If any region should appreciate its farming and forestry assets, it is the Shenandoah Valley. The region reigns as the state’s agricultural powerhouse, while its extensive hardwood forests provide timber products, jobs, and a strong base for recreation and tourism.
Economic Value
The direct economic impacts of this “working landscape” are significant. Nearly 15 percent of jobs in Virginia and almost 12 percent of economic output can be attributed to agriculture. The VCC region contains four of Virginia’s top five agricultural counties and accounts for over one-third of the state’s agricultural receipts.
Statewide, forest products rank first in market value of crops and the industry accounts for 1 in 6 manufacturing jobs. Forest harvests in the region brought in $18.4 million in receipts in 2000. Forestry drives the economies of many rural and mountainous communities that have limited economic opportunities.
These forestlands also make immense but largely unmeasured contributions to the environment, particularly cleaner air and water. Culturally, farms and forests are what residents idenitfy with and what draw visitors who come for history, scenic beauty, and recreation.
Value of Environmental Benefits
Virginia’s forests provide tremendous benefits filtering out pollutants. The Virginia Department of Forestry estimates that forests provide over $900 million of air pollution abatement each year, based on conservative estimates of what it would cost to remove the same quantities of five major pollutants through alternative means.
Value from Tourism, Recreation, and Wildlife
Backpacking, hiking, camping, forest viewing, and other forest-related recreation generated $1.34 billion in spending by visitors, according to the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s 1997/98 Visitor Survey. Millions more were spent by Virginia residents and visitors traveling less than 100 miles. In addition, the 1996 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation calculated that $1.68 billion was spent on wildlife-related activities associated with the forests of Virginia. History also draws tourists. Many sites, like the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields, rely on an agrarian landscape.
