Economic Impact of Fishing and Hunting in Wyoming

The economic impact that fishing and hunting has in Wyoming is easily seen in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-associated report. This report states that in 2006, a total of 113,000 resident sportsmen in Wyoming spent $1.8 million a day for an annual total of $676 million. This amount of money definitely has an economic impact on the state of Wyoming as well as an impact on many lives.

The 113,000 resident sportsmen in Wyoming were responsible for adding $236 million in salaries and wages. They also added $62 million in federal taxes as well as $75 million in state and local taxes. The money spent by these sportsmen in Wyoming also adds a ripple effect in the Wyoming economy of $916 million.

Fishing and Hunting in WY.

How do Wyoming sportsmen rank amongst those of other states in relationship to the economic impact that they create? There were 113,000 resident sportsmen in the state of Wyoming and this puts Wyoming 46th in the nation for total resident sportsmen. This total number of resident sportsmen can further be broken down into resident anglers of which there were 96,000 and resident hunters, of which there were 50,000. These totals put Wyoming in 44th in the nation for resident anglers and 46th in the nation for resident hunters. The sportsmen who were both hunters and anglers were not counted twice in the total number of sportsmen for the state. There were also 107,000 non-resident anglers, which ranks Wyoming 29th in the nation and 52,000 non-resident hunters, which put Wyoming 46th in the nation.

How does the $675 million spent by sportsmen in Wyoming break down? In 2006, fishing in Wyoming brought in $528 million and placed Wyoming 334th in the nation. Hunting during this year in Wyoming brought in $147 million and placed Wyoming 41st in the nation. The combination of money spent by both anglers and hunters placed Wyoming 34nd in the nation.

Not only does spending done by the sportsmen in Wyoming add to the economy of the state, these sportsmen and their sports add jobs throughout the state. There were 9,500 jobs related to hunting and fishing in 2006, with 6,500 being fishing related jobs and 3,000 being hunting related jobs. This total of jobs related to hunting and fishing put Wyoming 38th in the nation, with fishing placing Wyoming 33rd in the nation and hunting placing Wyoming 39th in the nation.

These figures and rankings, which accumulated from sportsmen in Wyoming spending a total of 580,000 days afield, which puts Wyoming 45th in the nation and 1.2 million days on the water, which puts Wyoming 48th in the nation, clearly shows the economic impact that fishing and hunting have in Wyoming.

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