Jodi Peterson

Associate Editor

In the “Nature as Economic Engine” category, a new federal report says the nation’s wildlife refuges return $4 in economic benefits for every dollar the government spends on them. Brodie Farquhar reports in the Casper Star-Tribune:

(The “Banking on Nature” report) compiled by Fish and Wildlife Service economists, said nearly 35 million people nationwide visited national wildlife refuges in 2006, supporting almost 27,000 private sector jobs and producing about $543 million in employment income. The national economic benefit is almost four times the $383 million appropriated to the National Wildlife Refuge System in fiscal year 2006. In addition, recreational spending on national wildlife refuges nationwide generated nearly $185.3 million in tax revenue at the local, county, state and federal level.

The report shows the value of healthy wildlife populations — in a way that even a politician can understand. Yet our 548 wildlife refuges remain chronically underfunded and understaffed. Many have been closed. We first wrote about the problem back in 2001 (here) and this spring blogged about a report detailing the dire state of the refuge system.