By ChinChun Tang, Project Planner

How can we provide future generations with environmentally rich yet socially and economically sound communities? If you are concerned about such a question, this article series will attempt to answer your question.

The first article of this two-part series discusses the integration of the local economy and natural resources in the planning process from the perspective of planning for economic development. This piece highlights the value of addressing two key elements of a comprehensive plan - economic development and natural resources - simultaneously during the comprehensive planning process. It also discusses economic development in rural communities and local economic base data and natural resource inventories that are needed to strategize for rural economic development.

The second article, which will be published in the next Tracker, continues the dialogue from the perspective of planning for natural resources. It will discuss natural resource inventories followed by strategies that can also benefit both the local economy and natural resources. The piece will wrap up with suggestions on how to tackle consistency between elements during the planning process.

Many rural Wisconsin communities are facing challenges regarding the use of natural resources and the long-term health of their local economy. Controversies surrounding the environmental cost and economic benefit of Crandon/Mole Lake Mine in Forest County and the extraction of spring water in Adams County for bottling are two examples. In these examples and others, economic development and natural resources are juxtaposed and are placed at odds with each other.

Planning Comprehensively - Integrating Your Local Economy with Natural Resources
Many economic activities such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, or mining, are directly dependent on extracting natural resources from a particular place. The extracted raw materials can be consumed directly or processed into durable goods (e.g., furniture or metal products) or non-durable manufactured goods (e.g., canned food or paper). These products need to be packaged, transported, and marketed. In rural communities that employ a significant number of people in the extraction or processing of natural resources, community transportation, retail businesses, and other services are highly dependent on these firms and thus the natural resources that these firms rely.

Tourism is also an important income generator for rural communities rich in natural resources. Communities with a robust tourism industry are not dependent on natural resource extraction per se. But rivers, mountains, forests, and the aesthetics of state/national parks, are �being consumed� by tourists through recreational activities such as canoeing, skiing, hiking, camping, and snowmobiling. In these communities, transportation, retail businesses, and other services also rely upon the condition of the natural environment.

The Northwoods region for example, benefits greatly from its natural resource-based tourism. In the year 2001, tourist spending in this region generated an estimated $776 million in wages, which was approximately 16% of the total wages in the Northwoods, the highest percentage among the eight regions within Wisconsin. Tourist spending also supported 41,582 full-time equivalent jobs, which comprised about 21% of the total full-time and part-time jobs in this region (Wisconsin Department of Tourism; Bureau of Economic Analysis). Directly or indirectly, many rural communities in the Northwoods rely on tourism, and thus, the natural resources of the area.

Wisconsin�s natural resources not only provide many rural communities with a stable economic base, they also bring in a variety of related industries and businesses, generating more wages and jobs. In 1997, 17.4% of employment was comprised of farm and farm-related jobs and a 1994 analysis also showed that forest products and forest-based recreation accounted for 18% of Wisconsin jobs (USDA; WI DNR Forest Resources). The value of local natural resources to local economies is critical especially in rural areas of Wisconsin.

Economic development in the U.S. has mainly been concerned with achieving economic growth. Economic growth is not equivalent to economic development. Growth is a simple quantitative increase �number of jobs, size of tax base - and concerned with near term expansion of the local economy. Often, communities that aim for growth direct resources to a few growing industries in order to generate wealth quickly in the short term. Development on the other hand, is qualitative, involving structural change � it generates new technical, organizational, behavioral or legal structures that facilitate growth � in the long term (Malizia & Feser, 1999; Blakely, 1994). Communities aiming for development focus on economic progress that emphasizes qualitative improvement and capacity building.

Rural communities often have common characteristics such as relative geographic isolation, small populations, limited markets, and few skilled workers. Conventional economic development that typically focuses on business attraction and retention of large firms, usually bypass rural communities. There are some rural communities in Wisconsin with large firms, but such a strategy may not be feasible for every rural community. Rather, rural communities need to focus on a different economic development strategy.

The focus needs to turn to quality, knowledge, and networking. Creating quality jobs that provide (i) a stable, family supporting-wage, (ii) improve quality of life by providing better community services and protect the natural environment, (iii) establish business networks to help small businesses broaden their resources and expand their market, and (iv) continuous education of the local workforce to keep them up-to-date with new technologies and skills, are probable antidotes for poor rural economic health. Table 1 summarizes this concept. 

This new concept should be kept in mind throughout the planning process. However, before jumping to strategy selection, communities need to first analyze their economic base and identify essential physical resources in order to have a broad understanding of the community�s local capacity and potentials.

The Economic Development Element requires communities to inventory their current socio-economic situation, and to address relevant issues and concerns (see Box 1). Part of this process is identifying and analyzing a community�s economic base. The economic base may include the following:

• Demographic: population & household forecast, demographic trends, age distribution.

• Employment: employment forecast, income levels, and employment characteristics.

• Industry: types of industry present, number of firms, top firms in a community, population/employment ratio by industrial sector and entire community.

Examining the physical features of your community that relate to the economic base is another critical step. Physical features include agriculture, mining, timber, tourism assets, industrial land availability, and transportation and telecommunication links (Blakely, 1994). If your community relies on its natural resources base for the health of the local economy, an updated natural resources inventory is needed. Examples of an inventory relevant to communities pursuing agriculture, resource extraction, tourism, and industrial development, include:

• Natural resources inventories

• Agriculture - Farm numbers and types, soils, topography, ground & surface water, environmentally sensitive area;

• Mineral resources - types, quantity, and quality of non-metallic and metallic resources;

• Forest resources - types, quantity, and quality of private and public (county, state, and federal) forestlands;

• Recreational/tourism - types, quantity, and quality of parks, recreational areas, and navigable waters;

• Land use inventories

• Industrial land availability - size and quantity of available industrial zones and re-developable brownfields; and

• Other supporting infrastructure inventories

• Transportation corridors;

• Capacity and service area of telecommunication facilities.

These inventories indicate the potentials and limits of a community, so that a community can set realistic economic development goals with policies and programs that do not conflict with natural resource conservation. For more information regarding the type of agricultural and natural resources inventories to be included in a comprehensive plan, please refer to Planning for Agriculture in Wisconsin: A Guide for Communities and Planning for Natural Resources: A Guide to Including Natural Resources in Local Comprehensive Planning.

This article has stressed the relevance of examining local economic development and natural resources simultaneously during the comprehensive planning process and has encouraged rural communities to think outside the conventional economic development approach. To identify alternative economic development strategies that fit the need and capacity of a community, citizens and planners need to understand their community�s economic base by inventorying their natural resources. The forthcoming article will discuss the integration of the local economy and natural resources in the planning process from the perspective of planning for natural resources. The piece will continue the discussion of natural resource inventories followed by natural resource strategies that would also benefit the local economy. Finally, it will conclude by sharing some ideas on how to tackle consistency between plan elements.

Dennis Lawrence, Dave Marcouiller, Jane Silberstein, and the Center for Land Use Education staff have reviewed this article for form and content. Any errors, mistakes and omissions remain the responsibility of the author.