Hunting makes big economic impact

By RON TSCHIDA Chronicle Staff Writer

Nonresident elk hunters spent nearly $20 million dollars in southwest Montana in 2002, the most recent year for which figures are available, according to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

"That's the direct expenditures, for things like gas, food, lodging, outfitter fees," said Rob Brooks, director of FWP's responsive management unit in Helena. "It does not include license fees or durable goods -- guns, packs, those kinds of things."

And it doesn't include the so-called multiplier effect, the idea that money ripples through the economy, being spent several times and widely boosting prosperity.

"A hunter spends a dollar down there at Bob Ward's in Bozeman, that pays for lights, salaries," Brooks said. "The salaries, those employees go out and spend that money again.

"It's about two to three times depending on the industry," Brooks said, so the hunter spending could mean a $40- to $50-million boost for the economy in places like Ennis, Bozeman and Gardiner.

Scott Davidson, owner of Scotty's Long Branch Supper Club in Ennis, said the hunters help extend his busier season deeper into the fall. By mid-October the anglers and summer residents of the Madison Valley are mostly gone.

"In the month of November I'd say (nonresident hunters comprise) about a third of my business," Davidson said.

Statewide, FWP estimates nonresident elk hunters spent $37 million a year; deer hunters $21 million; and pronghorn antelope hunters $2.2 million.

In Region 3 -- southwest Montana including Bozeman -- 9,200 nonresident elk hunters averaged just under seven days per hunt and spent and average of $314 a day, according to FWP estimates based on surveys.

FWP started tracking hunter spending in 1988, when the agency realized the direct impact of hunting wasn't being properly valued by the U.S. Forest Service as it was developing its forest plans, Brooks explained.

Forests provide timber for logs and grass for cattle, but also host a wide variety of recreation opportunities. Game managers wanted to make sure foresters took into account the economic importance of hunters.

"Leave some (timber) for the hunters," Brooks said. "What you're looking for is a mix of resource use out there that provides for a maximum of social good."

The cash hunters pull from their wallets is one measure of how much they value their pastime.

Harder to measure, but possibly even more important, is what planners call the "non-market valuation" of an activity. Hunters and other recreationists see a benefit beyond what they spend, Brooks said.

Brooks argues forest managers need to take these less tangible values into consideration when setting policy.

"It's an extremely important component of the value," Brooks said. And whichever way you value it, he added, "Hunting has a big impact in Montana."

Jayson O'Neill-Oine assisted with research for this report as part of his research as a Montana State University student.

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