Recreation is an activity done for enjoyment. Tourism is the social, cultural, and economic phenomenon of visiting places for pleasure.
Related resource topics for county planning include:
Outdoor recreation is a significant and growing part of Utah’s economy [1]. Tourists and travelers spent a record $7.8 billion in the Utah economy during 2014, and the tourism industry supported an estimated 137,192 jobs [2].
The State Park data, the Park Recreation Points data, the Recreation Opportunities data along with the trail and routes data can be used to identify areas of the county that have abundant or scarce outdoor recreational opportunities.
The Utah Office of Tourism Industry Site provides research reports regarding economic benefits of tourism and recreation-related spending in Utah. Information by county includes:
- City and county monthly tax distributions
- Utah tourism rankings by county
- Year-over percent change by county
- Tourism profiles by county
Planning resources from the Office of Outdoor Recreation include:
- The Outdoor Recreation Vision document describes Utah’s goals for promoting outdoor recreation. Counties may wish to include similar goals in their resource management plans.
- Statewide 10-Year Plan (forthcoming). Regional summits will be held to engage communities, user groups, and the outdoor industry in order to provide a platform to give input for the statewide plan.
- The Waypoint Grant Program makes grant monies available with a 50/50 match to communities to build outdoor recreation infrastructure. This was a pilot program in 2015; future grants are dependent on approval of funding from the State Legislature. Counties can apply for funds and promote awareness of the program.
- Statewide recreation infrastructure map hosted by AGRC (forthcoming). Here is a link to the ArcGIS Online known trails data layer.
- The Utah Search and Rescue Assistance Card (USARA Card) offers expense-paid rescue to individuals (e.g., hunters, hikers, and other backcountry enthusiasts) for an annual fee. Money raised by the program will support the Utah’s Search and Rescue Financial Assistance Program. County search and rescue teams will receive reimbursement for equipment, training, and rentals from the program (such expenses are often borne by the counties). Once the USARA card is available for purchase, marketing materials will be available to counties for promoting the program.
Planning resources from the Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation include:
- State Park Resource Management Plans
- State Park Visitation Data
- Grants for parks and trails
- The 2014 Utah State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) provides information about statewide recreation participation, satisfaction, and perceived needs based on a public opinion survey and a survey of municipalities. The SCORP includes information about funding sources for local outdoor recreation facility development including parks, OHV trails, and nonmotorized trails.
The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has a 5-year (2016–2020) recreation and visitor services strategy called “Connecting with Utah Communities.” The vision of the strategy “is to build upon and expand BLM-Utah’s collaboration with local, regional, and national organizations to provide outstanding and sustainable recreation opportunities on Utah’s public lands that produce lasting benefits from the places Utahns live, work, and play. Accomplishing this will require BLM-Utah to reposition itself both internally and externally.”[3]
The LWCF Projects data shows the location of outdoor recreation projects that have been funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The following are examples of goals and policies from existing SEUALG county general plans that other counties may want to consider as possible planning goals.
Carbon County General Plan[4]
- Identify and encourage the maximum number of potential visitors to Carbon County that we can accommodate in a positive and quality travel experience.
- Continue to improve all existing recreation facilities and remain receptive to new opportunities.
- Work with Carbon County Recreation, the cities, citizen groups, and others to obtain grants and conservation easements, and public and private funding to enhance existing facilities and develop new projects through partnerships.
- Participate as an active partner with public land management agencies to ensure that public land recreational resources are managed in ways that contribute to the protection of resources, the overall quality of life, and the recreational experience of County residents and visitors.
- Develop camping sites, both developed sites for cars and RVs, and remote sites for hikers, backpackers, and equestrians.
Emery County General Plan[5]
- Dispersed camping is historically, traditionally, and culturally important to Emery County residents and visitors and as such, should remain available for use and accessible via motor vehicle. Roads and trails for access to such areas should remain open and/or if undesignated, should be left open and evaluated for inclusion into the system at the agency’s earliest opportunity. In conjunction with dispersed camping, there should be ample opportunity to park off the road. Users should not have to leave their vehicle unprotected on the road and walk into historical campsites. The County supports locating camping areas a reasonable distance from streams to protect water quality.
- Snowmobile use should be allowed on all Forest Service or BLM lands except where specifically restricted or prohibited by statute or land use designation.
- Skiing, snowboarding, para skiing, etc., represent established recreation use during the winter months. Areas utilized for these activities provide a unique access portal to public lands during winter months that would otherwise be inaccessible to the public.
Grand County General Plan[6]
- Maintain and enhance the recreational, scenic, and cultural amenities unique to Grand County to attract and sustain economic activity.
- Support the BLM and other organizations in conducting a study detailing the economic benefits of recreation on public lands in Grand County.
- Encourage federal land agencies to continue to coordinate with the County on proposed campground development and expansion, specifically for areas within close proximity to Moab.
San Juan Master Plan[7]
- San Juan County supports responsible public land recreation and tourism.
- The county views recreation and tourism as an additional economic opportunity. The County believes this opportunity may only be in its infant stage. The County will continue to assist the travel council in promoting the county’s tourist industry. San Juan County believes and encourages private sector development of recreational facilities and services. The county will also continue to support and work in partnership with agencies, entities and interest groups to promote recreation and tourism in San Juan County.
- Continue to support and expand the state park system in San Juan County to include Recapture Reservoir.
- Work with the Forest Service to develop cross country skiing and biking opportunities in the County.
- Work closely with the BLM to develop off road trails for ATV use as well as bikes.
- Work closely with the BLM and National Park Service to provide, develop and/or upgrade camping opportunities in and around the National Parks, Monuments and Recreation Area.
Recreation and tourism is a significant economic consideration for counties in Utah. In 2015 visitors from within the United States and abroad made more than 7.5 million visits to Utah’s BLM managed federal lands, supported 4,447 Utah jobs, and contributed $460 million in economic activity to the state [3].
The Western Rural Development Center offers good insights into conducting a cost-benefit analysis for small communities interested in tourism development.
Planning resources with information about the economics of recreation and tourism include:
- Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, University of Utah, Travel & Tourism Reports and Studies.
- Data regarding the economic benefits of Utah State Parks
- An interactive webpage from the University of Utah Community Data Project illustrating Utah Tourism Measures 2012–2014 by county.
- A cost-benefit analysis of for local tourism development in small communities.
- Headwaters Economics, Inc.
- The Economic Profile System tool enables anyone to generate county-level reports from multiple data sources (US Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis) using the the most recent data available. Reports related to multiple resource management planning topics can be generated, including the economic impacts of tourism.
- The Data Viz website provides recent reports and data summarizations created by Headwaters Economics. An example related to recreation is a report and data regarding benefits of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, 2011–2014.
- What are the regional economic impacts of recreation and tourism?
- How can recreation opportunities be provided for all user groups (recreation opportunity spectrum) and persons of all abilities?
- What are the interactive effects of recreation land use and other public land uses (energy development, livestock and grazing, mining, wildlife habitat)?
- How will the county’s resource management plan impact recreation activities and visual-resource conditions on public lands, including changes in recreation opportunities, visitation, and facilities?
Data Name | Data Explanation | Publication Date | Spatial Accuracy | Contact |
---|---|---|---|---|
Land Ownership , | Surface Land Ownership; use Admin field to identify administrative agency | Updated Weekly | 1:24,000 | State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA). GIS Group |
Boat ramps | Boat ramps, including State Parks | 1/18/2013 | 1:24,000 | AGRC |
Utah Highest Peaks | 113 tallest summits, from 2010 GNIS Placenames | 2010 | 1:24,000 | AGRC derived from USGS GNIS Placenames |
Golf Courses | Golf courses digitized form Utah Golf Course Association information | 2009 | 1:24,000 | AGRC |
USFS Recreation | Roads and Trails, Recreation Sites, Boundary Data and other information | Variable | Variable | United States Forest Service, Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Ruth Ann Trudell GIS Database Manager |
Trails , | Existing and proposed motorized and non-motorized trails | 5/27/2015 | 1:24,000 | AGRC and Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation |
Local Parks , | Non state and non federal parks | Data Download; 1/18/2013 Map Service; 1/18/2013 | 1:24,000 | AGRC (compiled from local sources) |
Trailheads | Existing and proposed motorized and non-motorized trailheads | 5/27/2015 | 1:24,000 | AGRC |
Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) , | Local parks projects statewide that have received Land and Water Conservation Fund grants | Updated annually | unknown | Utah Division of State Parks |
BLM Designated Road and Trails | Roads and trails from the 2008 RMP | 2008 | 1:24,000 | Utah BLM Field Offices |
Recreation Access in Utah | Use to locate properties for various recreational activities. | Variable | Unknown | Utah Division of Wildlife Resources |
USFS Roads , | National Forest System Roads Map Service Metadata | Download Data; April 10, 2015 Service; Updated Daily | Variable | United States Forest Service, Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Ruth Ann Trudell GIS Database Manager |
References
- Utah Governor’s Council on Balanced Resources. 2013. The State of Utah Outdoor Recreation Vision, January.
- Utah Office of Tourism Industry Website. Accessed January 21, 2016.
- US Bureau of Land Management. 2016. Connecting with Utah Communities: BLM-Utah’s Recreation and Visitor Services Strategy, 2016-2020.
- Carbon County. 1997. Carbon County Master Plan.
- Emery County. 2012. Emery County General Plan.
- Grand County. 2012. Grand County, Utah General Plan.
- San Juan County. 2008. San Juan County Master Plan, March.