JoseCuervo
New member
We read about how important it is for Hunters to protect the rights of ATV'rs to be able to ride their machines anywhere they want while hunting, and we even here quotes from one un-mentioned person *cough*TenBeers*cough* about the 75,000 ATV people in Idaho, and how hunters need their support...
Well, it looks like a half million people spent a ton of money in Wyoming WATCHING wildlife and spending a bunch of money. If the ATV crowd wants to save hunting, then they should clean up their act, as it looks like non-consumption of Wildlife is becoming an economic force to be reckoned with.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Wildlife watchers spend in Wyoming
Associated Press
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) – About 498,000 people engaged in wildlife watching in Wyoming during 2001, generating about $264 million in direct spending, according to a federal study.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials said the study released this week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gives evidence to the importance that people attach to diverse, accessible and robust fish and wildlife populations.
“(Wildlife watching) is a very important activity, not only economically here to the state of Wyoming, but personally with residents as well,” Bill Wichers, Game and Fish Deputy Director of External Operations, said Tuesday.
“There’s a very high interest in Wyoming in wildlife and wildlife-related recreation, whether it’s hunting, fishing or just viewing,” he said. “That’s one of the real attributes of this state and one of the reasons why a lot of people live here.”
Wichers said the report provides valuable economic information and estimates of “nonconsumptive” uses that most states and wildlife agencies use extensively.
Jean Clemens, a USFWS spokesperson in Washington, D.C., said the new report – the 2001 National and State Economic Impacts of Wildlife Watching Addendum – relied on data collected in the Service’s 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation.
The agency conducts the national hunting and fishing survey every five years and conducted similar surveys in 1991 and 1996. USFWS officials said the survey has a margin of error of about 5 percent.
Only participants whose principal motivation for the trip, activity or expenditure is wildlife watching were counted in the survey. The survey did not include trips or outings to zoos, circuses, aquariums, museums or for scouting game.
The survey found that 66 million Americans spent more than $38 billion in 2001 watching wildlife. Hunting, fishing and wildlife watching together generated over $236 billion in total economic output in 2001.
Wildlife watching refers to such nonharvesting activities such as observing, feeding and photographing wildlife. Direct expenditures by wildlife watchers included expenditures for items such as cameras, binoculars and birdfood, and for trip-related expenses such as lodging, transportation and food.
The report said for each $1 in direct spending associated with wildlife watching, an additional $1.49 of economic activity was generated indirectly.
In Wyoming, about 171,000 residents were wildlife-watching participants during 2001, or about 34 percent of the state’s population, according to the report.
The state also drew about 327,000 out-of-state visitors who came to Wyoming to view the state’s abundant wildlife.
Around the region, some 53 percent of Montana residents participated in wildlife watching, 70 percent of Utah residents, 77 percent of Colorado residents and 69 percent of South Dakota residents. Florida drew the most out-of-state wildlife watchers, about 490,000, in 2001.
The report said during 2001, the $264 million spent by wildlife watchers in direct expenditures and sales in Wyoming created about $8.6 million in state sales tax revenue for the state.
Nonresidents accounted for about $179 million of that $264 million.
“That’s no small chunk of change,” said Chris Burkett, the Game and Fish Department Strategic Management Coordinator.
“If you look at the number of nonresidents coming, that’s a pretty important fact to point out ... these people could be spending their money anywhere, but they choose to come here because we offer something that is relatively unique in the United States,” he said.
“That $179 million coming from out of state is brand-new money that’s being plugged into Wyoming’s economy,” Burkett said. “And the beautiful thing about it is they are just coming to look. The (wildlife) populations aren’t diminishing ... so this is kind of like free money.”
The economic output from wildlife watchers supported more than 6,557 jobs in Wyoming during 2001 and about $108 million income from those jobs. The economic impacts from wildlife watching represented 2.1 percent of Wyoming’s gross state product, according to the report.
Burkett said the department continues to work on habitat and development issues threatening some of the species that nonresidents come to view, including elk, deer, antelope, wolves, grizzly bears and bison.
“If we don’t work to really try and preserve some of these critters in the long run, then people will go and spend their money somewhere else,” he said. “There’s some real bad economic things that could happen if these resources go away.”
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Well, it looks like a half million people spent a ton of money in Wyoming WATCHING wildlife and spending a bunch of money. If the ATV crowd wants to save hunting, then they should clean up their act, as it looks like non-consumption of Wildlife is becoming an economic force to be reckoned with.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Wildlife watchers spend in Wyoming
Associated Press
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) – About 498,000 people engaged in wildlife watching in Wyoming during 2001, generating about $264 million in direct spending, according to a federal study.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials said the study released this week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gives evidence to the importance that people attach to diverse, accessible and robust fish and wildlife populations.
“(Wildlife watching) is a very important activity, not only economically here to the state of Wyoming, but personally with residents as well,” Bill Wichers, Game and Fish Deputy Director of External Operations, said Tuesday.
“There’s a very high interest in Wyoming in wildlife and wildlife-related recreation, whether it’s hunting, fishing or just viewing,” he said. “That’s one of the real attributes of this state and one of the reasons why a lot of people live here.”
Wichers said the report provides valuable economic information and estimates of “nonconsumptive” uses that most states and wildlife agencies use extensively.
Jean Clemens, a USFWS spokesperson in Washington, D.C., said the new report – the 2001 National and State Economic Impacts of Wildlife Watching Addendum – relied on data collected in the Service’s 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation.
The agency conducts the national hunting and fishing survey every five years and conducted similar surveys in 1991 and 1996. USFWS officials said the survey has a margin of error of about 5 percent.
Only participants whose principal motivation for the trip, activity or expenditure is wildlife watching were counted in the survey. The survey did not include trips or outings to zoos, circuses, aquariums, museums or for scouting game.
The survey found that 66 million Americans spent more than $38 billion in 2001 watching wildlife. Hunting, fishing and wildlife watching together generated over $236 billion in total economic output in 2001.
Wildlife watching refers to such nonharvesting activities such as observing, feeding and photographing wildlife. Direct expenditures by wildlife watchers included expenditures for items such as cameras, binoculars and birdfood, and for trip-related expenses such as lodging, transportation and food.
The report said for each $1 in direct spending associated with wildlife watching, an additional $1.49 of economic activity was generated indirectly.
In Wyoming, about 171,000 residents were wildlife-watching participants during 2001, or about 34 percent of the state’s population, according to the report.
The state also drew about 327,000 out-of-state visitors who came to Wyoming to view the state’s abundant wildlife.
Around the region, some 53 percent of Montana residents participated in wildlife watching, 70 percent of Utah residents, 77 percent of Colorado residents and 69 percent of South Dakota residents. Florida drew the most out-of-state wildlife watchers, about 490,000, in 2001.
The report said during 2001, the $264 million spent by wildlife watchers in direct expenditures and sales in Wyoming created about $8.6 million in state sales tax revenue for the state.
Nonresidents accounted for about $179 million of that $264 million.
“That’s no small chunk of change,” said Chris Burkett, the Game and Fish Department Strategic Management Coordinator.
“If you look at the number of nonresidents coming, that’s a pretty important fact to point out ... these people could be spending their money anywhere, but they choose to come here because we offer something that is relatively unique in the United States,” he said.
“That $179 million coming from out of state is brand-new money that’s being plugged into Wyoming’s economy,” Burkett said. “And the beautiful thing about it is they are just coming to look. The (wildlife) populations aren’t diminishing ... so this is kind of like free money.”
The economic output from wildlife watchers supported more than 6,557 jobs in Wyoming during 2001 and about $108 million income from those jobs. The economic impacts from wildlife watching represented 2.1 percent of Wyoming’s gross state product, according to the report.
Burkett said the department continues to work on habitat and development issues threatening some of the species that nonresidents come to view, including elk, deer, antelope, wolves, grizzly bears and bison.
“If we don’t work to really try and preserve some of these critters in the long run, then people will go and spend their money somewhere else,” he said. “There’s some real bad economic things that could happen if these resources go away.”
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
