EPR and a team of consultants was entrusted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Community Revitalization, the USDA Forest Service, and the Northern Border Regional Commission, to develop a toolkit and deliver a pilot planning assistance program called Recreation Economy for Rural Communities (RERC). The pilot year for this program was 2019-2020, which was challenged by the COVID pandemic. Nevertheless, the toolkit was created, and virtual work sessions are being implemented with communities with strong participation and success.
This planning assistance program is designed on previous EPA program such as Local Foods, Local Places and Healthy Places for Healthy People, and others. The goal of the RERC program is to foster environmentally friendly community development and Main Street revitalization through conservation and sustainable use of public or private forests or other natural resources, such as:
- Ensuring residents, including young people, have connections and opportunities related to nearby outdoor assets to foster community pride, good stewardship, and local economic and health benefits.
- Developing or expanding trail networks to attract overnight visitors and new businesses and foster use by residents.
- Developing in-town amenities, such as broadband service, housing, or shops, restaurants, or breweries, to serve residents and attract new visitors and residents with an interest in nearby outdoor assets.
- Marketing Main Street as a gateway to nearby natural lands to capture and amplify outdoor recreation dollars.
- Developing a community consensus on the management of outdoor assets to reduce potential conflicts and ensure sustainable use of resources.
Though the focus is on the connection between outdoor recreation assets and main street vitality, the workshops explore many related topics such as walkability, trails, infrastructure, institutional framework, economic development and business incubation, prosperity, equity, inclusion, and being mindful of who is not in the room and how to reach under-represented groups and voices. Improving tourism and branding, outreach and communications, wayfinding and signage are also common themes of conversation and action. Many rural communities are in the process of transitioning or diversifying their economy and outdoor recreation is a major opportunity sector to explore as they navigate the way forward.
Ten communities are receiving assistance in 2019-2020. Each workshop, now virtual, results in a community, values, and assets driven action plan which identifies specific and measurable next steps a community can take to achieve its goals. These workshops forge the connections between outdoor recreation assets, place-based considerations, and community and economic development goals. The following ten communities are the 2019-2020 cohort and were chosen from a competitive group of 170 applications received nationwide.
- Cambridge, NY, Village of Cambridge NY
- Fryeburg, ME, Southern Maine Planning & Development Commission
- Giles, VA, New River Valley Regional Commission
- Glenwood Springs, CO, City of Glenwood Springs
- Gorham, NH, Town of Gorham
- Grants, NM, City of Grants
- Jasper, AL, Jasper Main Street
- John Day, OR, City of John Day
- Poultney, VT, Town of Poultney
- Thompson Falls, MT, Thompson Falls Main Street, Inc.
EPR staff, namely Jason Espie, Megan McConville, Jessica Dimmick, Danny Yoder and Phil White, are involved with leading and supporting the RERC workshop events.
The Cambridge Steering Committee would like to thank the incredible planning assistance team at EPA, USDA, the Northern Border Regional Commission, the Conservation Fund and EPR, PC for collectively bringing our community together during a pandemic to develop this Action Plan to further foster our Recreational Economy. The team innovatively crafted an engaging online planning process and brought us creativity, wisdom, commitment and a flair for fun as well. We are grateful for their guidance and support throughout.
On behalf of the local steering committee, thank you so much for attending the “Recreation Economy for Rural Communities” visioning session and/or workshop last week. Your thoughts, visions, hopes and dreams for building an outdoor recreation economy for our community are valued and appreciated. It will truly take all of us to make this dream a reality.