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More than $555 million was spent on wildlife watching activities in Utah in 2001, according to the 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife Associated Recreation.
The survey also found that wildlife-watching expenditures in Utah more than doubled in five years. In 1996, $236,626,000 was spent on wildlife-watching activities in the state. By 2001 that figure had climbed considerably, with $555,710,000 spent on wildlife-watching activities in Utah that year.
Conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the 2001 survey also found that 82 million U.S. residents (39 percent of the population 16 years of age and older) participated in wildlife recreation activities in 2001.
Wildlife-related recreationists consisted of 34 million anglers, 13 million hunters and a whopping 66 million wildlife watchers!
The 2001 survey also found that wildlife-watching expenditures amounted to $38 billion, with wildlife-watching enthusiasts spending an average of $374 per year (with an average trip expenditure of $22 per day) on wildlife watching activities.
"The amount of money wildlife watchers are contributing to the national and state economy is considerable and probably surprising to most people," said Bob Walters, Watchable Wildlife program coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources.