Visitor Spending at National Wildlife Refuges Boosts Local Economies by $3.2 Billion

 

U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt announced today that 53.6 million people visited national wildlife refuges in 2017, which had an economic impact of $3.2 billion on local communities and supported more than 41,000 jobs.

The figures come from a new economic report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service titled Banking on Nature 2017: The Economic Contributions of National Wildlife Refuge Recreational Visitation to Local Communities. The report is the sixth in a series of studies since 1997 that measure the economic contributions of national wildlife refuge recreational visits to local economies.

“The National Wildlife Refuge System continues to be a strong economic engine for local communities, supporting tens of thousands of jobs across the country. President Trump is committed to expanding public access to these natural resources and improving recreation infrastructure so more people have the opportunity to experience our world-class refuges and enjoy the great outdoors,” said Secretary Bernhardt.

National wildlife refuges add tremendous value to our nation’s economy in the people employed and the money spent by visitors to support recreation and conservation activities. The U.S. economy added nearly 6 million jobs since January of 2017 and has an unemployment rate at 3.6%, which is the lowest rate since 1969.

The report analyzes recreational visitation at 162 national wildlife refuges around the country to estimate the economic role refuge visitors play in local economies. This report uses the individual refuge results to estimate the local economic contributions of the entire Refuge System.

Article provided by U.S. Department Of The Interior.