S2_11-15-04

• Basin: Statewide
• Title: SWSI Phase 1 Report - Section 2 Statewide Demographic, Economic, and Social Setting
• Date: 11/15/2004
• Author: CWCB
• SWSI - Doc Type: Final Report

Section 2
Statewide Demographic, Economic, and Social Setting
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).
2.2.3.3 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 2-10 shows statistics
from 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 2-10 Colorado Fishing Statistics
~e
Anglers in-state 778,000 830,000 915,000
Days in-state 6,284,000 8,232,000 9,267,000
State ResidentAnglers 567,000 671,000 626,000
Source: 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife
Associated Recreation
Table 2-11 lists expenditures in Colorado by United
States residents for fishing in 2001, broken out by sub-
categories.
Table 2-11 Fishing Expenditures in Colorado (Thousands of
Food and Lodging $157,182
Transportation $102,845
Other Trip Costs $45,689
TOTAL $602,948
Source: 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and
Wildlife-Associated Recreation
The expenditures per angler day average about $65
($602,948,000 divided by 9,267,000 angler days) for
food and lodging, transportation, other trip costs, and
equipment.
2.2.3.4 Recreatian and Tourism Employment
Employment in recreation and tourism in Colorado
accounts for about 8 percent of the state's total
employment. Table 2-12 illustrates how recreation and
tourism employment has increased in recent years. In
this table, the 1997 and 1999 values for employment in
all industries are interpolated.
Table 2-12 Employment in Tourism vs. Employment in all
Colorado Industries
~~~
Employment 197,898 212,222
in Tourism
Employment 2,448,120 2,550,276* 2,652,432* 2,958,899
in all
Industries
Tourism 7.8% 8.0%
Percentage ~
Source: Center for Business and Economic Consulting Inc.
Tourism Jobs in Colorado, April 27, 2001. U.S. Bureau of
Economic Analysis www.bea.gov/bea/regional/reis/default.cfm#la)
*Denotes Interpolated Data
2.2.3.5 Golfing
In 2002, the Colorado golf industry directly contributed
over $560 million into Colorado's economy as detailed in
Table 2-13. Based on a survey conducted in 2003,
Colorado had 264 golf courses, which is over half of the
466 total in the Mountain Region (Wyoming, Utah, and
the northern half of both Arizona and New Mexico). The
total acres of land invested in Colorado golf courses in
2002 was 35,600 acres, of which 19,837 were in irrigated
turf grass. A notable trend in water resource
management at golf courses is the use shift of some
irrigation water from surface water to reclaimed
wastewater. The use of reclaimed water is growing
significantly. In 2002, 61 percent of irrigation water came
from surface water while 10 percent was from reclaimed
water. By 2002, surface water use had declined to
52 percent and reclaimed wastewater had increased to
20 percent (Davies et al. 2004).
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