1. Rural Matters Conservation Matters

2. What is rural?

3. The federal government defines "rural" as counties with less than 50,000 residents Or any area that is not defined as "urban"

4. Others say proximity to an airport defines “rural” Source: www.headwatersinstitute.org Metro : Has a major airport Connected : 1 hour drive to the nearest major airport Isolated: More than 1 hour drive to the nearest major airport

6. Did you know…

7. Rural America comprises 80% of the nation’s landscape 96% of land in federal ownership is the responsibility of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management

8. The national poverty rate is 12.6% In rural America t he poverty rate is 14.5% 189 of the 200 poorest counties are rural

10. In the same period 1.5 million rural workers lost their jobs That’s 16% of the nation’s workforce Nationwide 9.3 million workers were displaced between 1997 and 2003

11. One in three public schools in the country are located in rural areas 74.7% of poor rural children receive free or reduced-price lunches Source: United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Economic Information Bulletin Number 1, March 2005

12. 18.5% of rural people under the age of 65 don’t have health insurance Source: Health Care in Rural America: A Series of Features from the Center for Rural Affairs Newsletter , Center for Rural Affairs, 2004. 68 percent come from families where there is at least one full-time worker 30 percent are children Almost two-thirds come from families of four who live on less than $37,000

13. Over the last 4 decades Oregon and Washington have seen a 53% decline in forest products employment

15. The 2008 Election

16. Nationwide 17% of the voters were rural

17. 2008 Presidential Election Results in All (Rural) Non-metropolitan Counties Sources: CBSA Status: OMB and U.S. Census Bureau County election results: New York Times Obama (454 counties) McCain (1,570 counties)

18. Is rural America turning purple?

19. What about the rural landscape?

20. 23% (1.24 million acres) have burned in California alone…so far 5,270,693 acres burned in 2008

22. 55% of all wildfire suppression expenditures occurred in Forest Service Regions 5 and 6 Only 17% of fire hazard reduction activity occurred in these two regions

23. Percentages of USFS Annual Average Fire Suppression Spending (1995-2004) to Acres Treated for Fire Hazard Reduction (2003-2007)

24. Americans pay more than $138 billion per year to deal with the problem In 2006 5.3 million acres of tree mortality was due to insects and disease

25. Recreational anglers spent $592 million within 50 miles of their Forest Service fishing holes Pacific salmon, steelhead, and sea-run cutthroat stocks are at risk of extinction

26. Between 50 to 90 million acres of Forest Service Land need hazardous fuels treatment In 2007 the Forest Service completed 3 million acres of hazardous fuels reduction work needed

28. There is $467 million back log in recreation site and facility needs on Forest Service lands $192 million is generated in annual federal income tax revenues from hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing

29. That’s around three acres per minute Every day, America loses more than 4,000 acres of open space to development

31. There is an $8 billion back log in road restoration and maintenance needs on Forest Service lands

33. What can we do?

34. Have a strategy Be Prepared Send a clear message Believe in solutions Collaborate

35. Is there any hope?

36. Rural Voices for Conservation