Outdoor recreation—including skiing at Waubay National Wildlife Refuge, SD—generates $88 billion in federal and state tax revenue.Laura Hubers

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contributed about $4.2 billion in economic activity and supported more than 32,000 private sector jobs as a result of national wildlife refuges and other public lands managed by the Service, according to a recent report commissioned by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The report also shows that the total value of ecosystem services provided by habitat in the Refuge System is more than $32 billion each year. Ecosystem services include all the functions performed by nature that benefit people, such as climate regulation, waste treatment, water supply, and carbon sequestration, among others.

Produced by Southwick Associates, the 2011 report includes data on the economic value of natural resource conservation, outdoor recreation and historic preservation. All together, the economic impact in the United States—including from the Refuge System—is $1.06 trillion dollars—more than the gross domestic product of Australia.

Key findings:

• Outdoor recreation generates $88 billion in federal and state

tax revenue. The study measured camping and skiing as well as hunting, fishing and wildlife observation.

• The property value of homes near parks and protected areas is typically about 20 percent higher than similar homes elsewhere.

• About $2 billion was spent on construction and maintenance activities related to recreation

and conservation, supporting about 41,000 jobs.

• $222 million spent by the Department of the Interior on land acquisition contributed about $427 million in economic activity and supported about 3,000 jobs.

The full report is available online at http://bit.ly/uYlico.

Free Until April 1

 Quick: Where is your nearest national wildlife refuge? And what can you do for fun there?  Now there’s an app for that.

 And until April 1, you can still download it free of charge.

 “Myrefuge,” a mobile application by Zaia Design, helps outdoor enthusiasts explore natural areas and learn what resources refuges offer. It features searchable maps and instant information on bird watching, trails and historic sites. The app showcases 59 of the country’s 556 national wildlife refuges, up from 42 at its December launch. The count is expected to continue to grow.

“MyRefuge” can be downloaded from iTunes: http://bit.ly/v3diSJ and appshopper: http://bit.ly/uKh1jg. After April 1, the app will cost $.99.

 For each refuge on the app, detailed maps show trails, recreational facilities such as photo blinds, hunting blinds and fishing areas, and nearby public roads. The app tells viewers, for example, that the auto tour route through wildlife habitat on Charles M. Russell Refuge, MT, is 19 miles long and takes two to three hours to drive.  And that Canaan Valley Refuge, WV, contains some 20 hiking trails, identified by trail length and location. The app also tells you how near you are to any featured refuge.

 You can also pick up highlights of a refuge’s history, culture or wildlife setting. The Lombard Ferry on Seedskadee Refuge, WY, you learn, ferried westward pioneers across the Green River in the mid-19th century. You can learn how Ridgefield Refuge, WA, honors its Chinookan heritage at its Cathlapotle Plankhouse and how Malheur Refuge, OR, preserves and interprets Civilian Conservation Corps structures on the refuge. Birding information is big at Bear River Refuge, UT. And there are tips on bear safety at Kenai Refuge, AK. 

 The MyRefuge app was conceived by Eugene Marino, cultural resources program manager for the Refuge System. “The idea is to give people a new way to learn about cultural resources and other activities we offer,” he said. National wildlife refuges not only conserve America’s wildlife habitat: they also preserve archaeological sites, museum collections of artifacts, and historic homes and lighthouses. More than 320 refuges offer hunting and fishing. Many also contain hiking and canoe trails.

 Among refuges featured to date in MyRefuge are some from the West (for example, Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Refuge and Charles M. Russell Refuge, MT), the Midwest (Wichita Mountains Refuge, OK, and Minnesota Valley Refuge), the South (Pelican Island Refuge, FL) and Alaska (Kenai Refuge). Most are in the East (including Chincoteague Refuge, VA, and Rachel Carson Refuge, ME).

According to the 2010 census, more than 35 percent of Americans fall into “non-white” categories of African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American. A 2006 report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service showed that these groups made up less than 10 percent of the birdwatching community. A regional Focus on Diversity conference at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, PA, in October 2011, set out to change that. Nationally known birder and author Kenn Kaufman noted that “if we’re going to have protection for places like this refuge, we need to have a lot more people interested in birds.”

Gary Stolz, manager of Heinz Refuge,                      added that “national wildlife refuges such as Heinz provide important opportunities for people to explore, enjoy and learn about the environment within reach of our nation’s growing urban population. We have lots of beautiful wildlife right here within the city limits.”

The Fledging Birders Institute partnered with the refuge, with support from the Friends of Heinz Refuge, to bring together nature center managers, educators and other community leaders to begin engaging new audiences in birdwatching. Conference participants were challenged to set realistic goals for reaching new, broader audiences with birding opportunities. They were encouraged to develop simple action plans to achieve these goals in the coming months.

We need to create opportunities, repeated trips, mentors, colleagues and ongoing support,” said Paul Baicich, a member of the Refuge System Birding Team.

“Birds provide the ideal gateway to nature as they are beautiful and can be found virtually everywhere at anytime,” says Dave Magpiong, a middle school science teacher and founder of the Institute, which promotes birding for young people. Magpiong is looking for other regions and refuges interested in hosting similar conferences.

Videos of the Heinz Refuge conference and other resources are available at http://fledgingbirders.org/.

Outdoor recreation—including skiing at Waubay National Wildlife Refuge, SD—generates $88 billion in federal and state tax revenue.Laura Hubers

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contributed about $4.2 billion in economic activity and supported more than 32,000 private sector jobs as a result of national wildlife refuges and other public lands managed by the Service, according to a recent report commissioned by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The report also shows that the total value of ecosystem services provided by habitat in the Refuge System is worth more than $32 billion each year. Ecosystem services include all the functions performed by nature that benefit people, such as climate regulation, waste treatment, water supply, and carbon sequestration, among others.

Produced by Southwick Associates, the 2011 report includes data on the economic value of natural resource conservation, outdoor recreation and historic preservation. All together, the economic impact in the United States – including from the Refuge System —  is $1.06 trillion dollars – more than the gross domestic product of Australia.

Key findings:

• Outdoor recreation– generates $88 billion in federal and state tax revenue. The study measured recreation not widely offered on national wildlife refuges, like camping and skiing, as well as recreation often found on refuges, including hunting, fishing and wildlife observation.
• The property value of homes near parks and protected areas is typically about 20 percent higher than similar homes elsewhere.
• About $2 billion was spent on construction and maintenance activities related to recreation and conservation, supporting about 41,000 jobs.
• $222 million spent by the Department of the Interior on land acquisition contributed about $427 million in economic activity and supported about 3,000 jobs.

The full report is available online at  http://bit.ly/uYlico.

Sharp-eyed folks at the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex report sightings there.  Other sightings come from as far east Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts and as far south as Kansas.  Snowies also were spotted in Connecticut, New York, Maine, Vermont, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Washington state.

Why do snowy owls sometimes fly south en masse?  Snowy owls’ favorite prey are small rodents called lemmings, which are notorious for boom and bust population cycles.  Biologists think the owls’ “irruptions” south from the Arctic occur when lemmings are in short supply.  Sightings of snowy owlers in the Lower 48 ere compiled on a  map from reports on eBird and state bird listservs.

Unlike many other owls, snowies are active in the daytime.  They tend to perch at high points overlooking open sites such as beaches and airports.  Exhausted from their long flights, some starve if prey is scarce.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has more information on snowy owls.

Photo: Pat Gaines, Creative Commons

The first phase of the report, titled “The Economics Associated with Outdoor Recreation, Natural Resources Conservation and Historic Preservation in the United States,”   http://www.fws.gov/refuges/news/pdfs/TheEconomicValueofOutdoorRecreation[1].pdf, completed in September 2011, found that the economic value of all U.S. natural resource conservation, outdoor recreation and historic preservation came to $1.06 trillion.

The report said, “The total value of ecosystem services provided by the acres of natural habitats in national wildlife refuges totaled $32.3 billion per year.”  In addition, it noted, “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contributed about $4.2 billion in economic activity and supported more than 32,000 jobs through its management of refuges and thousands of smaller natural areas.”

The researchers further determined that homeowners near parks and protected areas are repeatedly seen to have property values more than 20 percent higher than similar properties elsewhere.

The report also concludes that the loss of nearly 10 million acres of wetlands in the United States since the 1950s has resulted in an economic loss of more than $81 billion in all wetlands-related ecosystem services. Ecosystem services include all the functions performed by nature that provide benefits to humans, such as waste treatment, water supply, carbon sequestration, and other aspects of nature that help modulate and regular climate. Saltwater wetlands, freshwater wetlands, temperate and tropical forests, grasslands, lakes, etc. all provide different levels of these environmental services.

By Dan Ashe, Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Like all duck hunters, I know that, oftentimes, the worse the weather, the better the hunting. I look at our current conservation climate in much the same way.

Although our nation is going through some rough economic weather right now, we can’t lose sight of the fact that there are still enormous needs – and opportunities – for fish and wildlife conservation.

I understand and respect hunters, anglers and shooters who believe that in the current budget climate, conservation programs should share in any cuts. This community has always put what is right ahead of what is easy, and I believe the reluctant support some may give for budget reductions comes from genuine patriotism.

But we should recognize that America has always found a way to enrich her conservation legacy despite difficult times. During the Civil War, President Lincoln inked a land deal for what later became Yosemite National Park. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl era, hunters supported landmark legislation that created the federal Duck Stamp and the Wildlife Restoration Act, contributing to the establishment of 142 wildlife refuges across the nation in that decade alone.

Now, the legacy of a century of conservation – indeed the future of the North American model of wildlife conservation – is threatened by the prospect of draconian cuts to conservation programs. These programs, though only a sliver of a percentage of the federal budget and largely inconsequential for deficit reduction, have been disproportionately singled out by some in Congress and their supporters.

This is not deficit reduction. These are policy and political objectives dressed-up as deficit reduction by those who seek to get those pesky fish and wildlife agencies – federal and state – out of the way of development. Never mind that America’s outdoor recreation economy generates 8.4 million, non-exportable U.S. jobs, most in rural areas, generating over $100 billion annually in federal, state and local taxes.

We recognize that we are stewards of taxpayer dollars, but I believe your state and federal conservation agencies have a demonstrated record of getting the most out of every dollar we do receive.

I urge everyone who cares about wildlife conservation and the future of hunting and fishing in America to stand up for our way of life. Demand that we live up to the courage and vision of our predecessors by holding the line on conservation funding. Participate in Ducks Unlimited’s “Double Down for Ducks” campaign and purchase two federal Ducks Stamps instead of one. Most of all, get out on the landscape with your kids and grandkids, and think about the kind of world we should leave to them.  It takes investment, and now is not the time to cut back on conservation spending.