Do US Counties Benefit from Wilderness Designation? Examining Local Government Revenue and County Expenditures

Abstract

We examine the effect of wilderness designation on US counties’ spending patterns as well the effect of designation on counties’ overall and tax revenue. Using data on each of the 3,144 US counties from the US Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics we apply ordinary least squares regression to determine the effect of wilderness designation. After controlling for relevant confounding variables we find that the presence of wilderness lands in a county does not have a statistically significant effect on overall tax revenue and property tax revenue collected by counties. We also find that wilderness designations change the ways counties spend taxes they do collect. Specifically, counties with wilderness designations tend to spend more on fire and protection, health, and less on public welfare programs. There were no statistically significant increases in spending on education, police, or government payroll. If counties are gaining more tax revenue but having to spend more to manage their county, and also having to borrow more than counties without wilderness lands, the land that might be thought to an amenity to the county could actually be a hindrance.