Tri-State Outdoor News

It was a sunny, but still very cold, Sunday afternoon, while sitting in a Chinese restaurant in Mt. Carmel, Illinois, that this thought came over me. “Do you realize the significance of this meal?” I asked my birding companions.

“We were hungry,” one of them answered with a laugh.

“No, I mean what brought us to this restaurant?”

Again, with a quirky response, “Your truck?”

Just as I realized that they were missing the point, one of them said, “Cane Ridge.”

“Sort of,” I said. “But what about this meal?”

I could tell by their looks that the point I was trying to make was close but not exactly finding its mark. One thing that was obvious was that we had just driven 30 miles to have lunch and do some bird watching at the Cane Ridge Least Tern and Wildlife Area just across the Wabash River in Indiana.

That was the point I was trying to make – our afternoon of bird watching and wildlife viewing was having an economic impact on the city of Mt. Carmel, albeit a small one, but still a contribution to the economy in a time when our economy has slowed down.

A few weeks back, I was reading through the most recent Survey of Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife Associated Recreation that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducts every five years. In the 2006 survey, a most interesting trend surfaced, and it was that little factoid that popped into my head as we sat in the restaurant: The economic impact of hunting and fishing now lags behind that of wildlife viewing; the very purpose of our Sunday afternoon drive.

As I sat savoring some delectable coconut shrimp, it occurred to me that just like the hunter (of which I am one) who plops down a ten dollar bill for a box of ammo or the fisherman who spends five dollars on live bait, our ten bucks worth of gas and lunch at an out-of-town restaurant, combined with a recently purchased spotting scope and binoculars, our bird watching activities were having a positive economic impact – both locally and on a much larger scale.

Based on data compiled in the 2006 survey, more than 87.5 million people spent $122.3 billion on outdoor recreation. So you can see that outdoor recreation has a definite following as well as an economic impact.

For decades, hunting and fishing were the prime outdoor objective, but over the last 15 years, the number of people who hunt or fish has declined. What has increased is the number of people involved in wildlife viewing – be it a Sunday drive along the back roads your hometown, or a day trip to a specific area such as Cane Ridge. And for many folks, wildlife viewing includes overnight trips as well.

Of those 87.5 million people, 71 million were wildlife viewers who spent $45.7 billion of the $122.3 billion on feeding, photographing and observing wildlife. Compare this to the 30 million anglers who spent $42 billion on their interests, and the 12.5 million hunters who spent $22.9 million on their pursuits. For the wildlife viewers, this was an 8 percent increase over the 2001 survey.

The survey also shows that when it comes to wildlife viewing, 50 percent of the spending was on equipment while the other half was spent on transportation, lodging and meals. Sounding familiar?

So what’s the point? Well, the point is that wildlife viewing, be it bird watching or seeing how many deer you can spot during a pleasant drive through the country, is relatively cheap and educational fun. All you need is a pair of binoculars, suitable nature books, a camera if you like to take pictures, and you’re set.

It could be that since wildlife viewing is not an expensive form of fun and recreation compared to other outdoor pursuits, more people have taken up wildlife viewing and bird watching. Another good impetus has been the focus on endangered and threatened forms of wildlife and a new awareness of our environment – the reintroduction of the bald eagle and its success is one such example. Just 20 years ago someone living in southwestern Indiana would have had to drive hundreds of miles to get a chance to see our American symbol. Nowadays, a drive along any river, or a visit to one of our reservoirs or wildlife areas, will often lead to a sighting. We saw two eagles that day and nesting eagles at that.

The bottom line is that wildlife viewing is not expensive and you never quite know what you will see because you can do it all year long – unlike hunting and fishing. But more importantly, even more timely, is that this simple form of outdoor recreation carries with it tremendous economic impacts even though you might not notice it yourself.

Take for instance our stop at the Mt. Carmel restaurant. We had planned a Sunday afternoon outing for that day. The subject of lunch came up before we hit the road and it was mentioned that there was a very good restaurant near our destination. Having never been there, and being a great lover of Chinese buffets, I was all for it. But it never occurred to me at the time just how significant that decision would be and how our choice of lunch stops would actually fall in line with the economic survey on outdoor recreation.

Now multiply this several times for each trip we might make on a Saturday or Sunday, most involving a meal or two, and definitely some fuel, and it starts to become clear that our love for the outdoors is much more than just outdoor recreation — it’s helping our economy in troubled times even if it is just $10 or $20 at time.

It’s no secret that we are in the midst of a recession and people aren’t spending money like they did just a couple of years ago. And because many people are scaling back on summer travel plans, now is a perfect opportunity to discover what can be found in their own backyards via shorter trips to places such as the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge, the Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area, Pike State Forest, Blue Grass Fish and Wildlife Area, Martin State Forest, Wesselman Nature Preserve, Beall Woods or Red Hill State Park, just to name a few. All of these are great wildlife viewing areas and give you the chance to have an economic impact on your own area simply by stopping at a local restaurant and having lunch or dinner.

The survey takers like to refer to these as the ‘multiplier effect,’ where the money we spend on outdoor recreation creates additional economic flow by way of jobs and such. Again, according to the 2006 survey, the $87.5 million dollars generated by outdoor recreation multiplies into $122.6 billion when you consider the jobs, taxes, and other spinoffs.

Another important aspect to the lunch this day was the fact that it was a locally owned restaurant, just like most of the eateries we visit while on bird watching excursions. We always try to find the local spots not only because the food tends to be better, but the fact that the money is being funneled directly into the local economy.

Take for instance this magazine. We’re a direct spinoff off outdoor recreation right here in southwestern Indiana and southeastern Illinois. We’re also free to the reader thanks to our advertisers. And every time a reader opts to do business with one of our advertisers, not only does the money stay local, but it also multiplies out to a product you love, that being entertaining features and news about outdoor recreation right here in the Tri-State.

We’ve all heard about how tough the next year or so is going to be, but that doesn’t mean we have to abandon all forms of recreation. In fact, I would encourage readers to get out and do more wildlife viewing and stop along the way to have lunch, or maybe even visit a local retailer in that area. The worst thing we could possibly do is nothing, and that results in spending nothing. Yes, we all have to watch our pennies, but we also need recreation to keep us upbeat and optimistic, and by stopping to have lunch or buying a little gas is a great way to double the effect of wildlife viewing. We get the entertainment value while also doing just a little bit to keep the economy moving.