Hunting, Fishing, and Outdoor Recreation Survey

Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature.

Last year saw the completion of the census. Done very ten years as directed by the Constitution, it begins to provide a wonderful picture of who we are as a nation and how we’ve changed. However, every five years is another nation-wide survey that begins to provide us with a picture of who we are as outdoorsmen and women.

Beginning this spring, interviewers will begin collecting information for the 12th National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. This survey tells us how many anglers, hunters, bird watchers and wildlife photographers America has, and how much money they spend on their sport. The information is collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, primarily through telephone interviews done April to June and September to October in 2011, and January to March in 2012. Participation is voluntary and all responses are confidential. Preliminary survey findings will be available in the spring of 2012.
Part of the importance of this survey, especially for areas with strong recreation economies like the Southern Appalachians, is that it measures how much people in each state are spending on activities like fishing, hunting, and bird watching. Also, given that a great deal of wildlife conservation is funded through hunting and fishing license fees, tracking the number of hunters and anglers gives an idea not only of demographic trends, but also the funding trends for state wildlife conservation programs.
For WNCW and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, this is Gary Peeples.