Opinion: The American wilderness is part of what makes Americans different

The Wet Beaver Wilderness in Coconino National Forest in Arizona is one of many designated wilderness areas in the United States. (Photo by Deborah Lee Soltesz via The Conversation)

U.S. state and federal parks are full of breathtaking views, unique plant life and animals roaming in their natural habitats. But their abundant wildness offers more to the country than fabulous hiking trails and jaw-dropping beauty; it's "crucial to American freedom and identity," write Leisl Carr Childers and Michael Childers in their opinion for The Conversation.

When Congress passed the Wilderness Act in 1965, it intended to protect and honor "places that evoked mystery and wonder, 'where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain,'" the writers explain. "These are wild landscapes that present nature in its rawest form."

The law instructs the federal government to "protect these areas 'for the permanent good of the whole people,'" they write. "Wilderness areas are found in national parks, conservation land overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, national forests and U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuges."

How the Wilderness Act came to be is a part of our national history and illustrates how Americans planned to share the country's natural wealth with future generations and the world.

It began with the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, which was established by Congress in 1958, and a letter penned by the "noted Western writer Wallace Stegner about why he cared about preserving wildlands. [His] letter became known as the Wilderness Letter," Childers and Childers explain. The Wilderness Letter sat dormant until "its publication in The Washington Post on June 17, 1962. . . .Then the letter reached a national audience and captured the imagination of generations of Americans. . . . Stegner’s Wilderness Letter became a rallying cry to pass the Wilderness Act."

Wallace Stegner, right, with his son and wife, on a Yosemite National
Park hiking trail. (University of Utah photo via The Conversation)

With flair and an eloquent appeal, Stegner's letter "connected the idea of wilderness to a fundamental part of American identity. He called wilderness 'something that has helped form our character and that has certainly shaped our history as a people … the challenge against which our character as a people was formed … (and) the thing that has helped to make an American different,'" Childers and Childers write. "Without wild places, he argued, the U.S. would be just like every other over-industrialized place in the world."

Stegner’s letter and the spirit it imbues "still resonate as Americans head for their public lands and enjoy the beauty of the wild places protected by wilderness legislation this summer," they write. "With visitor numbers increasing annually and agency budgets at historic lows, we believe it is useful to remember how precious these places are for all Americans. . . . And we agree with Stegner that wilderness, public lands writ large, are more valuable to Americans’ collective identity and expression of freedom than they are as real estate that can be sold or commodities that can be extracted."

Quick hits: Hop on a historic train; new farming trilogy; free immigration resources for journalists; Big Foot sightings

Cumbres & Toltec Railroad riders enjoy being 'lifted'
137 feet high on the High Cascade Creek Trestle.

As summertime vacation beckons, consider boarding a historical train and chugging through parts of North America you've never explored. "Railroads revolutionized transportation in North America, permanently accelerating the pace of travel across the continent," reports Michael Harmon of The New York Times. "Today, many of those railroad tracks host an assortment of historic excursion trains, inviting riders to slow down and enjoy a grand day out." The Skunk Train, the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad, and The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad are all spectacular picks.

When young people leave home, they often see life through the lens of their upbringing. For author Jane Brox, that lens is generations of family farming in Dracut, Mass. Brox added a third book to complete her trilogy, In the Merrimack Valley, which celebrates early immigrant dreams, farm routines that enrich daily life, and all that is gained and lost when young adults set out into the world. Danny Heitman for The Wall Street Journal writes, “Brox created a multipart work that is more broadly about the nature of origins — what we might owe to the places where we started. Even and, perhaps, especially when we leave them."

Reversing a previous decision, the Trump administration "temporarily reinstated dozens of fired federal workers who help screen coal miners for black lung, a deadly and incurable disease caused by inhaling toxic coal dust," reports Maxine Joselow of The Washington Post. "The screening program offers contracts to radiologists across the country who are certified to evaluate X-rays for black lung. It also employs epidemiologists who recently concluded that 1 in 5 longtime coal miners in Central Appalachia has black lung — the highest level recorded in 25 years."

The Immigration Reporting Legal Guide is a free resource developed by The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to help journalists navigate coverage of the complex web of federal and state entities that make up the American immigration system. The guide divides the topic into three parts: Immigration-related public records, how to access immigration proceedings and and details about journalists' rights to observe and record immigration enforcement officers on the ground. The guide is available in English and Spanish. There's also an extensive collection of free legal resources.

Spring and summer can be glorious times for hiking, fishing and taking nature walks. But sometimes, uninvited buzzing guests such as wasps and yellow jackets come along on warmer-weather adventures and sting humans -- often for unexplained reasons. And while no anti-sting plan is foolproof, Ashley Leath of Country Living has a few suggestions.

• Don't swat at wasps. Swatting tells a wasp to release pheromones that will trigger other nearby wasps to see you as a threat, exactly what you don’t want to happen.
• To prevent wasp nest building, try putting up a fake wasp nest. Wasps are territorial and don't like waspy neighbors.
• Don't remove a large yellow jacket nest on your own. They can sting more than once. Call a professional.
• To remove a smaller yellow jacket nest, read here.

Mysterious, massive and yet strangely elusive, Big Foot remains a North American legend with hundreds of sightings by locals, tourists and scouts paired with an equal number of people who are outspokenly skeptical Sasquatch exists. Beyond the argument, a separate exploration has formed which asks why some people want to believe that strange and unlikely creatures lurk just out of plain site. Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder writes, "I’m more interested in exploring why mysterious wildlife inspires obsession and fanaticism, and what it says about the American environmental psyche."

     
         Map by Sarah Melotte, The Daily Yonder, from Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization data

Legendary and loving: Dolly Parton's Dollywood, near her homeplace, shows Americans how to accept one another

Dollywood welcomes all. (Ilustration by Ally Rzesa, The Boston Globe)

Replacing Americans' interpersonal, ideological tensions with vibes of shared heritage and togetherness can be achieved with a hefty dose of Dolly Parton, writes Christopher Muther of The Boston Globe. While visiting Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., Muther discovered a collective love for prorietor Parton: "Her broad appeal and aura of benevolence are why Dollywood is one of the rare places in the United States where you'll encounter a true ideological melting pot. I observed conservatives and queers on the same rides at the same time. I can't think of anywhere else in the U.S. where these two groups would be enjoying themselves in close proximity."

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Parton grew up as a sharecropper's daughter "in a one-room cabin near Dollywood (its location is kept secret) with her 11 siblings," Muther notes. "She became a country-music star more than 50 years ago, but more importantly, she became a pop-culture sensation and a legend. Dollywood celebrates it all. . . . Parton is a rare jewel of a human whose coat of many colors includes red and blue states (plus many rainbows)." She has been outspoken about diversity and inclusion, which probably makes her crowds diverse and inclusive.

The park, like the woman, delights visitors. "Dollywood is a candy-coated dive into Parton's subconscious. . . . If Parton's legacy and message of universal love were not attached to the park, would anyone be here? I suspect not. . . . Dolly is the great unifier. . . . Few (if any) musicians have scored number-one hits on both the Billboard Christian and electronica charts. . . . She is a woman who can collaborate on a cake mix with Duncan Hines and design clothes for dogs."

Parton sets an example that, if multiplied outside Dollywood's boundaries, could heal some of our nation's wounds. "Clipping wings is not on-brand for Parton. She professes her deep love of God and shares her spirituality," Mathers writes. "But her down-home values don't come at the expense of excluding gay fans and the drag community. She has supported her gay fans for decades. . . . '[Dollywood is] a place for entertainment, a place for all families, period,' Parton said in a 2014 interview with Billboard magazine about those who are critical of the LGBTQ+ community. 'It's for all that. But as far as the Christians, if people want to pass judgment, they're already sinning. The sin of judging is just as bad as any other sin they might say somebody else is committing. I try to love everybody.'"

"Was anyone passing judgment at Dollywood the day I was there?" Muther asks. "Perhaps. But people were respectful of each other. . . . Parton's Appalachian amusement park re-creation of the U.S. may be cornier than Kansas in August, but it's a place where a wide swath of people are respectful and smiling. . . . . The only animosity I witnessed happened between a mother and daughter bickering in a gift shop over who would get to wear the 'Good Golly, Miss Dolly' T-shirt."

Summer safety tips for rural children, at work or at home

This summer, many rural youngsters will be working on farms, caring for younger siblings, or just staying home alone as parents work. The Progressive Agriculture Foundation offers some health and safety tips:

• Parents must establish safety rules and boundaries for children who are old enough to stay home alone. That includes being careful about what they share on social media, since posts may alert others that they're home alone.
• Make sure teens who are babysitting younger siblings know what to do in an emergency.
• Identify a trusted neighbor who can stop in periodically and check in on kids at home.
• If children will be preparing meals while parents are away, make sure they understand how to safely use kitchen appliances such as the stove, the microwave, and knives. Adults should also make sure kids know how to prevent fires and burns and what to do if one should occur.
• Kids also need to be reminded about the risks and safety precautions involved with farming equipment, how to appropriately use personal protective equipment while completing some tasks, and the importance of staying hydrated and taking breaks on hot days.
• Adults should warn youth of the dangers of "cutting corners" to get a task finished more quickly, or looking at one's phone while working.
• No matter what youth are doing outside, adults should remind them to wear sunscreen and reapply every two hours, or more often if swimming or sweating.

PAF runs a program called Safety Day, the largest rural health-and-safety program in North America. Click here to see if a Safety Day workshop is happening soon near you.

Rural areas more popular vacation destinations in pandemic

The pandemic has been hard on travel. According to the U.S. Travel Association, it has caused $386 billion in cumulative losses, but the pain hasn’t been evenly distributed," Elaine Glusac reports for The New York Times. Cities, which are largely reliant on business and group travel, have suffered more compared to rural and outdoor destinations where it is easier to fulfill social-distancing needs. That sense of safety in extra space has tempted many leisure travelers to venture out on vacation."

Short-term rentals such as Airbnbs and hotels were more popular in rural areas than in cities this summer. "Most of those who have taken a vacation since the pandemic chose rural over urban areas for their getaways," Glusac reports. "Signs point to this pattern of fleeing population centers continuing. In a recent survey, Destination Analysts found nearly 40 percent of respondents who planned to travel this fall planned to visit small towns or rural destinations."

Hotels and resorts in rural and urban areas are rolling out big discounts to attract vacationers in the coming months, but "the rural-versus-urban contest for leisure travelers is still a losing game for most contenders; for example, rural places consider being down 20 percent a sign of relative health," Glusac reports.

Airbnb bookings outside top metros 25% higher than in 2019

Coronavirus infection rates soared in rural America in July, but in June, rural Airbnb bookings surged as vacationers sought to escape the pandemic.

"According to Airbnb, hosts in rural areas of the U.S. earned over $200 million in June 2020, an increase of more than 25 percent from the same period a year ago. Airbnb also said more than nine of every 10 dollars earned by hosts for June trips inside the U.S. were for sites outside the 10 biggest American cities by population," Michelle Gao reports for CNBC.

Airbnb defines "rural" very broadly, places (presumably counties) with fewer than 100 people per square kilometer, or 160 per square mile. That includes many small metro areas and outlying counties of medium-sized metros. 

"Airbnb’s data also supports hosts’ speculation that guests are choosing to stay local," CNBC reports. "In New York, for example, Airbnb hosts earned over $5.8 million from guests living within 300 miles during June, according to data from the company."

Other trends Airbnb noted were longer average stays and larger groups, most likely comprised of multi-generational families looking to stay together, Gao reports.

Coronavirus slams rural areas that depend on skiing and hiking; some towns ask summer residents to stay away

Though the coronavirus pandemic has hit urban areas the hardest, rural cases are rising, especially in rural tourist meccas. Counties that have yet to report any coronavirus cases are mostly rural and poor, The Associated Press reports.

"Rural counties in Colorado, Utah and Idaho, where hordes of visitors flock each year to ski or hike, are ... experiencing some of the highest rates of coronavirus cases per capita in the nation, threatening to overwhelm local hospitals and challenging perceptions of the virus’ reach," Rick Jervis, Deborah Berry and Matt Wynn report for USA Today. "Four counties – Blaine County, Idaho; Summit County, Utah; and Eagle County and Gunnison County, Colorado – lead the nation in per-capita rates of confirmed cases, outside New York state and Louisiana, according to a USA Today analysis of coronavirus cases across the country." The analysis used numbers through March 26.

Many ski resorts nationwide shut down in mid-March after tourists brought the virus to town. But it's not just tourists being asked to stay home. Some small communities whose economies depend on an influx of summer residents are asking them to stay away.

"As the coronavirus quickly spreads across the nation’s urban centers, local leaders in some rural areas — who prize their independent, conservative values that tend toward a live-and-let-live attitude — are taking actions that contradict their ethos in order to keep the virus away," Dionne Searcey reports for The New York Times. "Some officials have anguished over their actions, chiefly because they go against the beliefs of their communities. In New York’s Catskills region, residents still complain about government moves decades ago to seize land surrounding a key watershed. Yet fearful of the virus’s spread, a handful of rural counties have issued bluntly worded orders for second homeowners to stay away."

In Florida, the opposite is happening. Snowbirds ready to migrate back north during warmer weather are being warned to stay put, for fear that they might spread the virus. Such efforts have been largely unsuccessful, Politico reports.

New summer camp helps kids affected by opioid addiction

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A rural West Virginia firefighter and emergency medical technician is trying a novel approach to mitigating the opioid epidemic: a summer camp geared toward kids affected by opioid addiction. Through his job at the Teays Valley Fire Department and working with the Tri-County YMCA's summer camp for several years, Jared Davis saw local kids needed something like the camp. If the generations-long cycle of poverty and drug abuse is allowed to continue unchecked, today's kids could be tomorrow's opioid users, Carlee Lammers reports for the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

"When a kid is born into a particular situation, they’re going to see that as normal . . . When their family does drugs, doesn’t work and isn’t functional, the kid is simply going to grow up and follow in those footsteps," Davis told Lammers. "It’s not a kid’s fault to grow up and become what their home situation is if no one has ever taken the time to show them a better way."

Davis' church, Church at the Depot, bought a defunct day camp for $535,000 and turned it into Camp Appalachia, a 150-acre camp with features such as a rock wall, a ropes course, and a pool. The church is partnering with West Virginia State University to provide outdoor education, in hopes of slowing or preventing summer learning loss for campers.

The camp aims to help kids build up their self-esteem and realize they can conquer challenges (such as a rock climbing wall), which will hopefully help them feel like they can overcome the challenges in their home lives. They want to help the children understand that "they can be better," Davis told Lammers. "We can't necessarily fix the kid's situation, but we can change his or her outlook on the situation. So, when they go back to a home that is not suitable, so to speak, they have the emotional fortitude and the resiliency to be able to overcome their family situation. Maybe they can look back on the counselor who spent extra time with them, or showed them that they cared."

Davis will bring in local firefighters, EMTs and police officers to hang out with the kids so they can feel more comfortable with law enforcement, instead of viewing them primarily as people who "took Mom or Dad away," he said. The camp opens this summer.

Smithsonian magazine names 20 best small towns to visit in 2017

Shenandoah River in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., pop. 293

While trying to decide where to take a vacation this year, you might consider traveling to an interesting or scenic rural town, perhaps one that Smithsonian magazine included in its sixth annual list of America's Best Small Towns.

"We once again consulted geographical information company Esri to identify tiny towns chock full of local culture, history and natural beauty," Jackie Mansky reports for Smithsonian. "We then narrowed down our list to pinpoint the destinations that are especially worth making the trip to this year—whether they’re celebrating a special birthday, commemorating a famous resident or happen to be smack on the path of the 'Great American Eclipse',” which will traverse the nation on Aug. 21.

The list of 20 towns includes: Talkeetna, Alaska; Harpers Ferry, W.Va.; Rockland, Maine; Kent, Conn.; Makanda, Ill.; Grand Marais, Minn.; Ojai, Calif.; Snowmass Village, Colo.; Abilene, Kan.; Spencer, Iowa; Mineral Point, Wis.; Hana, Hawaii; Bell Buckle, Tenn.; Oakland, Md.; Zoar Village, Ohio; Rincón, Puerto Rico; De Smet, S.D.; Cheraw, S.C.; Page, Ariz.; and Hill City, S.D.

The smallest town on the list is Zoar Village, pop. 178. It was founded by German religious separatists and became "one of the longest-running communal settlements in American history," Smithsonian reports. "After its dissolution in 1898, many tenants chose to stay behind. . . . Zoar still looks like a German village from the 1800s. It has over 50 of its original historic structures and buildings, not to mention its iconic garden, which takes up two acres in the center of the town," which was recently designated as a National Historic Landmark and is celebrating its bicentennial.

Older Americans happiest in Hawaii, Ariz., least happiest in W.Va., Ky. says Gallup well-being index

Older Americans are happiest in Hawaii and least happy in West Virginia, says the annual index of well being by The Gallup Organization. Following Hawaii, other states with high well-being scores for people 55 and older were Arizona, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Colorado. At the other end of the spectrum, Kentucky was next to West Virginia, with Oklahoma, Ohio and Indiana nearby.

The data come from 115,000 interviews are are based on five categories: Purpose (liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals); Social (having supportive relationships and love in your life); Financial (managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security); Community (liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community); and Physical (having good health and enough energy to get things done daily).

Hawaii was No. 1 for Purpose, Community and Physical; Arizona was tops for Social, and North Dakota led for Financial. West Virginia was last for Purpose, Social and Physical. Mississippi had the lowest score for Financial and New Jersey was lowest in Community.

"There is one cluster of states with high rankings in a section of the Midwest, but for the most part, the high- and low-ranking states are evenly distributed," Tara Bahrampour reports for The Washington Post. Dan Witters, research director for index, told her, “The 55-and-over crowd in those top states … report always making time for regular trips and vacations with family and friends, reaching their goals in the last 12 months, using their strengths and aptitudes as a human being, in other words, doing things that are a natural right fit for them." (Post graphic showing states colored by quintiles, or fifths of 50)

Ripped from the pages of literature, interactive map charts roads trips from 12 books

There's still time this summer to hit the highways and see America. For those looking for a grand adventure straight from the pages of some of literature's most beloved tales, the folks at Atlas Osbscura have created an interactive map that details road trips from 12 popular novels and memoirs.

"I am a freak for the American road trip. And I'm not alone, as some of this country's best writers have taken a shot at describing that quintessentially American experience," writes Richard Kreitner, who researched the routes, while Steven Melendez created the map. The map "includes every place-name reference in 12 books about cross-country travel, from Mark Twain’s "Roughing It" (1872) to Cheryl Strayed’s "Wild" (2012), and maps the authors’ routes on top of one another. You can track an individual writer’s descriptions of the landscape as they traveled across it, or you can zoom in to see how different authors have written about the same place at different times." (For a larger version, click here)

Rural emergency services struggle during holiday weekends to provide care for vacationers

Holiday weekends can be a troublesome time for rural emergency services that are not equipped to handle an increase in calls due to an influx of tourists, reports Andrea Hay for WBAY-TV in Green Bay. Memorial Day weekend was a perfect example in Mountain, Wisc., (Wikipedia photo) a popular camping destination with a population of 860.

Over the weekend Mountain Ambulance Service struggled to respond to an unusually high number of calls, Hay writes. Michael Rzepka of Mountain Ambulance Service told her, "We had our first unit out. We got a second call; our second unit went out, and we were trying to scurry out so that we could still have coverage.”

EMT Matt Miller said the main problem in a small town is finding enough people willing to spend the time and money to go through the required more than 200 hours of training for the EMT basics class, Hay writes. Another problem is sharing services with other areas. Miller told Hay, “If that first unit that’s staffed goes and aides another community, it’s leaving its taxpayers without a staffed ambulance at that time and relying on people to be in the area and be able to respond.” (Read more)

Smithsonian names 20 best small towns to visit

Smithsonian has unveiled its annual list of the top 20 small towns to visit. To be considered, towns had to have a population under 20,000 and were judged based on cultural attractions, historical sites, nature opportunities and food-and-drink destinations, "then researched to find the places commemorating important anniversaries, openings, renovations, recoveries and other milestones in 2015," Bess Lovejoy reports for Smithsonian. "Think of this list not as a ranking but as a menu, with something for every taste—whether it’s country bluegrass, Florida’s white beaches or Alaska’s blue mountains." (Corbis photo by Richard T. Nowitz: Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo.)

The list, in order from No. 1 to No. 20, is: Estes Park, Colo.; Nantucket, Mass; Stuart, Fla.; Traverse City, Mich.; Cooperstown, N.Y.; Port Townsend, Wash.; Calistoga, Calif.; Sevierville, Tenn.; Boonville, Mo.; Saint Simons Island, Ga.; Edenton, N.C.; Bayfield, Wisc.; Nashville, Ind.; Put-in-Bay, Ohio; Whitefish, Mont.; Thibodaux, La.; Custer, S.D.; Stowe, Vt.; Homer, Alaska; and Vernal, Utah.

Tourism is a major economic boost in rural areas in states like Utah

Tourism—big business in most states—is vital in rural areas in some states, especially in the West. In Utah, where 91 percent of the population lives in U.S. Census Bureau defined urban areas, rural areas in 2013 received an estimated 46 percent of total county sales tax revenue from tourism, says a study by the University of Utah. In comparison, the urban Wasatch Front (Salt Lake City, Provo), which consists of 75.6 percent of the state's population, got 20 percent of total county sales tax revenue from tourism.

"The top 10 counties impacted by tourism-related sales tax revenues were all rural counties," reports the University of Utah. Overall, one in 10 jobs in the state is in tourism. In rural areas, "an estimated 13 percent of private jobs are directly tourism-supported, compared to just 5 percent in the more urban parts of the state." (University of Utah graphic)

The report states: "Utah’s five national parks and eight of its ten national places spent upwards of $611 million in 2013, which supported close to 8,000 jobs in surrounding gateway communities." Overall estimates say that tourism and travel supported 132,681 direct, indirect and induced state jobs in 2013, said travel research firm TNS Global.

A record 292 million visited national parks in 2014

U.S. national parks had a record number of visitors in 2014, largely due to lower gas prices, an improving economy, warmer weather and an increase in foreign visitors whose numbers had dropped since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Corbin Hiar reports for Environment and Energy Publishing. Overall, national parks had 292,800,082 visitors last year, 5.6 million more than the previous record in 1987 and 19 million more than in 2013. (Great Outdoors San Diego photo: Joshua Tree National Park)

Joshua Tree, Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton and Glacier national parks all had a record number of visitors, Hiar writes. NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis said in a statement: "We should see something on the order of $15 billion in visitor spending, 250,000 or more jobs and a $28 billion effect on the U.S. economy when our annual economics of national parks report comes out in April." (Read more)

Some states creating two-tier taxes, charging seasonal residents more than year-round ones

Some states with large populations of seasonal residents are imposing higher taxes for snowbirds and vacation rentals, as opposed to year-round residents, often pitting part-time residents against full-time ones, Elaine Povich reports for Stateline. David Brunori, deputy publisher at Tax Analysts, which examines state tax law and policy, told Povich, “One of the great ways of exporting the tax base is to tax people from out of state who rent property, own property or work in the state. It’s a political nirvana. They don’t vote.” (Getty Images: Provincetown, Mass.)

Several states "have a 'homestead exemption,' which lowers the property tax bills for certain categories of homeowners, usually full-time residents," Povich writes. "Some of the exemptions are income-based, while others apply to categories of homeowners such as widows or widowers and military families. In general, the exemptions do not apply to second homes of any kind, particularly vacation homes. Homestead exemptions are one way to protect local homeowners while taxing vacationers at the full market value. The other way is to increase taxes on vacation homes directly."

There are about 3.6 million vacation homes in the U.S., making up 3.1 percent of all housing units, says the 2000 U.S. Census, the most recent year for such data, Povich writes. Maine has the highest percent of vacation homes at 15.6 percent, followed by Vermont at 14.6 percent. But some towns, like Provincetown, Mass., explode with seasonal residents, with the population of Provincetown increasing from 3,000 in the winter to 30,000 during the summer.

Tom Donegan, chairman of the Provincetown Board of Selectmen, argues that higher taxes for part-time residents are justified because the town has to prepare for 30,000 residents by increasing its costs for emergency services and utilities, Povich writes. He told Povich, “It’s not about charging them more; it’s about finding ways to stabilize the population so we can keep people in their homes. (Year-round residents) are retired men and women and working men and women. Their homes are increasing in value, and they have to pay increased property taxes, usually on a small or fixed income.”

Not surprisingly, seasonal residents have complained about higher taxes, with the Cape Cod town of Mashpee rejecting such an idea earlier this year, Povich writes. "Joyce Mason, town manager for Mashpee, said it was 'pretty clear folks were not in favor of splitting the community.'" (Read more)

Worldwide campaign promotes U.S.; states like Louisiana reporting record tourism dollars

Buses driving around London advertise vacations to the Louisiana bayou, while shoppers in stores can see videos of what it's like on the beaches of South Carolina. It's all part of a U.S. tourism campaign by a company called Brand USA, "a nonprofit, public-private partnership created by legislation President Barack Obama signed in 2010" to promote all 50 states to world travelers, Pamela Prah reports for Stateline. "The program is funded by the private sector, mostly the tourism-related industry, with matching federal funds of up to $100 million a year from a $10 fee that international travelers pay when they visit the U.S. Last year, the first full year of operation, Brand USA received $60 million in private-sector funding. That more than doubled to $130 million this year." (Brand USA photo)

One of the first states to work with Brand USA was Louisiana, which reports shatter tourism records, with 26.3 million visitors in 2012 resulting in $10.7 billion, and $665 million in state tax revenue generated through domestic and international visitors. That represents a more than 26-to-1 return on investment of state funding, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne said in a news release. The state has created promotional videos in German, French and Spanish for the company's website, Prah reports.

The website Discover America has links to each state, promoting tourist attractions, state facts, outdoor adventures, the state's history, and fun suggestions for travelers, such as ordering grits and saying y'all in Alabama, where to get the best desserts in Nebraska, and to order a Moxie soda in Maine.

A summer vacation story: a bucket list of fun

Community newspapers often have a summer lull, when stories, especially those related to education, are hard to find. But the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro has an interesting story that has a different take on the popular bucket list. It found a family whose eldest daughter has created a bucket list of fun, allowing her to set, and accomplish, goals this summer. (DNJ photo by Helen Comer)

Allie Lawrence, who just finished kindergarten and is learning to write, created a list called Allie’s Awesome Summer, including items like swimming, bowling, hiking, catching fireflies, making S'mores and camping, reports Samantha Donaldson. Allie's mom, Sarah said, “I thought if the girls made a list, we would be more likely to get it done. It is goal setting. It is so easy to get busy and say they are having fun during the summer. We’ll probably do everything on the list.” (Read more)