ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge input from Gary Hunt and Jonathan Rubin, who are members of David Lewis’s thesis committee. In addition, David Field, Thomas Power, and especially Gary Hunt provided,helpful comments,on an earlier version,of this bulletin. David,Lewis is appreciative of financial support,for his graduate studies provided by the,University,of Maine Graduate Assistantship and the Gloria Barron Wilderness,Society Scholarship. Cover Photo: Glastenbury Mountain in the Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont. Photo by David Lewis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY We analyze,the impact,of publicly-owned conservation,lands on employment and population growth in the Northern Forest region, defined for the purposes of this study as a group of 92 non-metropolitan counties,stretching,from Maine to northern Minnesota. Our principal,objective is to determine,if there is a systematic relationship,between,the share of the land base in public conservation,uses and employment growth,and net migration,rates in Northern Forest counties. Our main,finding is that public conservation lands had,little effect on the growth,of local economies,over the period 1990 to 1997. Net migration,rates were systematically higher in counties with more conservation lands, but the effects were relatively small. We found that conservation,lands had no systematic,effect on employment,growth,over the 1990 to 1997