Economic Contribution Analysis of Colorado Search and Rescue (CSAR) to Montezuma and La Plata counties of Colorado
Primary Topic:
Community & Economic Development
Other Topics:
Emergency Management
Internship Overview:
We were approached by the Executive Director of CSAR, Jeff Sparhawk, at the 2023 Colorado Outdoor Industry Leadership Summit (COILS) in Steamboat Springs, CO regarding an interest in creating a baseline economic analysis of SAR’s economic contribution and impact in Colorado. CSAR is the membership organization of search and rescue (SAR) teams, sheriffs, and others who support SAR in Colorado. CSAR is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation that provides a point of contact for SAR matters across the state and represents SAR to governmental agencies and others outside of SAR. The organization operates primarily on volunteers, except for the Executive Director, who is salaried. With Coloradoan’s high rate of participation in outdoor recreation (92%) and a steadily growing number of out-of-state visitors to Colorado, CSAR services are increasingly in higher demand. To serve this growing need, the organization faces ongoing funding challenges related to equipment procurement and upkeep, operations and logistics, and personnel/staffing.
CSAR has a need for ongoing funding to sustain current operations as well as ensuring their services are available for future demand. The hope of this intern work is to collect data and use IMPLAN software to provide an economic contribution analysis showing the community benefit of CSAR and its impact on the local economy. IMPLAN will allow us to take in data, and provide estimates of direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts. This work will create baseline economic data which CSAR has not been able to procure to date. The report and findings will be used in presentations to local, State, and Federal stakeholders. Additionally, we hope to develop a template/tool kit for future inquiries of this nature which can be readily expanded to measure additional geographic areas (eg. counties/regions) or the State as a whole.
CSAR has a need for ongoing funding to sustain current operations as well as ensuring their services are available for future demand. The hope of this intern work is to collect data and use IMPLAN software to provide an economic contribution analysis showing the community benefit of CSAR and its impact on the local economy. IMPLAN will allow us to take in data, and provide estimates of direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts. This work will create baseline economic data which CSAR has not been able to procure to date. The report and findings will be used in presentations to local, State, and Federal stakeholders. Additionally, we hope to develop a template/tool kit for future inquiries of this nature which can be readily expanded to measure additional geographic areas (eg. counties/regions) or the State as a whole.
Goals, Scope and Objectives:
The goal is to provide an analysis of the economic contribution and benefit to the local economy of CSAR operations in Montezuma and La Plata counties. The rationale for running this analysis on two different counties, is to test the methodology created for the analysis by applying the methodology to two vastly different counties in terms of outdoor recreation offerings, CSAR rescue team sizes and resourcing, and SAR demand in those counties. Running concurrent analyses will stress test the methodology and inform the prospects of using this tool more broadly (eg. additional counties or statewide).
The scope of this work will include collecting data from CSAR operations and using IMPLAN to assess said data. The objective is to create a report which shows the economic contribution of CSAR to local economies. The report will be used by CSAR for future funding asks, negotiations with local stakeholders, budgeting, public relations, and personnel considerations. A secondary hope from this process is to create a template to be able to do this work in additional geographies across Colorado.
– Formulate methodology
– Collect data and analyze through IMPLAN
– Stress test methodology by compare/contrast across two geographies
– Disseminate results in a narrative report
– Establish toolkit/template for similar work in additional communities
The scope of this work will include collecting data from CSAR operations and using IMPLAN to assess said data. The objective is to create a report which shows the economic contribution of CSAR to local economies. The report will be used by CSAR for future funding asks, negotiations with local stakeholders, budgeting, public relations, and personnel considerations. A secondary hope from this process is to create a template to be able to do this work in additional geographies across Colorado.
– Formulate methodology
– Collect data and analyze through IMPLAN
– Stress test methodology by compare/contrast across two geographies
– Disseminate results in a narrative report
– Establish toolkit/template for similar work in additional communities
With which stakeholder group(s) will the intern work?
We will be working with the local CSU Extension offices, the CSAR Executive Director and CSAR Board of Directors, field operatives and rescue teams, county representatives, city representatives, county Sheriff’s offices, and other local stakeholders.
What student learning outcomes do you anticipate and what are the opportunities for professional development?
The anticipated outcome of this internship is to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to generate a report useful to the CSAR Executive Director and Board of Directors on the economic contribution of their operations to the local economy. This product will be useful and informative towards decision making internal to the organization and external when approaching funders and community stakeholders. Other outcomes will include working with local stakeholders and government officials to disseminate data and results of the study.
