First Award by Castle Rural Lands Fund looks at Community Economies near Protected Lands in West

WASHINGTON, DC—The first award from the Castle Rural Lands Fund was made this month and will support research by Resources for the Future (RFF) Senior Fellow Margaret Walls. Dr. Walls will investigate the impacts that national parks, national monuments, and other protected lands have on business growth and employment in communities located near such lands.

Through the generous bequest of former RFF President Emery Castle, who passed away in October 2017 at the age of 94, RFF established the Castle Rural Lands Fund to support research on economic issues associated with rural lands and communities.

Said Dr. Walls, “Much of Emery’s research centered around issues related to the economics of rural lands and communities, and he wanted to encourage RFF researchers and other scholars to keep these issues alive. Rural communities are often distinguished by their dependence on natural resources and agriculture, their proximity to natural amenities, and their deep connections to the land.”
 
Walls will be looking at how public lands affect the economic health of rural communities. In particular, she will be assessing how the economy of communities near national monuments and other protected sites—the mix of industries and overall economic output and jobs—changes after such sites are designated. 
 
RFF’s Vice President for Land, Water, and Nature, Ann Bartuska, said, “The Castle Rural Lands Fund will allow Dr. Walls and other RFF researchers to analyze critical issues in rural communities of the West: forests and wildfire, climate change, water availability, and much more. This is an important assessment of issues that were of great importance to Emery Castle.”