Bohannon, Andrew

Levine, Dovev

O\u27Leary, Ethan

Rogers, Shannon, Ph.D.

Smith, Maddie, NRESS/RMP PhD Student

English

UNH Scholars' Repository

     1 of 8     Exploring the Economics of Mountain Biking in Keene, New Hampshire: A Gap Analysis                  December 15th, 2023 Maddie Smith NRESS/RMP PhD student  Ethan O’Leary RMP student        2 of 8         3 of 8  Introduction  The City of Keene, NH has many assets, including an extensive network of mountain bike trails and the Wheelock Bike Park. In the Fall of 2023 Keene entered a formal partnership with UNH on a project to inform the current economic value of mountain bike infrastructure and identify areas of focus for future investment in the City. The project is a direct result of action items identified in the 2022 Downtowns & Trails program that UNH Extension undertook with the City. Keene has the potential to become a destination for mountain biking and the City’s staff and volunteers along with Extension agreed that more data and exploration into the economic impact of local trails, especially mountain biking trails, would be a productive next step in the City’s efforts to better connect its natural assets with sustainable economic development goals. In a pilot effort, the City collaborated with the UNH graduate school’s engagement hub to bring students to community engaged work and provide more capacity to the Extension. With support Extension and the City, two fellows worked on this project, Maddie Smith, PhD student, and Ethan O'Leary, senior undergraduate student. The study comprised of the following steps: 1. Trailhead assessment o Develop 10 Mountain bike specific trailhead characteristics and collect data on current condition of 9 trailheads.  2. Survey data o Develop a 10-question mountain bike specific survey to determine average spending per visit and trailhead amenities of importance. 3. Economic Analysis o Utilize trail count data collected by the Southwest Regional Planning Commission during fall 2023, survey data, and Trail Counter to estimate average annual spending by mountain bikers.   Key Findings  • Mountain Biking contributes over $1 million to Keene/ year  • Majority of riders are local to Keene area • Local and visiting riders have different trailhead needs and current trailheads fit local needs better than visitor needs • Thoughtfully increasing the number of visiting riders would benefit the Keene economy.  Advisory Team • Andy Bohannon, City of Keene - Parks, Recreation and Facilities • Dovev Levine, UNH Graduate School Community Engagement Hub • Shannon Rogers, UNH Cooperative Extension         4 of 8  STEP 1: Trailhead Characteristics Development and Site Visit When developing mountain bike/rail trail trailheads, it’s crucial to identify which characteristics of a trailhead are key in improving the individual experience of both visitors and local riders. Background research indicated that visitors ranked amenities such as bathrooms and water fill stations as being a high priority. Whereas residents were more interested in the cost of access to trails and trail variety (SORBA, 2022). Characteristics that are important to both groups include bike wash stations (can be used to help prevent invasive species contamination), picnic tables, adequate signage (including trail maps/difficulty), and wayfinding to trailheads (CAMBA, 2020).  Based on this research and research on connecting Downtowns and Trails (Rogers, Donovan, Porter, 2019), the team created a list of 10 mountain bike specific trailhead characteristics relevant to the Keene area and collected data on current condition of 9 local trailheads.   Trailhead Characteristics ❑ Trailhead Kiosk ❑ Parking  ❑ Wayfinding to downtown businesses ❑ Public restrooms ❑ Waste & Recycling  ❑ Water filling station ❑ Bike repair station  ❑ Bike wash station ❑ Trail map with trail difficulty    STEP 2: Survey of Riders Understanding what trail users want when they visit a trailhead/system is the first step in ensuring Keene is capitalizing on the popularity of their trails. Again, background research was used to identify key categories that cyclists typically spend money on when visiting mountain biking destinations, a list of ideal trailhead amenities, and pertinent demographic information. Utilizing that information, the team created a 10-question survey in google forms that was distributed via email to the NEMBA mailing list, Keene Mountain Biking Facebook groups, and posted at trail heads in Keene. The trailhead locations included information on the survey and a QR code linked to the google forms page. As an incentive for taking the survey, participants could opt into a raffle for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Alpine Bike Works or $15 gift certificate to Prime Roast. The survey was conducted from October 17th – November 12th, 2023, and received 97 responses.  The survey results revealed helpful information regarding the type of rider that currently visits Keene trails and highlight potential areas of focus for growing mountain biking in Keene. The survey revealed that a majority of riders are local to the Keene/Monadnock region and do not spend any money on lodging.  However, more than half of respondents do spend money on groceries/breweries/ restaurants and mountain biking equipment.  Moreover, demographic responses indicate that mountain bikers do have the disposable income to spend more money in Keene with more than 2/3 of respondents reporting an annual household income of $75,000 or higher.       5 of 8        6 of 8  STEP 3: Economic Benefits of Mountain Biking to Keene To determine the current trail usage, the team obtained trail cam data from SWRPC which was collected in the fall of 2023. From this collection of data, the team utilized 22 days of trail use at Goose Pond and the Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Trail Traffic Calculator to estimate the annual usage at this site. The trail traffic calculator accounts for differences in season when calculating its estimate, making it an ideal choice for New Hampshire. The calculator reported an average of 27.22 mountain bikers per day and approximately 9,935 mountain bikers per year at the Goose Pond trailhead.    Again, the survey results from indicated that an overwhelming majority of Keene riders are local to the area. However, research on the economic impact of cycling recreationalists indicates that there is a key difference between visitors and locals' mean expenditures. Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests where researchers identified expenditures from visitors to be around $30 million whereas residents spent around $18 million per year (Maples & Bradley, 2017). Tourists visiting New Hampshire’s rail trails, despite being “a smaller proportion of rail trail users (15%)”, were observed spending “three times as much money as residents” (NHDOT, 2022). As such, increasing the number of riders from outside the Keene/Monadnock region represents an area of economic opportunity for Keene.  To determine the extent of economic growth possible, the team first determined the estimate economic contribution of mountain biking, in its current state, to the city of Keene. The team utilized the categorical averages from rider reported spending on lodging, travel/transportation, and food/groceries to determine that average spending is equal to $106 per person per visit. If spending on mountain bike equipment is included in this estimate, the total increases to $145 per person per visit. (This is similar to a recent study completed in Keene with a smaller sample size, showing an average spend of about $120 per visit (Rogers & Lindblom, 2022). These averages were multiplied by the average annual visits as determined by the Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Trail Traffic Calculator for an estimated $ 1 million to 1.4 million dollars in spending in the local economy associated with mountain bike riders.  In New Hampshire, outdoor recreation represents 3.2% of the state GDP making it one of the top 10 states for outdoor recreation in the country.  Additionally, outdoor recreation provided 31,000 jobs and $1.5 billion in wages in New Hampshire in 2022 alone. All of which indicates that outdoor      7 of 8  recreation is a worthwhile investment and directly tied to economic growth (BEA, 2023 & Granite Outdoor Alliance).    Summary & Trailhead Recommendations  A key point of consideration for the City should be considering how they can attract other nonlocal riders, as there is the potential for growth. What locals want/need is often different from what visitors want/need, particularly when looking at trailhead characteristics. For example, a visitor that just drove a few hours to get to Keene would likely appreciate access to a bathroom at the trailhead whereas a local doesn’t necessarily need access to one. Of the trailheads surveyed by our team, Krif road is a great example of an easily accessible trailhead that is lacking in certain characteristics. From an outsider perspective, it seems like there is plenty of room to incorporate some sort of parking lot as well as trail signage, at the very least. However, in its current state, it’s unclear whether there is a trailhead there, resulting in potential confusion from people who are not familiar with the area.    The city of Keene is a key player in the development of outdoor recreation opportunities and using those to impact the town’s economy. Keene is doing a great job attracting local recreationalists which have a large and important (and likely underestimated) impact on the local economy. Under estimation comes from lack of data on the number of unique users of the local trails. There is another area of future research. Survey results indicate a passionate mountain biking user base within Keene, with over a third of respondents requesting information on future studies/surveys. It’s crucial that future researchers follow up with those respondents, as they will undoubtedly be a key resource in future developments within Keene.        8 of 8  References  2022 economic data. Granite Outdoor Alliance. (n.d.).       https://www.graniteoutdooralliance.org/beatdata2022?  mc_cid=3f63ffc44a&mc_eid=b04cb747cd  Bailey, A., & Chandler, N. (2022). (rep.). Chattanooga Mountain Biking Impact Report (pp. 1–18).   Chattanooga, TN: University of Tennessee. Business & Economic Analysis. (2023). Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account Camoin Associates (2016). Economic and Fiscal Impact Analysis of the Vermont Trails and Greenway  Council Member Organizations (pp. 1-16). Saratoga Springs, NY: Camoin Associates. Debowski, M. et al. (2022). New Hampshire Rail Trails Plan. NH Department of Transportation. https://www.dot.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt811/files/imported-files/2022-nh-rail-trail-plans.pdf    Maples, J., & Bradley, M. (2017). Economic Impact of Mountain Biking in the Nantahala and Pisgah  National Forests (pp. 1-14). North Carolina: Outdoor Alliance. Rogers, S., & Lindblom, J. (2022). Strengthening Connections: Downtowns & Trails. Keene, NH: Keene Parks, Recreation and Facilities Department. https://extension.unh.edu/resource/strengthening-connections-downtowns-trails-keene-nh-2022  Rogers, Shannon; Donovan, Molly; and Porter, Casey, "2019 Downtowns and Trails Information Brief" (2019). UNH Cooperative Extension. 1217.  https://scholars.unh.edu/extension/1217   

Exploring the Economics of Mountain Biking in Keene, New Hampshire: A Gap Analysis

https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2746&context=extension

Exploring the Economics of Mountain Biking in Keene, New Hampshire: A Gap Analysis

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

UNH Scholars' Repository