Headwaters Economics

Headwaters Economics is a nonprofit research organization that operates independently, focusing on enhancing community development and land management choices. Our goal is to assist communities in making informed decisions by transforming complex data into clear, visually appealing, and interactive formats. This approach helps us uncover practical solutions to pressing challenges that communities encounter.

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Crossover landscaping can enhance wildfire resistance and save water

2 months ago | headwaterseconomics.org | Doug Green

Crossover landscaping can enhance wildfire resistance and save waterApril 17, 2025Wildfire disasters in the United States have destroyed more than 100,000 homes since 2010, resulting in growing attention to “home hardening” solutions that improve fire resistance. Consistently, wildfire professionals are recommending changes to home landscaping as a cost-effective way to improve defensible space and reduce losses.
Montana Community Foundation leverages data to reach more rural and tribal communities

Mar 12, 2025 | headwaterseconomics.org | Kris Smith

The Montana Community Foundation (MCF) is demonstrating how philanthropy can effectively reach rural and tribal communities. Guided by the Rural Capacity Index, a free online tool that identifies where investments in staffing and expertise are needed to support projects, MCF successfully directed funding to communities that are often overlooked in traditional grantmaking. Their approach offers a model for other foundations seeking to close geographic funding gaps.
The economic future of outdoor recreation in New Mexico’s Cibola and McKinley counties

Dec 11, 2024 | headwaterseconomics.org | Megan Lawson

Trails that offer access to mountains, mesas, lakes, and other outdoor recreation opportunities are increasingly seen as important assets to the economy and quality of life for many communities. Yet land managers and policy makers who want to leverage the broad benefits of trail networks often struggle to find accurate data about trail usage, visitor demographics, and the resulting contributions to the local economy.
Future-proofing the outdoor recreation economy

Nov 26, 2024 | headwaterseconomics.org | Megan Lawson

Communities with outdoor recreation economies are rich in natural assets such as mountains and rivers, but their proximity to these resources also puts them on the front lines of natural hazards such as wildfire and flooding. Outdoor recreation communities often experience disproportionate economic and social impacts from disasters because of their reliance on natural assets. Damage to infrastructure such as roads or water systems can keep away the visitors that keep local businesses operating.
How destination management organizations can balance the amenity trap

Nov 21, 2024 | headwaterseconomics.org | Megan Lawson

Towns across the United States that are popular with tourists, like Bend, Oregon, are experiencing the amenity trap. The very qualities that make Bend a popular tourist destination—natural beauty, abundant outdoor recreation—have also led to rapid growth and accompanying challenges like skyrocketing housing costs, traffic congestion and an overall concern that the local quality of life is eroding.
Rising demand for FEMA’s BRIC program far exceeds available funding

Jul 30, 2024 | headwaterseconomics.org | Kris Smith |Patricia Hernandez

The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is the United States’ flagship pre-disaster grant program. Since 2020 BRIC has allocated more than $5 billion for investment in community projects that can alleviate human suffering and avoid economic losses from wildfire, floods, and other disasters.
Measuring trail use in western New Mexico

Apr 30, 2024 | headwaterseconomics.org | Megan Lawson |Tara Preston

Trail use in the mountains and plateaus of Cibola and McKinley counties, New Mexico has been increasing in recent years, but trail managers lack data about where hiking, biking, and horseback riding occurs. Using a combination of infrared trail counters and statistical analyses, Headwaters Economics modeled trail use in the region and found more than 83,000 visits to 160 miles of trails between March and August of 2023, equivalent to 4 in 5 residents using these trails in a six-month period.
Trails Research and Searchable Benefits Library

Apr 18, 2024 | headwaterseconomics.org | Megan Lawson

Trail access can play a significant role in quality of life and economic well-being. In fact, a growing number of studies are examining the many ways that trail projects yield community benefits that extend well beyond individual trail users. To support more investments in trails and pathways, Headwaters Economics has created a free, curated collection of nearly 200 high-quality studies that measure the wide-ranging benefits that trails bring to communities.
The American Community Survey in our data tools

Jan 19, 2024 | headwaterseconomics.org | Tara Preston |Bill Daigle

Headwaters Economics continuously updates all of its data tools with the latest demographic and economic data available. The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) appears in many of our data tools and is the leading source of socioeconomic statistics for every level of geography in the nation. Our tools currently use the latest ACS data released in December 2023.
Prioritizing people in mobile home park buyouts

Jan 16, 2024 | headwaterseconomics.org | Patricia Hernandez |Kris Smith

Mobile home parks are a critical source of affordable housing in the United States. They also tend to face higher flood risks than other types of housing. People who live in mobile homes are more likely to have social vulnerabilities that may make them less likely to be able to prepare for, respond to, or recover from a flood.