ABSTRACT
As Americans have become more urbanized, their relationship with wildlife has changed considerably. Traditional consumptive-use activities, such as hunting and fishing, continue to be popular forms of recreation, albeit for a decreasing percentage of the population. Wildlife watching, on the other hand, has become increasingly popular. Activities such as observing, feeding, and photographing wild animals are now a big business, accounting for expenditures of over $45.7 billion in 2006 alone (U.S. Department of the Interior 2006). Expenditures grew 19 percent in the five years since the previous survey. During the same period fishing and hunting accounted for $42.0 billion and $22.9 billion, respectively.
