Report: Yellowstone brought in local economic benefit of $647.1 million last year [View all]

A new National Park Service report shows that Yellowstone and Devils Tower national parks brought a cumulative $647.1 million and $38.2 million, respectively, to their local economies last year.

Yellowstone's 4.1 million visitors in 2018 spent $512.6 million in communities near the park and supported 7,089 jobs in the area. Devils Tower's 468,215 visitors spent $30 million in communities near the park and supported 414 jobs in the area.

“These numbers once again show the enormous positive impacts our national parks have on our local economies,” Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said in an annuoncement. “Our national parks are one of the very best tax payer investments in this country. For many reasons, well beyond economics, it’s essential that we invest aggressively to protect these incredible places in the future.”

Economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas and Egan Cornachione of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service conducted the peer-reviewed analysis.

Read more: https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/report-yellowstone-brought-in-local-economic-benefit-of-million-last/article_61a7b56b-4b20-52f8-9786-b0fc4ffb8152.html