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OUT OF BOUNDS 49 Outdoors
Survey Shows Bipartisan Support for Public Lands National Parks and conservation receive high marks as economic drivers
ABY TRISTAN SCOTT OF THE BEACON
NEW SURVEY SUGGESTS THAT conservation and national parks rise above partisan politics in
Montana, where most residents sup- port e orts to protect public lands and view the state’s open spaces as economic drivers.
“The big takeaway is that national parks and conservation are about as pop- ular and bipartisan issues as you can nd these days,” said Rick Graetz, director of the University of Montana’s Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Ini- tiative, which commissioned the second biannual Public Lands Survey of 500 reg- istered Montana voters.
Graetz said the aim of the survey is to take the temperature of public opinion and gain a better understanding of how public land discussions in uence voters, as well as track changes in public senti- ment toward conservation. This year’s survey was meant to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service.
The poll surveyed 500 registered vot- ers in Montana and was conducted by Republican pollster Lori Weigel, of Pub- lic Opinion Strategies, and Democratic pollster Dave Metz, of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates.
Eighty-two percent of Republicans, 88 percent of Independents and 98 percent of Democrats say support for conserva- tion and public lands are important fac- tors in deciding which candidates to vote for.
The survey found that more Montan- ans have shifted their thinking about public lands as an economic stimulator, and that more residents of all political stripes identify as conservationists.
In 2014, when the survey was rst con- ducted, 62 percent of those polled said public lands had a positive impact on jobs and the economy, and 14 percent said the e ect was negative. This year, 77 percent said lands positively impact the economy and jobs while a mere 6 percent said the e ect was negative.
“Compared to our rst survey, jobs and the economy are now seen on par with many of the other bene ts of pro- tecting public lands,” Weigel said. “A 15 percent boost in voter opinion in two years is signi cant.”
Linking public lands and national parks to economic stimulus has been at the fore of a movement led by conserva- tion groups and tourism bureaus to shift
People hang out on the rocks along McDonald Creek above McDonald Falls in Glacier National Park. BEACON FILE PHOTO
public perception away from the tradi- tional belief that industry and natural resource extraction are the premier eco- nomic drivers in the mountain west.
The survey comes on the heels of a National Park Service report showing that visitors to national parks in Mon- tana spent $478.3 million in the state in 2015.
A total of 4.96 million people visited national parks in Montana last year. Last year’s total was a 10.6 percent increase in spending and an 8.2 percent rise in visi- tation over 2014.
Visitors to Glacier National Park spent an estimated $198 million in the sur- rounding communities, according to the report. This spending supported an esti- mated 3,474 jobs.
Those surveyed said national parks provide more than just economic ben- e ts through tourism – they also serve to improve overall quality of life, pro- tect cultural heritage and protect the environment.
Montanans view Glacier and
Yellowstone national parks as “trea- sures” critical to the state’s economy and to future generations, and the vast major- ity believe national parks are in need of additional funds to manage and preserve the parks,” the new survey nds.
The survey also asked Montana voters to weigh in on a number of current pol- icy debates a ecting public lands in the state. These include:
• 70 percent of Montanans oppose drill-
ing in the Badger-Two Medicine area near Glacier National Park – land long considered sacred to the Blackfeet Indian Tribe.
• 74 percent support the Blackfoot Clear- water Stewardship Project, which strengthens protections for 85,000 acres of land in western Montana while opening new areas for motorized recre- ation and timber harvest.
• 61 percent of Montanans oppose pro- posed mines on the Yellowstone River near the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park.
The survey also found the majority of voters feel resource extraction like min- ing or drilling is not appropriate on public lands important to Native Americans or recreationalists, and lands located near national parks.
Graetz said his program doesn’t take positions, but he hopes the results enable more discussion as public lands debates around drilling and mining continue to unfold in the Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems.
“This survey paints a picture of how seriously Montanans take their out- door heritage,” he said. “Conservation and how best to protect and manage our public lands will continue to be central to political discussions and voters’ deci- sions long past Election Day.”
A summary of the results and the full survey is online at http://crown-yellow- stone.umt.edu/2016-voter-survey/. The 2016 Public Lands Survey was conducted by telephone on May 7 and May 9-11, with a margin of error of +/- 4.38 percent.
tscott@ atheadbeacon.com
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JUNE 8, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM