SWSI Environment and Recreation Needs and Priorities TRT Draft

• Technical Roundtable: Recreation & Environment
• Title: SWSI - Environment and Recreation Needs and Priorities White Paper
• SWSI II - Doc Type: White Papers

skiing in addition to pleasure boating. It is difficult to estimate participation rates for lake
boating because different government agencies maintain the different lakes. The impact of lake
levels on boating has not been estimated, but low lake levels can be expected to hamper
boating.

Visitor days to Colorado State Parks average over 11,000,000 per year. The Colorado Division of
Parks and Outdoor Recreation (CDPOR) estimates that boating at the lakes and reservoirs at
these state parks generates over $375 million per year to the state economy. Boating at other
public and private lakes and reservoirs is not included in this estimate (CDPOR 2004).

River boating in Colorado is largely associated with river rafting and kayaking. These river
boating activities have expanded rapidly during the past 10 years and are very reliant upon
water availability. For example, according to the Colorado River Outfitters Association, the
number of whitewater rafting user days jumped from 208,940 in 1988 to 523,587 in 2001. The
2002 drought was reported to have caused a 39 percent drop in whitewater rafting to 319,562
user days. The Colorado River Outfitters Association also states that the economic impact of
whitewater rafting increased in nominal terms from $75 million in 1993 to $125 million in 2001.
Using these figures, the economic impact equals $391 per user day (Colorado River Outfitters
2003) .

Fishing

Fishing has the largest number of participants of any water-based sport. There were 915,000
participants in fishing in Colorado in 2001. Table 1 shows statistics from the National Survey of
Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, published by the U.s. Census Bureau
(2001). Fishing occurs in Colorado's lakes, reservoirs, and streams.

Table 1 Colorado Fishing Statistics

· · . mIl ._1
~nglerS in-state I 778,000 I 830,000 I 915,000
Days in-state 6,284,000 8,232,000 9,267,000
State Resident Anglers I 567,000 I 671,000 I 626,000

Source: 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-
Associated Recreation

Table 2 lists expenditures in Colorado by United States residents for fishing in 2001, broken out
by sub-categories.

Table 2 Fishing Expenditures in Colorado (Thousands of Dollars)

Revenue Source

. .

Food and Lodging

$157,182

- $102,845
Transportation
Other Trip Costs I $45,689
Fishing Equipment $75,412
Auxiliary Equipment I $22,147
SQecial EguiQment $199,673

I TOTAL $602,948

Source: 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-
Associated Recreation

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