**5.3 Economic indicators**

*Perspectives on Economic Development - Public Policy, Culture, and Economic Development*

With Grand Teton National Park, John D. Rockefeller National Monument, and large portions of Yellowstone National Park all located within Teton County, there is a large seasonal influx of tourists. During the months of June, July, and August, Teton County receives the most visitors; these months are the most popular time to visit Teton County to take advantage of the many outdoor recreation opportunities,

Visitation to Grand Teton National Park increased almost every year from 1952 to 1970. After 1970 visitation was more variable and dropped significantly from 1983 to 1992. After 1992 visitation picked up and remained fairly constant with visitation dipping below 2.5 million only 5 years between 1992 and 2010 [51].

The Grand Teton National Park is located in central Teton County. The national park offers backcountry camping, rock climbing, and cross-country skiing. The truly adventurous can climb the granite summit of the Grand Teton that rises 13,770 feet above sea level [53]. Visitors can also hike, boat, fish, kayak, and photograph the mountain scenery. This national park is also home to over 300 species of birds, 6 species of game fish, and 60 mammal species [53]. Within this park is a portion of the Snake River offering world-class fishing, as well as 11 lakes that allow recreation, ranging from jet skiing to windsurfing [54]. In the winter the visitors can enjoy private Snowcat rentals, snowshoeing, backcountry and snowmobile tours, sleigh ride dinners, and skiing and snowboarding on the Grand

In 1972 Congress created the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway between Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Grand Teton National Park administers this parkway. The sloping hills at the end of the Teton Range characterize this parkway and provide "a natural link between the two national parks,"

Yellowstone National Park is one of America's most iconic national parks. Designated as a National Park in 1872, Yellowstone is considered by some to be a "living museum," and covers over 2.2 million acres in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho [56]. The most famous sites inside the national park include Old Faithful, Lower Falls, and Yellowstone Lake. Visitors are cautioned to drive slowly and plan extra time to account for wildlife that often crosses the roads within the park [56]. Visitation to the national park has generally increased since 1946. In 2010 the park

Yellowstone offers activities outside of those normally offered within a park including pack trips, stagecoach rides, and old west cookouts. More traditional national park activities are also offered; visitors can hike, view wildlife, take horseback tours, fish, and boat. In the winter, when road conditions allow, visitors can cross-country ski and snowshoe. Visitors who want to stay within the park have lodging options that offer more amenities than a traditional campground, although that option is also available; within the park there are eight hotels or cabins [56]. Teton County also has the National Elk Refuge, which celebrated its centennial in 2012 [57]. Composed of almost 25,000 acres, this reserve has been designated to conserve the Jackson elk population after development in the late 1800s pushed the animals out of their traditional habitat into much more difficult terrain [57].

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is a popular, year-round destination in Teton County. This area includes the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort with an average of 459 inches of snow each year [58]. The city of Jackson has over 20 art galleries, restaurants that have been featured on the Food Network, and is home to the Grand Teton Music Festival, during which live broadcasts from the Met Opera in Manhattan are shown to "complement the flow downslope" of the Tetons [59]. Overall, Teton County

as these slopes give way to the volcanic flows of Yellowstone [56].

saw a record 3.6 million visitors [56].

**5.2 Amenity development**

Tetons [55].

like hiking and camping, that the county offers [52].

**32**

Teton County's primary economic focus has been, and will continue to be, tourism encouraged by its abundant natural amenities. The county's vision is to "preserve and protect the area's ecosystem in order to ensure a healthy environment, community, and economy" [60]. This focus on tourism provides important jobs and revenue to the county, and also brings some challenges, such as low-wages and seasonality [61].

The unemployment rate spikes in Teton County during the winter months, reflecting the seasonal nature of the tourism industry. Sublette County's unemployment rate, also shown on the graph, is much more stable, reflecting its more balanced economy that does not rely so heavily on seasonal industries. When tourism hits its peak in July, with a visitor count of about 643,000, county employment also reaches its peak with almost 21,000 employees [48]. As visitors to the county increase, seasonal jobs are created; however, at the end of the season the visitor count decreases and the demand for seasonal jobs declines.

One notable aspect of the seasonal job growth and off-season decline is the attraction of non-resident employees to the area. In fact, seasonal jobs offered by Teton County attract nearly 5000 out-of-state employees [60]. Seasonal, nonresident employees tend to spend their wages outside of Teton County, mostly benefitting the communities where these employees live (though some do reside in the county during their working period), and Teton County is unable to capture the potential benefits these jobs create in the form of tax revenues. Aiming to increase both year-round occupancy and visitor spending to capture more benefits within the county, Teton County is working to attract more second home owners and retirees to their communities [60].

Recognizing the need for greater stability, the Teton County Planning Commission, in conjunction with Jackson County, included "[promoting] a stable and diverse economy" as one of its principles in the 2012 comprehensive county plan (the county plan focuses on the 3% of land in the county that is private). The commission is careful to note, however, that "tourism will continue to be the basis of our economy," and aims to create more stability and diversification by enhancing tourism, encouraging local entrepreneurial opportunities (particularly "green" opportunities), and promoting "light industry" [60]. The goal is to "develop the existing economy to be better, not necessarily bigger" [60].

The hospitality and recreation sector has grown for the majority of the decade. Employment began with about 5500 individuals in 2001 and grew to almost 7000 in 2008. After a decrease of over 500 employees in 2009 this sector grew slightly to 6600 employees in 2012 [48].

In 2010 one quarter of Teton County's civilian employees over the age of 16 were employed in the arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services sector; this is almost 16% higher than the state average. Teton County also has significant portions of its civilians employed in the construction; professional scientific, management, administrative, and waste management; and education services, health care, and social assistance sectors [48].

Although hospitality and recreation provides more jobs in Teton County than does agriculture, employees in hospitality and recreation earn lower wages than those working in agriculture. Over the decade, those employed in hospitality and recreation did see steadily increasing wages, from just over \$17,000 in 2001 to just under \$25,000 7 years later, though this data is reported in nominal dollars and has not been adjusted for inflation. Since 2008 wages have remained fairly static for this sector. Though limited data is available for the agriculture sector, average annual pay here appears to have been growing in recent years.

In 2012 Teton County collected almost \$41 million in taxes from retail, trade, accommodation and food services sectors, nearly \$11.7 million of which came from accommodation alone [32].

#### **5.4 Development strategies**

Teton County has developed a vibrant community with well-known amenities that attract millions of tourists each year. The Teton County Commission believes, however, that the county would benefit by diversifying the tourism industry that has grown out of what was once a small ranch community [60]. In order to maintain their community's roots and grow the economy, officials have developed a plan for growth that focuses on ecosystem stewardship, growth management, and quality of life [60]. Officials are using existing policy tools to protect wildlife habitats, natural skylines, and sustainability programs. Additionally, county officials work closely with towns to ensure that there is affordable housing and "year-round lifestyle-based tourism" that will create a more insulated economy [60]. Diversification of the economy would create jobs valuable to the local community [61]. Teton County demonstrates that county economic growth can occur in a way that is consistent with the community's character and resources.

## **6. Developing together energy and amenities**

The factors that lead to economic growth at the county level are not always easy to identify or explain, though surely both energy and amenity resources can influence county growth. However, there are many other factors that can also influence growth, such as amenities in surrounding counties, the specifics of oil and gas development, and land-use policies. In examining the factors that affect county economic growth, several key findings emerge:

This study examines how counties balance energy extraction and development of amenities on their lands. It is important to note, however, that a county possesses only limited authority with respect to development issues; many dimensions of development lie outside of the county domain at the state or national levels.


**35**

**Author details**

**Acknowledgements**

Ryan M. Yonk1,2\*

*Developing Together? Understanding the Interaction between, Amenity-Based Tourism…*

Across all our cases show consistent evidence that that energy and amenity development are not mutually exclusive. Further the evidence suggests the prominence of one industry over another is less a result of through planning and conscious choice but is more closely related to the geographic and resource endowment the county has. Further the cases we reviewed show that the development of one sector does not necessarily inherently limit growth in the other sector if a county

Further because both energy and amenity resources provide value to a county, when counties have both resources they tend to develop both, and in a way that allows both sectors to grow. Further, energy development can directly promote the amenity sector by providing counties the funding necessary to develop and market available amenities. Together, these two sectors can comprise an integral part of a county's economy. They provide an employment base with diverse pay and employment levels, and they expand local revenue streams, which help furnish needed

local resources like infrastructure and improved government services.

I would like to acknowledge the collaboration of Dr. Randy T Simmons on earlier reports that this chapter is drawn from and to Kayla Dawn Harris that lead a team of student research assistants that were invaluable in helping gather the data and information on which this chapter is based. Those students included Nicholas

1 North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, United States of America

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

2 Rural Policy and Public Lands Institute, Utah, United States of America

\*Address all correspondence to: ryan.yonk@ndsu.edu

provided the original work is properly cited.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92111*

has resource endowments in both areas.

Hilton, Jordan Carl Hunt, and Justin Larsen.

*Developing Together? Understanding the Interaction between, Amenity-Based Tourism… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92111*

Across all our cases show consistent evidence that that energy and amenity development are not mutually exclusive. Further the evidence suggests the prominence of one industry over another is less a result of through planning and conscious choice but is more closely related to the geographic and resource endowment the county has. Further the cases we reviewed show that the development of one sector does not necessarily inherently limit growth in the other sector if a county has resource endowments in both areas.

Further because both energy and amenity resources provide value to a county, when counties have both resources they tend to develop both, and in a way that allows both sectors to grow. Further, energy development can directly promote the amenity sector by providing counties the funding necessary to develop and market available amenities. Together, these two sectors can comprise an integral part of a county's economy. They provide an employment base with diverse pay and employment levels, and they expand local revenue streams, which help furnish needed local resources like infrastructure and improved government services.
