The Northwoods’ tourism economy is driven, in large part, by the outdoor recreation opportunities in the region.
Local communities are now getting a better sense of just how much of an impact bike trails can make through the Wisconsin Office of Outdoor Recreation’s DIY Economic Impact Program.
Reports were recently released for the Heart of Vilas Trail System and the Three Eagle Trail.
The Three Eagle Trail
The Three Eagle Trail runs 12.7-miles between Three Lakes and Eagle River.
Right now, in the winter its split with the northern and southern thirds being used by snowmobilers and the middle section by cross-country skiers.
In the summer, it’s loved by bikers and walkers.
“Our trail counter data revealed that we had just over 10,000 people during the summer,” said Christopher Nafziger. He’s president of the Three Eagle Trail Foundation.
The foundation installed trail counters in 2022 to get a sense of how many people were using the trail.
This last summer, they learn just how much of an impact those users have on the local economy.
“The economic impact came down to about $206 per person per day spent which is great. If you think about the different categories that people are spending money in, that encompasses everything from staying in campgrounds and hotels, eating at restaurants and bars, groceries, gas and transportation costs,” said Nafziger.
In total, the economic report found that the Three Eagle Trail contributes roughly $2 million to Three Lakes and Eagle River.
Through doing the report, the Three Eagle Trail Foundation also found out more about who was using the trail, why they were there, and what they’d like to see for the trail’s future.
Trail users were pretty evenly split three ways between vacationers, second home owners, and year-round residents.
Three Lakes Area Visitor’s Bureau Executive Director Jacqui Sharpe says that distinction was especially important for Three Lakes.
“We're such a second home community as well. In Three Lakes, we're about 70% second homes,” said Sharpe. “It was really exciting to see that year-round residents are using the trail. Second home owners are using it while they're here, and then out of town visitors are also making trips to the area, in some cases, for the trail, which was exciting to see.”
The health benefits and access to the outdoors were among the top reasons people are on the trail.
Nafziger says because of the responses, the foundation plans to improve one of the four trail heads with an updated kiosk and improved parking.
One of the biggest takeaways from the report for Nafziger and Sharpe was the desire from bicyclists to be able to connect to more communities.
“I took a look at the population of people that answered the question, ‘What could our local communities do to improve the Three Eagle Trail experience?’ And one of the options was connectivity with other local bike and pedestrian trails,” said Nafziger. “The people that answer that question in the affirmative, where they wanted to see trails built, they outspent everyone else in every category by 113%, so according to the survey results, people who think trail connectivity is important outspent those who did not.”
Nafziger hopes that lawmakers and policymakers will be able to look at a report like this and understand the value of trails and of the efforts of trail groups to expand trails, like the current effort by the Great Headwaters Trail Foundation to connect the Three Eagle Trail to the Heart of Vilas Trail System on the other end of the county.
The Heart of Vilas Trail System
The Heart of Vilas Trails connects five communities in western Vilas and Iron Counties: St. Germain, Sayner, Boulder Junction, Manitowish Waters, and Mercer. It spans more than 52 miles and is continually being added to.
It also recently released an economic impact report finding the trail system generates more than $25 million for the area’s economy.
“To be honest, I was a little surprised at first. I actually was the one in our group who ran those final numbers for us,” said Mary Jones, the Executive Director of Boulder Junction Chamber of Commerce. “The first time I ran it, I actually called the consultant that we were working with, because I needed her to tell me that I hadn't made a mistake.”
Jones and those who live or work in the communities along the trail can see how popular the Heart of Vilas Trails are with bikers buzzing pass all summer long.
Seeing the numbers and hearing from trail users and the businesses that benefit from them really drove home how significant of impact it makes.
“One of our hotel owners actually said that this was the first year she had more people staying with her to bike the bike trail than she had people staying with her to go fishing, which is absolutely huge for us,” said Jones.
The surveys used to generate the economic report found that the majority of the users traveled more than 150 miles to use the trails.
DIY Economic Reports
Both The Heart of Vilas and Three Eagle Trail used the relatively new “Do-It-Yourself Economic Impact Program” offered at no cost through the Wisconsin Office of Outdoor Recreation.
Director Cassie Mordini says the program gives smaller communities an otherwise cost-prohibitive opportunity.
“Outdoor recreation is really big business in Wisconsin. It's an $11.2 billion industry for our state. It's an economic driver, both at the state level and also in local communities,” said Mordini. “While our local communities can see and feel the benefits of outdoor recreation, it's been really challenging to be able to measure that.”
Groups or organizations accepted in the program essentially do all the legwork themselves, mostly through surveys, and then upload the data into formulas with guidance from a consultant.
The Office of Outdoor Recreation partnered with The Harbinger Consultancy, an economic development consultant, to provide technical assistance for the program.
“It's really important for communities to be able to say this is a value to our community, and this is how it's benefiting our community, our businesses, how it's driving traffic, whether it's visitors that are traveling to the community to use the outdoor resource, or just locals that are coming to the trail or the boat launch, and then when they're stopping off to buy gas or snacks, how that's benefiting the community,” said Mordini.
This is the second year of the program. Included in the program this year was:
- Heart of Vilas County Bike Trail System: $25.7 million;
- Olbrich Botanical Gardens: $20.1 million;
- Peninsula State Park new mountain bike trails (preliminary): $1.3 million;
- Three Eagle Trail: $2 million; and
- Oconto County, which didn’t produce an all-in number given the scope and scale of their study, found anglers had an over $2,000 per group per trip economic impact in the county.
WinMan Trails was among the first groups to participate in first year of the program. The mountain biking trail system adds $4.3 million to the local economy, according to its economic report.
“The communities that have done it last year, we're hearing about the ways that it's been impactful for them as they try to grow,” said Mordini. “It has raised awareness of that outdoor recreation asset in the community, and kind of, in some ways, has helped them advance projects because of that awareness of the asset and its value to the community. That's really why we are offering this program, is to make sure that they have a tool to be able to show the value of their assets.”
Registration is now open for workshops for those wanting to learn more about the DIY Economic Report Program. The virtual sessions will be February 10 and February 17.
From there, participants will be able to apply for program where they receive one-on-one coaching, technical assistance and support to complete an economic impact report.
While that program is limited in number of participants, anyone can create a report following online guide.
Using the reports
The reports can also show communities where there’s room for improvement and not just in the outdoor resource itself.
Jones says the Boulder Junction Chamber was particularly interested in hearing how people learned about the trail so they could improve on their marketing efforts.
“Now that we have those answers, we are better equipped to market to others who are interested in coming up to use our trail system, but also to talk about it within our own communities, and really know what to expect year over year in terms of who's going to be here and what are they going to be doing,” said Jones.
The Three Eagle Trail report showed that a little over half of the spending by trail users was in Eagle River, with about 38% in Three Lakes and the rest elsewhere in Oneida County. Sharpe sees that as an opportunity.
“We're continually looking at how do we bolster our outdoor recreation economy, and what businesses do we need to try to attract to take advantage of that,” said Sharpe. “We also saw within this report that most of that spending was happening in Eagle River, so how can Three Lakes at the other end of the trail also support our locals and open new businesses to capture some of that.”
Both the Three Eagle and Heart of Vilas Trails hope these reports will help people and communities recognize the importance of bike trails for the local economy and where the growth of them could lead.
