Outdoor Recreation and the Economic Impact of Whitefish Trail Use in Whitefish, Montana

This post originally written by Patty Gude, at Headwaters Economics

“How many people are using our trails? And what do our trails do for our local economy?”

These were the questions that Whitefish Legacy Partners, a non-profit organization that works to preserve opportunities for conservation and recreation around the town of Whitefish in northwest Montana, needed to answer in order to make the case that the local community should continue to support trails financially.

Together with businesses and local residents, Whitefish Legacy Partners, intuitively understood the importance of the Whitefish Trail and the region’s larger trail ecosystem -a network of hundreds of miles of trail spread across a large area of public lands- to the wellbeing of future generations. The challenge was how to quantify and communicate the potential for trail use and the social and economic benefits.

Answering these kinds of questions on this scale is challenging. To count the number of trail uses on a single trail, researchers often will use an automated trail counter or manually count the number of users on the trail. This approach works well on a single trail with one entry point, but on larger or more complex trail networks, purchasing enough counters to capture uses at all trailheads costs too much.

Headwaters Economics, a non-profit research group that specializes in community development, was able to overcome some of these challenges by combining traditional methods with data from Strava Metro.

Armed with local input from Whitefish Legacy Partners and the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau, Headwaters Economics planned a study to quantify the impact of local trails on businesses and residents’ quality of life. The study analyzed aggregated, de-identified data on the volume of usage of Whitefish’s trails, the mix of uses, from bikes to pedestrians, and whether users were locals or visitors from outside Flathead County.

Since not all trail users were part of the Strava community, Headwaters Economics compared Strava data with counts from infrared trail counters at four of the network’s 12 trailheads to calculate the share of trail activities contributed by Strava users. Strava users accounted for between 15 and 40 percent of all trail users. We applied this share to trail segments throughout the region to estimate trail uses on all 42 miles of the Whitefish Trail, as well as at Whitefish Mountain Resort ski area, Flathead National Forest, and Glacier National Park.

Data visualizations (above): 

• https://headwaterseconomics.org/economic-development/trails-pathways/estimating-trail-use/

• https://headwaterseconomics.org/economic-development/trails-pathways/whitefish-trail-use/

The Strava data provided an estimate of the share of uses that are bike or pedestrian, and the share of uses that are by visitors (people who live outside the county).

Headwaters Economics also conducted in-person surveys at trailheads to estimate how many trail users visit from outside the area and how much they spend. Using this information, we calculated how much new spending the Whitefish Trail brings to the community by drawing visitors to the area.

Results indicated that the Whitefish Trail attracts $3.2 million in spending by visitors annually, which supports 68 new jobs and $1.9 million in new personal income every year.

Whitefish Legacy Partners has used the data on trail use to demonstrate the important role the Whitefish Trail plays in the area’s outdoor recreation resources. This data visualization shows how locals and visitors alike use the Whitefish Trail, highlighting how the trail contributes to local residents’ quality of life and how it supports the tourism economy. This information is helpful in sustaining support for the trail from local residents and business owners, who contribute a large part of the Whitefish Trail’s ongoing funding.

Around the country, communities of all types are struggling to preserve access to outdoor recreation for the health and wellbeing of their residents. Demonstrating the trail economy and making the business case for trails can be a powerful way to broaden support. Strava and Headwaters Economics are exploring future projects in other communities facing the challenge of measuring the impact and benefits of local trails.