Economic Prosperity IS an Ecosystem Service

When speaking about ecosystem services, we often emphasize how preserving natural spaces means less disease for us and habitat protection for flora and fauna. It's hard to put a price tag on such benefits. However, ecosystem services also include more economically measurable advantages such as economic growth, rising wages, ecotourist dollars and an expanding tourism sector, and the attraction of new residents and businesses.

Take time to read a study by Headwaters Economics, Doña Ana County’s Public Lands and Economic Prosperity. According to their website, "Headwaters Economics is an independent, nonprofit research group that works to improve community development and land management decisions in the West."

The summary of the Doña Ana County study says it all:

"Doña Ana County’s public lands give it a competitive advantage compared to many other western communities. These lands today make important contributions to the region’s immigration, economic growth, and rising salaries and wages.

"Doña Ana County’s pristine and culturally rich public lands also are an important economic foundation for future prosperity. They support a growing travel and tourism sector, and will help attract new residents and businesses across a range of industries.


"Protecting these resources is a smart decision that capitalizes on the competitive benefits of distinctive public lands in today’s modern economy."

You could substitute "El Paso County" every time that it reads "Doña Ana County". The difference is that Las Cruces recognizes the connection between land preservation and prosperity. El Paso still doesn't get it. In El Paso the cry for preservation comes from the environmental/conservation community and not from the Chamber of Commerce and many developers. They need to recognize the hard cash value of land preservation.

People and businesses site "quality of life" as a reason for moving to a particular place. Recreational opportunities and scenic vistas are parts of this quality of life. Ecotourists look for a variety of experiences: hiking, mountain biking, birding, river walks, etc. 

"Protected public lands are a competitive economic advantage in southern New Mexico and Doña Ana County. These lands safeguard important natural assets and cultural landmarks, stimulate tourism and recreation jobs, and attract new people and businesses." 

"People are moving to the region because of its high quality of life. Services industries that employ a wide range of people—from doctors and engineers to teachers and accountants—are driving economic growth and make up the large majority of jobs today. These industries are raising wages and, along with rapid increases in non-labor income from investment and retirement sources, are helping to elevate per capita income.

"Looking ahead, protecting the world-class public lands that surround Las Cruces should be an important part of any economic development strategy for the region." (Headwaters Doña Ana study, emphases mine)

Again, just substitute El Paso County for Doña County.

Apparently the El Paso County Commissioners get "it". County Commissioners are developing an economic plan which emphasizes heritage tourism and a county-line to county-line trail system which will give more recreation opportunities for residents to walk, bike and enjoy the great outdoor assets El Paso has to offer.  One of those assets is the Rio Grande River.

With all of its squabbling, backbiting and commitments to sprawlers, City Council doesn't and can't get the connection between preservation of its natural assets and economic prosperity.

What the Headwaters Study shows us is that preserving natural assets has measurable, positive economic results. Now that's an ecosystem service.

El Paso Is Losing Out on $18 Million

Here's a follow-up to yesterday's post about the Rio Bosque's precarious situation.

The nonprofit, independent research group, Headwaters Economics, published a fact sheet, Quick Facts: The Economic Benefits of Southern New Mexico's Natural Assets, Fall 2010. Item #3 states:

"Bird watching alone is significant for New Mexico, and the state ranks fifth nationally with 46 percent of its birders coming from outside its borders. The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, for example, brings in $13.7 million annually from non-residents to the three counties of Socorro, Bernalillo, and Sierra; along with $4.3 million in regional tax revenue."

That's $18 million!

As a matter of fact, I know birders and Master Naturalists and hikers and friends and neighbors from El Paso who frequently go to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. El Paso's Rio Bosque Wetlands Park could be a similar attraction not just for wildlife but for eco-tourist and tax dollars.

So how do we as a City invest in the Rio Bosque? The City contributes $10,000. EPWU lets John Sproul and volunteers truck water from the Bustamante Plant so that they can laboriously hand-water suffering and dying trees. The El Paso County Water Improvement District #1 prevents 7,800 acre-feet per year of water from the Bustamante from being piped directly to the Bosque past their canal and their drain. The El Paso County Water Improvement District #1 sucks groundwater from the Bosque when one of its wells (CW-4) is operating.

We just bought Sea Biscuit and we have put him out to pasture to die.

The City of El Paso will also provide a sculpture and signage for the Park. The City will spend $170,000 on that art project but not a dime extra for needed equipment in the Park. Moreover, the interest in the Park by the City's Parks and Recreation Department is nil - just an item on their inventory like several other neglected natural areas.

With all due apologies to my friends at MCAD and the Public Art Program, the sculptor who they hired to do the Rio Bosque sculpture and signage is Heath Satow, whose studio is in Los Angeles. He's good at what he does; but he will take the $170,000 and spend and/or invest it in . . . Los Angeles not El Paso.

$18 million!

That's the kind of change that could come El Paso's way if it just got smart about eco-tourisism and places such as the Rio Bosque. I bet a few changes at City Hall and a Green Chamber of Commerce for El Paso would help matters.