Amenity Trap: New report details economic strains and gains from Montana tourism

<p>The Last Best Place has been discovered.</p> <p>Across the state, tourists and second-homeowners pull up alongside trucks with stickers of Montana’s outline and the words: “WE’RE FULL.” They stroll through shops with coffee mugs, t-shirts and hats displaying similar sentiments. But the same tourists and transplants inject money into local economies, facilitating jobs and businesses.</p> <p>The tension, however, comes from the flip-side of growing visitation to the Treasure State: strain on emergency response, crowded recreation facilities, traffic and other overburdened infrastructure. And often, locals are left with the bill after visitors go home. </p> <p>That double-edge sword of being a desirable outdoor recreation destination is known as the “amenity trap,” according to a new report from Bozeman-based Headwaters Economics. The report looks at the benefits and burdens faced by towns whose riches in outdoor recreation have brought a wealth of visitors too.</p> <p>With me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter for the Missoulian and a former reporter at the Idaho Mountain Express in Ketchum-Sun Valley, Idaho, who recently wrote about the report.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>