According to a new report released by US Fish and Wildlife Services, Wyoming's wildlife refuges may be providing quite a bit of economic benefit to the state.
The report looked at nearly one hundred refuges across the country, including the Seedskadee and Cokeville Meadows National Wildlife Refuges in Wyoming. The report shows that these refuges brought in nearly half a million dollars to the surrounding area in 2011.
Co-author Erin Carver says she hopes that the report will be valuable, “I think it helps with the relationship between the refuges and their local communities and their development plans, to understand that refuges don’t just protect wildlife, but that they also support the local communities that they are located near.”
Wyoming has seven National Wildlife Refuges, four of which are open to the general public.