leadership for an increased role for Extension to activate its community development expertise to leverage local assets and address the needs of the gateway communities by providing education, technical assistance, facilitation, engagement of partners, strategic planning, and coordination of research. A wide range of research expertise was identified in each region that could be applied to studying the impacts and opportunities associated with the development of recreation economies. With additional funding, the Regional Rural Development Centers can be key partners in advancing both the Extension and research opportunities identified in this study. They link the research and educational outreach capacity of the nation’s Land-Grant Universities with communities, local decision-makers, entrepreneurs, families, and farmers and ranchers to help address a wide range of development issues. The RRDCs bring together the most innovative minds — from inside and outside universities — to address cutting-edge rural and community development issues, such as recreation economies, without regard to state boundaries. They respond to emerging issues, generate credible science- based information to clarify and inform these issues, and create public-private partnerships to address them. Examples of previous RRDC supported multistate programs include the Stronger Economies Together
(SET) program that was launched in 2010 by USDA Rural Development and the nation’s four RRDCs and their Land-Grant University partners; this initiative is now in place in more than 50 regions in 28 states and provides a possible model. SET enables communities and counties in rural America to work together in developing and implementing an economic development blueprint for their multicounty region that strategically builds on the current and emerging economic strengths of that region.
References Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2022). Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, U.S. and States, 2022. https://www.bea.gov/news/2023/outdoor-recreation-satellite-account-us-and-states-2022 National Institute of Food and Agriculture. (2023). USDA to Create Plan to Expand Recreation Economies and Help People Thrive Across Rural America. https://www.nifa.usda.gov/about-nifa/press-releases/usda-create-plan-expand-recreation-economies-help-people-thrive-across National Institute of Food and Agriculture (n.d.). Regional Rural Development Centers. https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/community-economic-development/regional-rural-development-centers USDA Rural Development. (n.d.) Recreation Economy at USDA Economic Development Resources for Rural Communities. https://www.rd.usda.gov/highlight/usda-recreation-economy-resource-guide
Land-Grant University Capacity to Support Recreation Economies in National Forest Gateway Communities
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