Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 11-18.
Tourists load luggage in preparation for a charter l ight to a wildlife observation camp in the
Okavango Delta region of Botswana. Photo courtesy of M. Storm.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife survey for 2006
suggests that 47.7 million individuals across the
United States engaged in bird watching activities
near their homes or on trips, and nearly 20
million individuals took special trips away from
home to observe wild birds (USFWS 2006).
While clearly not all these individuals visited a
wetland site to do so, the numbers suggest
a potentially large birding community that
wetland sites could target for recreational activi-
ties. Beyond wildlife watching and birding,
i shing and hunting also generate signii cant
revenues. Studies estimate that in the U.S. alone,
2.3 million migratory bird hunters spent approx-
imately US$1.3 billion on hunting trips and
equipment in 2006 (USFWS 2006).
As this section demonstrates, the economic
services provided by wetland habitats are
substantial and wide ranging. Balancing eco-
nomic needs with habitat conservation and
wise use is critical to ensure the sustainability
of ecosystems and the cultures that depend on
them.
Figure 11-19.
Information kiosk for tourists on the
Wetlands and Wildlife National Scenic Byway. The
byway route follows state highways as well as county
roads and includes Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira
National Wildlife Refuge in central Kansas, United
States. Photo by J.S. Aber.
(
Grus antigone
), which often reaches up to
1.8 m in height, among 360 other recorded and
rare bird species (Boojh, Patry and Smart 2008).
In other cases, wetland sites market themselves
as stopover points on intercontinental bird
l yways, promising the viewing of large numbers
of migratory birds and waterfowl. The North
American mid-continent wetlands complex of
Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wild-
life Refuge in central Kansas provides one such
example (Fig. 11-19).
11.5 Wetland valuations
Previous sections of this chapter have elabo-
rated on the numerous ecosystem services
and products that wetlands provide to society.
Examples also have illustrated that the use and
value placed on a wetland resource are always
context-dependent and based on numerous
locally contingent and in some cases regionally
