More public access along the lower Yellowstone River has the potential to generate an additional $5.3 million in local spending and could create more than 50 new jobs in the region.
“That is amazing,” said Beth Epely, executive director of Eastern Plains Economic Development Corp., during an online press conference highlighting the study. “If a new business moved into my town with 56 new jobs, that would be headline news.”
The figures are from an economic analysis — Recreation on the Lower Yellowstone River: An Economic Opportunity — prepared by Jeremy Sage of RRC Associates in Boulder, Colorado. The Lower Yellowstone Coalition, Business for Montana’s Outdoors, Wild Montana and the Montana State Parks Foundation pitched in to pay for the $12,500 study.
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TOP: Near the confluence of the Powder and Yellowstone rivers is the site of a proposed new state park. ABOVE and BELOW: Water recreation has become increasingly popular on Montana’s streams, including the Yellowstone River. Transferring some of that use farther downstream is the aim of a coalition of groups seeking to boost southeast Montana tourism.
LARRY MAYER, Billings Gazette
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