Pair of Sandhill Cranes -- Value: $34
The Lincoln Journal Star ran a story a little while ago about the impact to Nebraska’s economy from Sandhill Cranes, and the hordes of birders and nature enthusiasts that flock to the Platte River every spring and fall to watch them. The total revenue comes in at around $10.3 million dollars. Considering there are about 600,000 Sandhill Cranes that migrate through the state, that puts the value of each individual bird at around $17.
Cranes Worth $10.33 million to Nebraska Economy
I wish those stakeholders and policy makers who can affect things such as habitat preservation or exploitation of wildlife knew the dollar power that birders bring with them. Take, for example, my beautiful and yet tragic Gyrfalcon I saw a couple of weeks ago. How many birders in the U.S. would LOVE to see a Gyrfalcon, and add it to their life list? How many birders might travel to central South Dakota in winter, if they knew of the incredible raptor numbers that were there? How much could South Dakota make in birding tourism dollars, if they, oh, let’s just hypothetically say PULLED the few permits they give out to falconers, and INSTEAD let those birds fly free and spent a bit of money on advertising winter birding opportunities in the state? What would have a higher dollar value for the state?
