OUR VIEW: Northwestern Minnesota's new logo promises to 'brand' the region as an attractive, outdoorsy place.

Wildlife recreationers spent $108 billion on their pastime in 2001, according to a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank's Center for the Study of Rural America. "To put that in perspective, that amount was more than the total cash receipts of the U.S. livestock industry in the same year."

Furthermore, "rural places with a regional identity that embraces both entertainment and wildlife amenities are probably in the best position to capture wildlife recreation's dollars."

Which means the Northwest Regional Development Commission deserves praise for recognizing exactly that.

The commission recently released a new logo for northwest Minnesota, and it's as easy on the eye as the sight of a breeze rippling across a field of wheat. The "Land of the Dancing Sky" logo smartly takes advantage of the northern lights, one of the region's finest but least-marketed natural wonders. By picturing the lights undulating above a fertile field, the logo does just what it's supposed to do: showcase northwest Minnesota in an intriguing and attractive way. It's a keeper.

The commission hopes to see the logo adorn northwest Minnesota products, ranging from snowmobiles to jellies and jams. It'll also be used to highlight unique attractions, a commission spokesperson said.

That makes the Center for the Study of Rural America's new numbers especially relevant.

The center's report, "Wildlife Recreation: Rural America's Newest Billion Dollar Industry," notes that in smalltown America, "new opportunities are not arising from traditional sources - commodity industries such as agriculture or mining." But the growth potential is there in wildlife recreation, which counted 82 million people as participants in 2001 - two-thirds to three-quarters of whom live in metro areas.

Consider a case study everyone in northwestern Minnesota knows: Cabela's. The outdoor sporting goods company's East Grand Forks store now is a regional landmark, and it's just one of several Cabela's to have opened around the Midwest in recent years.

But communities as well as businesses can take advantage of these historic growth trends. Why is Cabela's growing? Because it's a smart, well-run company - and because it's capitalizing on the nationwide surge in wildlife recreation.

Can northwestern Minnesota capture some of that growth, too? Consider this: Four states have led the nation in per-capita spending by out-of-state residents for wildlife recreation, according to the center's report. They are Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.

Plains states can compete for wildlife recreationers, in other words. Northwestern Minnesota, the Land of the Dancing Sky, can, too.

Developers of the "Land of the Dancing Sky" logo hope that it will make northwest Minnesota residents and tourists more aware of what their corner of the earth has to offer.

The logo, developed by the Northwest Regional Development Commission this spring, is a trademark for northwest Minnesota products, said Kay Hegge, of the NWRDC, based in Warren, Minn. The logo features northern lights flaring over the northwest Minnesota landscape.

The commission hopes having a logo for northwest Minnesota will create a sense of pride in the products and landscapes the region offers and will promote and encourage tourism in Kittson, Marshall, Norman Polk, Penningon, Red Lake and Roseau counties and contiguous areas in Minnesota.

"This is very much like the "Minnesota Grown" (logo), except it's in the northwestern area of the state," Hegge said.

"We really are trying to brand the northwest area, so we have used it in a couple of ways," Hegge said. One way has been to encourage area artists to use the logo when they market their art work.

Meanwhile, on a regional level, the NWRDC plans to set up a Web site that will list local producers of fine quality northwest Minnesota goods from snowmobiles, to hay to fine jewelry, Hegge said. The Web site also eventually will include "shopping adventures," which will list restaurants, shops and destinations in designated cities.

"It's going to all be a part a promotion of our region," Hegge said. Use of the Land of the Dancing Sky logo also has potential to extend to communities and counties that could use it to highlight unique attractions, she said. For example, one promotion could be "The Bridges of Norman County," she said.

The NWRDC wants to "tell people there is life north of Fargo and tell the world about the vast expanse of prairie," she said.

Information on northwest Minnesota tourism: www.visitnwminnesota.com