacrifices and tradeoffs. We would all like to live in a rural small town environment and make the higher wages common to urban areas. Unfortunately, for most of us this is not possible. However, if we can't raise our wages very easily, we can try to maintain and improve the quality of life of where we live.
I have found that people often consciously accept lower pay to live in an area with a high quality of life. The higher quality of life, less stressful conditions and more friendly neighbors is like a second paycheck. Many people also seek out places and move first, hoping to find or create a job once they are there. And they are often successful. These people are pursuing a lifestyle, not higher incomes.
The controversy around the proposed DUSEL project is ove the likely impacts and risks for Leavenworth and the Icicle Valley. Will it maintain, improve or detract from the quality of life people currently enjoy? More and more citizens as well as academics recognize that protecting the environment, whether on a local, national or global scale, is the basis for our prosperity and chances of living the "good" life.
The DUSEL project promises higher income scientific jobs in the long term, after the mining and construction phase. However, the longer the time frame, 3,5 or 7 years, the greater the potential risks surrounding the project. Government funded projects often follow a boom and bust cycle. Recall the long-term impacts on towns built around energy extraction or the creation of "new" synthetic fuels. They had their days in the sun with lots of construction-related employment, but they also created additional demands on local schools and other services requiring rising infrastructure costs and increased taxes to cover the temporary boom.
The DUSEL project in the 3 to 5 year projected construction phase is essentially a mining project where most of the employment and other impacts, both negative and positive will take place. Most of the young workers and their families associated with such projects come during this phase and then leave, creating the boom and bust affect.
The impacts on tourism of the construction phase of the DUSEL project are uncertain, though probably not positive. Time will tell if the increased number of trucks, delays and other construction-based activities will keep the tourists away. However, people from outside the area who use the Icicle Valley for outdoor activities will probably go elsewhere given the wide variety of alternatives available in the region. Nearby property values will also be negatively affected.
Mining activities are not very popular in the West. When asked to rate the kinds of activities that should be allowed on public lands, people - whether merchants, teachers, ranchers or loggers - consistently rate mining lowest on the list of how they want to see public lands used. And there is no longer much mining on public lands and none as yet taking place under a wilderness area, as this project proposes to do.
The question facing local citizens is whether the 3 to 5 year certain degradation of the environment and other longer-term issues such as water availability and quality is the best prospect for enhancing the continued prosperity of the area and maintaining the quality of life that they presently enjoy. The quality of life issues, and not short-term employment booms or promises of future employment should be at center stage when considering how best to insure the vitality of the area.
Gundars Rudzitis, Professor of Geography at the University of Idaho is the author most recently of Wilderness and the Changing American West (John Wiley & Sons) and the forthcoming The Ongoing Transformation of the American West (University of Chicago Press).
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