Last Friday’s announcement that the Lake Vermilion State Park proposal is alive and well after more than a year on life support was welcome news, and a great way to start the new year.

While no proposal is without its downsides and question marks, the upsides of the state park plan are real, and significant.

For those concerned about protecting this pristine area from private lakeshore development, the park puts a permanent end to such worries. The park won’t create a wilderness of Lake Vermilion’s east end, but it guarantees that whatever development occurs on the shore will be largely limited to remote camping, and perhaps a boat launch. The park will ensure that the wild, undeveloped character of the lake will be protected for future generations.

At the same time, the park’s creation opens up an area currently closed to public use for all of us to enjoy. The creation of trails for hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling will make it possible for everyone, including local residents, to get out and explore this spectacular area.

While we can debate how many visitors the new park will attract, it’s safe to say that the numbers will be significant. Bear Head State Park, for example, drew just over 100,000 visitors this year. A new Lake Vermilion State Park should easily draw twice that number.

Done right, the park has the potential to significantly enhance the area’s tourism economy. Ely is perfectly situated, with its large number of existing visitor attractions, to capitalize on the new park. Between the wolf center and the bear center, and Ely’s wide array of restaurants and retail, the impact of the park could well be significant.

And the possibility of a new park opening to the public in 2012 is perfectly-timed to provide maximum synergy with Tower’s new harbor project, which will see the start of construction this year. The creation of the park makes the city’s harbor project all the more attractive to any potential developer.

The Tower and Ely area already has a lot going for it when it comes to tourism. But a major new state park would provide that additional boost that can make the difference between struggling main streets, and prosperous ones.

Don’t for a minute discount the value of tourism, as some local officials are often quick to do. Over the past few years, the area’s timber industry has all but collapsed and area mines went through extended layoffs that may not be over yet. Through it all, tourism has held surprisingly steady. It’s been the one leg of our timber, tourism and taconite economic stool that didn’t go wobbly on us when the broader economy went south. Tourism is a sustainable, long term industry for our area. It may not pay the wages of the mining industry, but unlike mining, it doesn’t run out and it doesn’t come with a long list of environmental ills.

We understand the concerns about loss of tax base. And we are well aware that the state of Minnesota has plenty of other state parks that desperately need maintenance funding.

But these are, in the end, short term considerations. Boosting local economies through increased visitor traffic, not to mention state payments in lieu of taxes, can more than make up for a loss of potential tax base. And most of those concerned about tax base forget that US Steel paid precious little in property taxes on its 3,000 acres in any case. And hope for a big tax payoff from the Three Bays development has always been tenuous at best. That project faced real questions about its viability from Day One.

And as for the state’s budget situation, that is a temporary problem that will eventually improve. It’s not a reason to pass up an opportunity such as this. The proposed new state park will ensure that Lake Vermilion is available for all Minnesotans to enjoy, for generations to come. That’s a great thing— and when you add in the economic benefits to our area, this park should enjoy broad support from all our local officials.