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The Colorado Division of Wildlife estimates fishing (net of boating) at $500 million per <br />year. Fishing licenses appear to be holding fairly steady from 2001 although no final <br />figures are available. Some fisheries, notably Antero Reservoir, were lost as water was <br />drained below the levels necessary to sustain the fish. There were fish kills on rivers (e.g. <br />Dolores), too. There will be future costs to restocking those fisheries after the drought, <br />but the extra cost over routine stocking is unknown. There will also be an offsetting <br />benefit in many cases as new reservoirs are generally better fishing sites than reservoirs <br />that have been filled for a long time. There is a loss here, but it is probably small. <br />3. Other Tourism Sectors <br />Other outdoor recreation: hunting and camping were estimated to account for about $500 <br />million in direct spending (this figure includes fishing). The state released 16,000 extra <br />cow elk licenses in September for fear that the elk would die over the winter anyway. <br />The elk herd in Colorado is still almost 50% higher than the Division of Wildlife's <br />estimate of the state's elk carrying capacity, so no loss can be attributed to the extra elk <br />harvest. <br />State park visits were down by about 5 %, but no breakdown is available between <br />recession, fire and drought. As of the early spring, park visits were expected to rise, so <br />there may be a significant loss versus the expectations. The Parks division estimates a <br />total loss against expected visitors of around one million visitors. A study contracted for <br />them estimated local area expenditures of $66 per visitor, suggesting a direct loss of $60- <br />70 million due to fewer visitors to the state parks. Most of this probably overlaps with <br />boating losses so the net might be a direct loss of $20 million and an economic impact <br />after counting multipliers of perhaps $50 million. <br />Overall lodging for the state is down slightly, but no more than could be expected from <br />the recession plus fear of flying after September 11th. Somewhat surprisingly, lodging <br />appears to be up in Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs and Salida, all areas where <br />drought effects would be expected to appear. There are surely some areas where there is <br />a loss within the state, perhaps the Durango area, but not enough to show up in the <br />statewide figures. Losses may be included in the park visitors and boating losses. <br />The total loss in tourism appears to have been perhaps $200 million in boating and <br />rafting, plus perhaps $50 million in other parks - related tourism. Many of the feared <br />losses have apparently not materialized. And, while the $250 million represents a 30- <br />50% loss in water - dependent tourism, it is less than 4% of the total tourism sector. <br />D. Forest Fires <br />The costs of forest fires include the cost of fighting the fire, the loss of value of the <br />forests and improvements that burn, and the losses in income from inability to use the <br />forest in the future (to the extent that loss of use is not captured by the value of the <br />burned forest). The drought contributed substantially to the record forest fire season in <br />Colorado. About 500,000 acres burned, including many acres in several fires close to <br />towns. The cost of fighting the fires plus immediate restoration has been estimated at <br />17 <br />