The economy creates material wealth through the benefits derived from such things as factories, houses, roads, bridges, and manufactured goods and services. Some indicators of wealth in this category include income levels, available technologies, employment types, production capacity, inventories, miles of roads and poverty levels in a region. While median household income is on the rise, it is still less than the income required to purchase a median priced home. The environment contributes to community wealth through natural resources, recreation opportunities, and the services derived from healthy ecosystems. Some indicators of wealth in this category include board feet of timber, pounds of fish harvested, acres of wetlands and numbers of parks.
Natural resources play an important role in the job market of Humboldt County.
While the lumber and wood products industry provides about as many jobs as the tourism industry, the lumber and wood products industry pays a higher wage. The people, economy, and environment of a community are interlinked. People in our region clearly rely on extracting some of the area's natural resources for employment. Yet intact natural resource stocks provide nearly as many jobs through tourism. Many people working in the extractive industries are highly skilled and well-paid and do not want to jeopardize their family's stability.