On the weekends, when the weather is right, the population of Gila County, Ariz. increases to three, sometimes four times its usual count of just over 51,000 people.

Tourists from the nearby Phoenix area flock to the county and its 4,625 acres of national forest and parkland to revel in the wonder of nature. County Supervisor Ron Christensen welcomes the tourists, but he also wishes his county got a little something in return.

“Our biggest issue is how do we recover some of the costs that it costs us to be a gateway community,” Christensen said. “We need to find a way to share some of the revenues.”

Gila County, and in particular the community of Payson, is a gateway community to the Tonto National Forest.

The county provides law enforcement, fire and search and rescue assistance to the park. In addition to these services to the park — for which the county is not reimbursed — the timber and cattle industries on the remaining 3 percent of the county lands have been on the decline in recent years further exacerbating the lack in revenues.

Christensen and his counterparts in counties throughout the United States appreciate the revenue tourists and the parks bring into their communities. However, they still feel the resources they expend to protect and serve the parks is not counterbalanced by the revenue tourists bring into the community each year.

“It’s cool, we enjoy having them, but we need to find a way to capture some dollars that help us,” Christensen said. “There simply is no revenue structure to support what we do.”

Gateway communities serve as portals to the nation’s monuments, wildlife refuges, national forests and other public lands. These communities, which are located near or adjacent to federal lands, are affected economically, culturally and even socially by the actions and decisions of the federal managers who manage the areas and the millions of people who visit the lands each year.

Gateway communities and the issues they face are one of the major focuses of NACo President Javier Gonzales during his tenure in office.

For instance, the number of agencies overseeing the federal lands that border the nation’s counties and the levels of accountability within those agencies, creates a quagmire county officials must deal with on a daily basis.

“The red tape is just unbelievable,” said Alan D. Gardner, commissioner for Washington County, Utah that is near or adjacent to Zion National Park, Bryce National Canyon, the Grand Canyon and the Grand Staircase National Monument.

Gardner recounts the ordeal those in his region endured when the Grand Staircase National Monument was designated.

“They [federal agencies in Washington] didn’t want to cooperate, they were just heavy handed, trying to dictate what was going to happen. There was no local input whatsoever. It was just a very uncooperative situation,” Gardner explains.

Gardner and Christensen both agree they have good working relationships with the federal representatives who work locally, but the problems arise once decisions must come from Washington.

“We have a wonderful working relationship with our local BLM [Bureau of Land Management] and local rangers,” Christensen said. “But it’s not coming from the top down, if that makes sense. I would really like to see the local rangers and the people that are put in charge of the forest and on the ground here have a whole lot more responsibility and input in the decision making process.”

Even the agents responsible for the federal lands see the limitations and the problems.

“It is difficult and it is frustrating not only for the local communities, but for the levels of government as well,” said Diana Maxwell, partnership program manager for the National Park Service. “There has to be a commitment at the leadership level — be it the park service or local community — to come to the table and work together to identify the problems and find the solutions.”

While lack of communication and understanding is one of the key problems facing gateway communities, Aubry King of the National Alliance of Gateway Communities believes that trend is changing.

“In Washington, I detect more awareness of the importance of gateways than has previously been the case,” King said. “I think over the last three or four years, the national leadership has been more involved and proved to be more responsive.”

NACo and Gateway Communities

To help foster that burgeoning involvement and responsiveness, Gonzales is convening a series of regional forums throughout the year to discuss the problems faced by gateway communities. The meetings are also designed to help those involved learn from the experiences of communities that have already created solutions to their problems.

The first Gateway Forum was held in Pima County (Tucson), Ariz. in early October and brought together officials from the local communities, all four federal agencies as well as participants from other gateway-related organizations such as the National Alliance of Gateway Communities.

“I thought there were some good ideas presented [at the meeting],” Gardner said. “I think everyone has a lot in common with the restrictions, whether it’s endangered species or just the land management issues.”

The meetings (a total of four throughout the year) are designed to bring everyone involved to the table, discuss the issues they are facing, share the solutions, if any, they find working and create a report to present to Capitol Hill.

“I think we’ve got an idea whose time has come,” King said. “I don’t think we’re ever going to reach a final conclusion, but we’re definitely in the early stages of bringing on some real changes.”