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| Socioeconomic Research |
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Turning On the Off-Season: Opportunities for Progress in the
Yellowstone-Teton Region
Communities
in the Yellowstone-Teton region have much to gain from greater
cross-boundary collaboration, according to a business group whose
members are located in 25 Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming counties that
surround Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
In 2008 the Yellowstone Business Partnership (YBP) used a $150,000 USDA
Rural Development grant to convene six multi-county task forces and
explore economic development issues of greatest concern to their
particular sub-region. Topics studied included public
transportation needs, land use planning coordination, availability of
affordable housing, and potential for recreation/tourism development.
After a year of public meetings and in-depth research on these
seasonally-related economic challenges, YBP has identified several
areas where cities, counties and businesses would benefit by
collaborating across jurisdictional boundaries. Recommendations include:
- Create a tri-state transportation cooperative that
establishes an integrated system of private and public operators across
Greater Yellowstone. Connect airports, retail centers, gateway
communities and area attractions to serve residents and visitors in all
four seasons.
- Assist businesses and tourist attractions with workforce
training, energy efficiency, marketing expertise, technology upgrades,
financing for expansion/research, new market development and
organizational capacity. Create an overarching brand used by
all tourism partners to convey a single, consistent image and message
about the Greater Yellowstone region.
- Provide opportunities for city and county land-use planning
staffs to share computerized map layers and other planning tools that
will improve their understanding of the region’s demographic
trends and growth patterns. Develop baseline “affordability
bands” for needed residential and seasonal housing in all
parts of the Yellowstone-Teton region.
- Expand the regional conversation by forming more formal
coalitions, in particular, a regional council of governments. Such an
organization would bring community officials into regular contact with
each other with an eye towards discussing collaborative
ventures. READ MORE
Click on a sub-region
(at left) for more details - If you are unsure
which sub-region you are in, Click
here for a map.
Check back on this page or on the YBP calendar to see upcoming
discussions.
David Kack of the Western Transportation Institute
leads a workshop at the Seasonality
Summit.
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If
you have questions or would like to get involved, contact Executive
Director Janice Brown at jbrown@yellowstonebusiness.org. Idaho
Falls Office
No:
208-528-0269
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About YBP 
