Tourism in the region remained strong in spite of a late ice-out, a cool, rainy summer and a still recovering economy. As an industry, it may be the region’s most recession-proof and it poses the least risk to the environment.

It also holds promise for expansion through better and wider marketing to more communities and groups.

The development of the Vermilion State Park also promises to bring a boost to local tourism, which, in turn, benefits area restaurants, motels, resorts and shops.

Even so, much of the focus on job creation on the Range has shifted to potential mining operations. Make no mistake, mining jobs have and will continue to be an important component of the Iron Range economy, but the relentless focus on mining by local officials in recent years has the potential to be harmful. It’s important to work toward a more diverse economy that doesn’t pin all its hopes on a single industry. Such an approach invariably leads to failure.

Consider the case of International Falls, where the community has relied for decades on its paper mill as the economy’s mainstay, and largely dismissed the value of tourism. In recent years, massive layoffs at the mill, triggered by changes in the struggling paper industry, have taken a toll on the community. That change has motivated more efforts to diversify the local economy as the community attempts to replace lost jobs with new opportunities. But it’s an effort that has been made far more difficult by the community’s previous focus on a single industry and the lack of a tourist-related infrastructure.

Duluth, by way of another example, has benefitted from its new approach to economic development by focusing on the quality of life the community offers. While shipping and industry still play a role in Duluth’s economy, the community’s growth can be attributed to more development of sectors like education, hospitality, and health care. It’s all made for a far more diversified economy, one that’s less subject to the booms and busts normally associated with extractive industries. While tourism-related jobs are often lower-paying, tourism is critical to the survival of the vast majority of main street businesses in communities like Ely, Tower, and Cook. Most have weathered mining busts many times over the years, but without that steady and predictable influx of summer tourist revenue, few would survive the long winter.

This paper has long advocated a focus on quality of life as an economic strategy for our region— it’s an approach that’s proven successful elsewhere and it involves more than just tourism. Such an approach does not, by any means, preclude extractive industries. It does, however, mean that you don’t sacrifice the qualities that bring new residents and private investment to the region in favor of short-term industrial development.

We’ve seen the results of that approach on the Mesabi Iron Range. And while those mining-dependent communities manage to get by when the mines are humming, we all know the long-term prognosis. When the ore is gone, those communities will disappear as well. Efforts to build a tourism sector on the Mesabi Range have struggled time and again, despite considerable investment, because the devastated landscape simply doesn’t support it. The Mesabi Range put its eggs in one basket, and it will inevitably have to live with the results of that historical reality, despite the best efforts of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board. For communities north of the Mesabi, where the beautiful lakes and forests remain in their natural state, quality of life is still a key driver of economic growth and investment.

It shouldn’t just be environmentalists who recognize that. Everybody should.