Cities and towns adjacent to national parks and other public lands — often described as "gateways" to public lands — are addressing a range of issues that will increasingly challenge communities throughout the American West.

As our region's economy becomes more diversified, many gateway communities that were traditionally dependent on logging, mining and ranching are looking to tourism and recreation as a source of jobs and revenue. These gateway communities are also struggling with an influx of new residents: retirees, small-business owners and families drawn by the West's high quality of life.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, in the past three decades, more than half of the growth in the West's economy has been from services industries, a mix that includes high-wage occupations in health, engineering and business services, but also relatively low-wage occupations such as restaurant and hotel workers.

The second largest source — more than a third of net growth in personal income — has been from money earned from investments retirement and transfer payments.

In the meantime, personal income from people who work in mining, oil and gas development, agriculture and the wood products industries has declined to 2 percent of personal income. In the rural West, the figure is slightly higher, but not much, at 5 percent.

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Land is no longer simply valued for the commodities it produces, but also as a setting that attracts new residents and businesses.

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This does not mean that resource development is not important for some towns and some families. Certainly, resource development – done in a way that is sustainable, leads to local investments towards diversification and leaves the environment healthy – has a role in the West. However, resource dependence today is the exception to the rule, and in the future, without significant advancements in value-added manufacturing, will not be the source of many new jobs.

While this growth can strengthen local economies, it also presents a new set of challenges for gateway communities.

Local residents often cite the loss of open space, ranches and farms; an increase in the cost of living (especially housing); and the rising cost of providing schools, roads and other services associated with a booming population. These changes can polarize communities in the West, pitting old-timers against newcomers, but that doesn't have to be the case.

Since 1999, the Sonoran Institute and the National Association of Counties have sponsored a training and assistance program for managing growth for rural Western counties — many of them gateway communities. We have worked with 34 counties in eight states, helping them effectively respond to changes in land use.

Our experience has reinforced our belief that conservationists can play a constructive role in bridging diverse local interests in the rapidly changing West, and do so in a way that also addresses their concerns.

The opportunity for conservationists arises from the fact that there are strong economic and fiscal arguments supporting the protection of wildlife habitat and open space. Both on public and private lands, land is no longer simply valued for the commodities it produces, but also as a setting that attracts new residents and businesses. This has profound implications for how we care for our public and private lands.

Much of the work with gateway communities has focused on responding to those opportunities where we can simultaneously address conservation, economic development and growth-management issues. First and foremost, we help gateway communities understand global and regional economic trends and how these trends are influencing local growth and development.

The Sonoran Institute has researched this topic and also developed tools for gateway communities to conduct their own investigations. Our findings — and those arrived at independently by gateway communities — are fairly consistent.

Most of the growth in jobs and personal income in the West has not been in oil, gas, timber or cattle. It has been in service industries, some of which can relocate anywhere and pay relatively high wages, and in non-labor income generated from investments and retirement.

True resource-dependent communities tend to be the exception now, and are among the slowest-growing communities in the West.

These findings generally prompt discussion among gateway community leaders about what is driving growth and development, and a reconsideration of the economic role of public and private lands.

While the findings may support promoting tourism and recreation, they also underscore the importance of public and private lands as a setting that makes gateway communities attractive places to live and do business.

However, scenic or protected lands are not a sufficient condition for growth. Our research shows that airports, an educated workforce, and other assets also matter. Promotion of local assets must be balanced with investments that nurture and enhance those assets.

Conservationists should take note of this opportunity to affirm the economic value of protected lands. Indeed, some groups have recognized the economic development potential of conservation in the West.

The Sierra Business Council, Sustainable Northwest and Yellowstone Business Partnership are all in their own way working to show that a vibrant economy depends first and foremost on healthy landscapes.

However, there are numerous other opportunities for conservationists to work with gateway communities, helping them recognize and protect their scenic views and open space, and make the most of their competitive advantage in a rapidly changing global economy.

In Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities, and other Sonoran Institute publications, we showcase numerous examples where local community leaders have sought to meet both conservation and economic goals.

The town of Springdale, Utah, and Zion National Park partnered on a transportation plan that reduced traffic congestion and made the community a more attractive place to visit.

Dubois, Wyo., federal and state agencies, and economic development and conservation groups joined together to establish the National Bighorn Sheep Center, now a major draw for visitors, retirees and researchers from around the country.

The unincorporated community of Sonoita, Ariz., forged a diverse coalition of local and national interests concerned with protecting wildlife corridors and scenic views that ultimately that led to the establishment of Las Cienegas National Conservation Area.

These stories are highlighted not only because of their success, but because they can be replicated elsewhere across the West.

Another area where gateway communities and conservationists can come together is in addressing the fiscal impacts of losing open space, particularly working ranches and farms, to residential development.

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Agricultural and open space often provide more in revenue to local governments than they demand in services. Residential land, on the other hand, incurs higher service costs than it provides in revenue.

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Many gateway communities have welcomed new development as a source of new jobs and revenue. They are now beginning to realize that development does not always pay for itself, in terms of underwriting the cost of new roads, schools and other public services.

Cost-of-services studies, conducted by the Sonoran Institute in numerous Western counties, underscore that agricultural and open space often provide more in revenue to local governments than they demand in services. Residential land, on the other hand, incurs higher service costs than it provides in revenue. Moreover, land development has significant social costs, both in the loss of traditional livelihoods, as well as hunting grounds and other recreational opportunities enjoyed by local residents.

Custer County, Colo., adopted its first county-wide land-use plan and updated its zoning codes, in order to strengthen its ability to protect agricultural lands, wildlife habitat and scenic views. A cost-of-services study helped convince the county of the need for action. The county is also supporting a landowner initiative to sell development rights for 11,000 acres of ranchlands. The Colorado Conservation Trust, Sonoran Institute and Trust for Public Land have joined with local residents and county officials to raise more than half of the $11 million needed for this privately managed purchase of development rights program.

While some gateway communities may look suspiciously upon zoning and other traditional growth-management tools as infringements on private property rights, many also have come to realize that planning and zoning can protect land values and traditional uses.

After incurring the cost of installing a community sewage treatment system, Rio Arriba County, N.M., passed an agricultural conservation ordinance that helps preserve approximately 49,000 acres of traditionally irrigated agricultural lands and protect local water quality by limiting subdivision of lands along the Rio Grande and Rio Chama.

The ordinance not only protects centuries-old farmland, but also key habitat for endangered fish and birds. The county is now looking at innovative proposals to protect ecologically rich private lands in exchange for public lands with no conservation value that are suitable for development.

Examples like that of Rio Arriba County illustrate the opportunities for conservationists to work with gateway communities. Fiscal considerations provide a starting point, but the discussion ultimately broadens to include conservation.

However, to be effective, conservationists should look beyond land protection and address the full range of land-use issues. This includes promoting development that is both environmentally sensitive and meets the community's housing needs. It requires advocating for regulatory and incentive-based approaches to managing growth. Finally, conservationists should acknowledge that ranching has a role to play in protecting open space and wildlife habitat, and must remain financially viable in order to play that role.

For more than a decade, the Sonoran Institute has assisted dozens of gateway communities, conservationists, public land managers, and others in developing partnerships that encourage land uses and economic activities that are compatible with the protection of public land resources. These efforts have mitigated the impact of development on adjacent private land, created new federally protected areas, promoted the revitalization of town centers, and led to sustainable economic initiatives.

We have found that such partnerships succeed when there is a vision, strong leadership, and a forum for diverse interests to talk to each other. This issue is really one of capacity — providing the training and resources so that these interests can work well together instead of pitting one interest group against another.

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Blueprint to cope
A new report issued by the Sonoran Institute, "A Pilgrimage to Community," provides a detailed account of how one gateway community – Custer County, Colo. – is grappling with growth and change.

Its experience to date offers some "lessons learned” that apply to other gateway success stories.

Custer County covers approximately 740 square miles in south-central Colorado. It is sparsely populated, with approximately 3,503 permanent residents. Yet, it hosts more than 600,000 visitors a year, who enjoy the area's stunning beauty, expansive vistas, abundant wildlife and blue-ribbon trout fisheries.

For many, this seemingly unchanged landscape, reflective of what the West once was, is an ideal place to settle. Conservative estimates are that Custer County's population will more than double to 8,147 residents by 2025.

The Sonoran Institute began our relationship with Custer County in 1998, when a group of ranchers and newcomers concerned about local growth and development invited us to come and talk about successful gateway communities in the West.

Our discussions with local residents has led to a long-term partnership, with community leaders taking the initiative in promoting thoughtful discussion and action to protect what they value, and the Sonoran Institute providing information on the range of tools and strategies available to them.

Here are some of the important lessons learned from Custer County's "pilgrimage:”

Develop a broadly shared vision of the future.

Custer County relied on an inclusive and open process, primarily through community workshops, that led to a clearly articulated vision of the future, around which the community could rally. Protecting agricultural lands and open space was identified as a top priority.

Understand your own economy.

A key motivator for Custer County to act was a cost of services study that showed that residential development was not paying for itself. The study also highlighted the net economic return of agricultural land and open space, which generated nearly twice as much in revenues as it demanded in local services.

Understand how local natural and cultural assets influence and are affected by population growth and development.

Custer County residents approached this in two ways. First, they made a folksy documentary about the area's ranching tradition. Second, they sponsored a build-out study that underscored how current zoning would scatter 4,100 more homes across the landscape and jeopardize the continued viability of ranching.

This appeal to both the hearts and minds of local residents paved the way for action.

Use both regulatory and non-regulatory strategies to protect or enhance local assets.

The work described above laid the foundation for county officials to adopt a meaningful comprehensive land-use plan and a planning and zoning code with teeth.

Most exciting is that the ranchers themselves have launched a privately funded $10 million campaign to purchase development rights from local landowners, protecting up to 10,000 acres of ecologically important lands in the Wet Mountain Valley.

With help from the Sonoran Institute, Trust for Public Land, Colorado Conservation Trust, and others, they are halfway to realizing their campaign goals.

Encourage participation
In response to Tom Vincent's comments on our article on gateway communities:

Coincidentally, public officials from Park County and the city of Livingston recently participated in the Sonoran Institute's Western Community Stewardship Forum. The Forum is a training and assistance program on land use for Western rural county commissioners that we sponsor with the National Association of Counties.

At the forum, Park County and Livingston officials learned about tools for managing growth, as well as techniques for facilitating community planning processes that engage both old-time residents, as well as newcomers.

A new growth policy for the city of Livingston and all of Park County is being developed. Numerous public hearings are taking place where citizens have the opportunity to express their views about growth and development.

Through our training workshops local officials should have a good idea of how they can achieve economic, environmental, and quality of life related goals. They need to be encouraged by citizens like Mr. Vincent to effectively implement these actions.