2019 Destination: West
Seventh Annual Eccles Family Rural West Conference
Overview
The Rural West Conference is an annual interdisciplinary gathering workshop that brings together academics, practitioners, and policymakers to share knowledge and ideas about the rural West, catalyzing scholarship and solutions to this region’s pressing problems. Each spring, the Lane Center travels to a different location in the West, growing the network of individuals and organizations invested in identifying solutions to challenges of rural policy, health and environment.
The 7th Annual Eccles Family Rural West Conference was held on April 5 & 6 in Park City, Utah. The gathering proved to be an engaging and interdisciplinary dialogue on the critical issues facing rural communities in the American West. Under the banner of Destination: West, this year’s conference focused on the legacies and contemporary implications of amenity migration in the rural American West. Over the two days in Park City, panels and keynote speakers addressed the topics of economics, politics, culture, and environment.
Exploring the Wasatch Front
We’d like to recommend a number of activities for panelists and attendees while in Park City and the Salt Lake City area. This year includes a large slate of events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the “golden spike” connecting the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869.
150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad
- Spike 150: Utah's Transcontinental Railroad Celebration
- The Race to Promontory: The Transcontinental Railroad and the American West – Utah Museum of Fine Arts
Resources and Readings
Other Recommended Nearby Attractions
Readings: Rural Issues and “the Amenity West”
Commentary: Utah needs to reach across its urban-rural divide, Doris Schmidt, Salt Lake Tribune
The 3 Rural Americas, Richard Florida, CityLab
Natural Resource Amenity Service Values and Impacts in the U.S., Hill, Bergstrom, Cordell, and Bowker, Internal Revenue Service
Spatial Patterns of Migration and Income Change in the Mountain West: The Dominance of Service- Based, Amenity-Rich Counties, J. Matthew Shumway & Samuel M. Otterstrom, The Professional Geographer
Place Matters: Challenges and Opportunities in Four Rural Americas, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Leslie R. Hamilton, Cynthia M. Duncan, Chris R. Colocousis, Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire
Amenity Migrants' Alter Life In Resort Towns, Daniel Kraker, NPR
Sociocultural change facing ranchers in the Rocky Mountain West as a result of mountain resort tourism and amenity migration, Natalie Ooia, Jennifer Laing, Judith Mairc, Journal of Rural Studies
Re-creating the Rural, Reconstructing Nature: An International Literature Review of the Environmental Implications of Amenity Migration, Jesse B. Abrams, Hannah Gosnell, Nicholas J. Gill, Peter J. Klepeis, Conservation & Society
10 Reasons To Live (The Dream) In Park City, Utah, Rob Reed, Forbes
