Check out the 2024 GNAR Initiative Highlight Reel!
Well, 2024 has come and gone, and it was quite the year! Like many of you, we're looking back on what we accomplished over the last twelve months and looking hopefully toward 2025.
What Is The Gateway & Natural Amenity Region (GNAR) Initiative?
The GNAR Initiative exists to help Western gateway communities, their regions, and public lands around them thrive and preserve the things that make them special. The Initiative does this by leveraging our three pillars – research, education, and capacity building – to help communities and land managers throughout the West prepare and respond to challenges.
Our Three Pillars:
Check out our GNAR Network or Toolkit Pages for more info.
Our Top Resources:
What is a "Gateway" Community?:
Small cities and towns outside of significant natural amenities such as national parks, public lands, ski areas, and scenic rivers throughout the western United States are becoming increasingly popular places to visit and live. As a result, many of these "gateway" and natural amenity region ( or GNAR) communities grapple with “big city” issues, including severe congestion, lack of affordable workforce housing, and concerns about sprawl.
Is there a formal definition of a "Gateway" Community?:
Yes! In their 2020 article in the Journal of the American Planning Association, Dr. Danya Rumore and Dr. Philip Stoker Stoker defined a "gateway community" as:
- A census designated place (CDP) of 150-20,000 people
- Within 10 linear miles from the boundary of a national park, national monument, national forest, state park, wild and scenic river or other major river, or lake, and
- Further than 15 miles from a census-designated urbanized area by road.
Read the Latest from The GNARly Blog
GNAR in the News:
Where’s the new St. George-Zion bus? A driver shortage has slowed its roll
The route is set. The buses have arrived. But as of early October, a new public transit line connecting Zion National Park with St. George is running behind its planned July start date. The hold-up has been hiring enough drivers, said St. George
Could building on public land address the housing crisis?
Here in the West, we are defined by our public lands: by the forests and deserts and steppes that comprise our backyards. The U.S. government owns 49% of the land in the 13 Western states, including Hawai‘i and Alaska, according to Headwaters Economics
State offers plan to help towns grow outdoor recreation — without turning into Moab
Division of Outdoor Recreation looks to give communities funds, data and a blueprint to expand their trails and access with the help of new strategic document.
The GNAR Initiative is a program of:
In partnership with USU Extension and the Environmental Dispute Resolution Program at the University of Utah
