ABSTRACT
Rural communities are often rich in natural assets, albeit simultaneously challenged to cultivate economic assets in downtowns, main streets, and village centers. This is often the case because the area’s natural assets are either taken for granted or they are not being sustainably leveraged and connected to economic centers. One innovative approach to this challenge is nature-based economic development, an approach to strengthening the local economy and quality of life that leverages local natural assets and mobilizes human capital, but with a specific focus on leveraging trails as resources to create vibrant downtowns. In this chapter, we share a case study of a rural New Hampshire community that participated in a formal UNH Extension program called “Downtowns and Trails.” We describe the program and discuss the opportunities and challenges of implementing nature-based economic development at the community scale. The program takes a unique, asset-based community and economic development approach and focuses on building human capacity by training community volunteers. It also incorporates spatial analysis, interview and survey data collection, and formulation of action steps. Through this process a community can assess their assets and opportunities, as well as gain a better understanding of what residents and visitors think of its trails and downtown businesses and services. This includes learning about tourism visitor spending and understanding residents’ perceptions of the quality of life provided by natural assets. We find that the process of identifying and evaluating natural, economic, built, and leadership assets in a community is an example of innovation that provides valuable and actionable insights often missing from rural communities.
