In-migration to remote rural regions: The relative impacts of natural amenities and land developability

• Public lands are strongly associated with in-migration to remote rural areas.
• Land availability for development is positively associated with in-migration.
• Their associations are stronger in remote rural areas than in other areas.
• Forests and wetlands are not appreciably associated with in-migration to remote rural regions.
• Forests and wetlands become attractive when accessible via managed recreational areas.

Remote rural regions rich in natural amenities exist within distinctive developmental contexts and confront significant constraints to land availability for development in addition to economic growth and sociodemographic change. In this study, we compare the associations of natural amenities and land developability with in-migration in the counterurbanization process. Empirically, we focus on a remote rural subregion of the U.S. Lake States at the minor civil division level. Results suggest that public lands and lands available and suitable for development are strongly associated with in-migration to remote rural areas; their associations are stronger in remote rural areas than in other areas. Forests and wetlands are not appreciably associated with in-migration within this remote rural region. Forests and wetlands seem to become attractive to migrants only when they can be accessed through managed recreational areas. Policy implications of this study focus on the reconceptualization of the roles played by natural amenities and land developability in recent transformations taking place within remote amenity-rich rural regions.