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Show although much more slowly than for the Nation as a whole. An important practical avenue for increased economic activity is in greater efficiency of natural resources use. This has been done in part through the emphasis which has been placed upon recrea- tion, which has already become the second industry of the basin. Present Forms of Economic Development Manufacturing The primary economic activity is manufactur- ing, based largely on imported materials and fuels to produce energy. There are many small indus- tries based upon local resources. The manufac- tured products are generally exported from the region. The principal regional assets for manufac- turing are a highly skilled labor force, available capital, and the large adjacent markets. Although factory output has grown steadily in New England, it has not kept pace with industrial expansion elsewhere in the Nation. This relative decline is of long standing, having set in shortly after the great expansion of New England's in- dustry about a half century ago. Moreover, New England manufacturing labors under serious handicaps. The largest markets for New England's manufactured products have been moving steadily farther away. Transportation, raw materials, fuel, and power costs are all high. Relatively high wage rates have been partly offset by the skill and productivity of the workers. The total value added to products in manufactur- ing was 6.8 billion dollars in 1947 for all New Eng- land. Within the Connecticut Basin, the principal manufactured products are machinery, metal prod- ucts, tools, electrical products, paper, and textiles. Recreation The tourist and recreation trade in the basin, as in all New England, has become the second largest source of income. The bases for this industry are obvious. The large areas of forests and wildlands, the pleasantly rolling or mountainous landscape, the numerous and widespread attractive lakes, the miles of clear flowing streams, and of shoreline along nearby Long Island Sound are all within short drives of three of the largest metropolitan districts in the United States and several score of other large and medium-size urban concentrations. The result has been an intensive, well-known, and profitable rec- reational business in the basin. Moreover, in recent years the opportunities have been further exploited by the year-round use of some recreational sites. Monetary income directly traceable to the expendi- tures of vacationists in the Connecticut Basin has been estimated at 200 million dollars annually, in- cluding about 24 million dollars spent by hunters and fishermen. The great pressure on the available recreational facilities is reflected in the intensity of use and high value of many of the better sites. One of the great- est potentials of water regulation in the Connecticut River Basin lies in the possible contributions that it might make to further expansion of the recrea- tional resource. Agriculture Agriculture in the Connecticut Basin is closely related to the nearby urban markets. A large pro- portion of the production from New England farms flows directly into the New England industrial cities to supply them with dairy and poultry products and vegetables. The sale of dairy and poultry products furnishes almost 60 percent of the total farm cash income. Fluid milk is the principal dairy product. In the southern part of the basin tobacco is the leading cash crop, and in the vicinity of the larger cities vegetable production is intensive. For nearly a century the amount of land under cultivation and in pasture has been dwindling. The poorer areas have been allowed to return to forest. Farm woodlands make up about 25 percent of the total land areas of the basin, and "open" farm land embraces about 23 percent, of which less than half is cropland. The large amount of rough, steep land, infertile soils, and the concentration on dairying have re- sulted in a large portion of permanent (often im- proved) pasture and hay lands on farms. Most of the cultivable land in the northern section and along the eastern and western margins of the basin lies on the floor of the narrow valleys-the sites of potential reservoirs. This fact makes these lands a problem of special significance for water develop- ment. A large amount of the limited farm land is owned by part-time farmers, whose principal income is de- rived from urban employment, or by others who 469 |
