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February 14, 2005
Nature - an important rural intangible
Last summer, I wrote a piece for Rural Matters on "Building on Local Information Assets" (available at the Athena Alliance website). In that article I argued that rural areas have important local intangible assets upon which they can build economic development. Tourism is obviously one. But even I was taken aback when I heard a news item on the radio that wildlife-watching was an $85 billion industry (according to National Wildlife magazine).
And apparently growing. According to the 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, & Wildlife-Associated Recreation by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, wildlife watching was a $40 billion industry. Adding in hunting and fishing brings the total to $110 billion annually.
That is a lot of spending on an intangible. It is about as big as the $110 billion in 2004 expenditures for computer hardware industry, about a third the size of the $326 billion in personal consumption in 2004 of clothing and about a quarter the size of the $450 billion in personal consumption in 2004 of autos and auto parts. [From BEA release of January 28, 2005 "Gross Domestic Product: Fourth Quarter 2004 (Advance)"]
As Jason Henderson of the Kansas City Fed wrote last April in The Main Street Economist:
Nature has always been a strong foundation for rural America . Now, wildlife recreation appears to be the newest opportunity. The industry may not be the answer for every rural community, but those with entertainment and wildlife may be able to leverage Mother Nature to spark new growth.
(thanks to John Chester, the afternoon host at WGMS - Classical 103.5 for passing on this news item)
Posted by Ken Jarboe at February 14, 2005 6:14 PM
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