Friends of The Boundary Waters

Alyssa ErdingEthan HowardJack McCarthy

Sustainable Economic Development in the

Iron Range

Sustainability

● Economic: ○ Employment versus the environment

● Environmental: ○ Iron Range (BWCA bioregion)

● Equity: ○ Building resilient communities

Summary of Project

● Researching case studies which help to:○ meet the citizen’s economic

needs○ Preserve and protect the

environment

Stakeholders

● Citizens of the Iron Range○ Mining affiliates○ Tourism, education, business owners, etc

● Government officials ● Reporters● Friends of the Boundary Waters

staff and partners

Research Methodology

In-Range

Out-Range

Quantitative

Qualitative

● Reports

● Studies

● White Papers

● Databases

● News articles

● Interviews

● Theory

● Policy

Mining Dependant

Deep Economy

Consumer Economy

Development Models

Cas

e S

tud

ies

Research Methodology: Example

In-Range Out-Range

Qu

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ativ

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uan

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tive

“Analyze existing gateway community resources and plan ways to set up cooperative work spaces in rural towns similar to some of the coop arrangements being done here in the metro” -Paul Danicic our Supervisor

1. Identify Development Model this fits into

2. Use Goal & Sustainability definitions to generate questions

3. Try to answer those questions using the methods rubric Planning documents

for Fiber-Optic cable.

MN Dept. Economic Development: Data Tools

NAOIP Whitepaper on Coworking Centers

Preliminary Two Week Work Plan

● Background research of region and current economic system

● Identify several overarching Sustainable development models○ Begin populating these with case studies

● Visit the Iron Range

Potential Challenges

● Assessing the viability of our findings

● Presenting ourselves in the “right” way

● No silver bullet solution

Metrics

● Compiled models of sustainable development

● Executive summaries● Explaining why these alternatives

are:○ Sustainable○ Desirable (to all stakeholders)○ Viable○ Optimal

Deliverables

● Final written report and summary○ Supplemented with:

■ Website and video■ Presentation■ Op-Ed■ Workshop/Focus group

● Accessible and Educational● Initiates further conversation

Thank You!