Written by Aaron Weiss on July 5, 2016 in Center for Western Priorities and submitted by John Fayhee for posting in the Beat:

Last week, a well-known conservative think tank, Utah's Sutherland Institute, released a report that claimed state parks are more efficiently managed and more popular than national parks across the West. The report, which was co-written with the right-wing Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), relied almost entirely on state park attendance data to draw its conclusions. The report got major coverage from the Deseret News, complete with a headline claiming "States manage public lands for recreation better than feds."

There's just one problem: Sutherland and PERC used erroneous numbers throughout their report.

The report cited statistics from the National Association of State Park Directors 2014 annual report (you can see the visitation data on page 19). When those numbers made it into the Sutherland report, however, they changed: PERC and Sutherland gave Oregon's visitation data to New Mexico, Utah's numbers to Oregon, and Washington's to Utah. Washington received visitation data from Wisconsin'a state which wasn't included in the Sutherland/PERC report.

The result of this four-state switcheroo gave Utah, which happens to be the focus of much of PERC's research, a ten-fold increase in annual park attendance'35 million instead of 3.5 million. (You can read PERC's original report, complete with bad data on page 35.)

PERC used that erroneous data to invent a metric, "state park visits per acre," to bolster its claim that Utah state parks are wildly more popular than national parks or state parks in neighboring Western states (see page 26). By this invented metric, a small city park in just about any town in America would outcompete America's finest national treasures, like Arches and Grand Canyon National Park.

Had Sutherland and PERC used accurate park visitation data, their graphs would have painted a very different picture for the people of Utah:

Utah State Park Visits RS

The reality shows just how pointless the metric invented by Sutherland and PERC is. Visits per acre tells us nothing about the quality of a park or its management. When you use accurate numbers to do PERC's math, Oregon far and away leads the West in visits per acre'18 times more than Utah. If that was in any way relevant to a state's ability to manage land, then Oregon wouldn't be in the midst of selling off a state forest it can't afford to maintain.

We'll likely never know whether Sutherland and PERC falsified its numbers intentionally, or just happened to make a mistake that made Utah look ten times "better" than it is. We do know that the erroneous report shows how desperate the backers of the land seizure movement have become.

There is no objective data to back up their claims that states are better land managers. There is, however, plenty of data that show states would be on the hook for billions of dollars in firefighting and mine cleanup costs if they took over national land.

The Center for Western Priorities calls on the Sutherland Institute and PERC to fully retract its "Divided Access" reports. This attempt, witting or unwitting, to mislead the people of Utah should give reporters and the public pause the next time these groups try to justify their land seizure agenda.

False vs actual RS

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.