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Economic Resource: Wild Horse Watching
There was a time, not long ago, when whales were on their way out due to hunting. But when people learned of their plight, the whale became so popular, people actually went out on the ocean to watch them. The activity became known as whale-watching. In the first big year of whale-watching, more revenue was generated in ecotourism than in the entire 25 years of whaling preceding it. Whales had become more profitable alive than dead. The same could hold true for wild horses. Because cattle and game animals generate dollars in one form or another, they’re considered more valuable than wild horses — who contribute nothing economically to the big picture. That makes it easy to round them up and ship them away, under a host of excuses as to why they must be removed. But if ecotourism for wild horses became an industry comparable to whale-watching, the wild horse would have some standing. Outfits such as the Frontier Pack Train in Bishop, CA,
keep wild horses alive on public lands. By supporting existing “wild
horse watching” businesses and by creating new ones, we secure a
future for wild horses on our public lands.
The
North Carolina example Corolla, NC, home of the Corolla wild horses, draws hundreds of tourists daily hoping to see the free-roaming herds. The horses' presence generates business for tour-guides and souvenir sales throughout the Outer Banks. At least four businesses make their money hauling tourists in four-wheel drive vehicles along Corolla’s beaches to see the horses. Business-owners like Scott Trabue of Wild Horse Safari enjoy seeing the herd and watching tourists awe-struck at the sight of a mare and her foal. "They are magical," he says. During a busy summer season, his guides will take as many as 10,000 people to see the horses, bringing in anywhere from $300,000 to $460,000 per season. Bob's Wild Horse Tours averages about 15 tours a day, estimating an average of $100,000 in revenues per four-month season. According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the county generated $100 million in tourism-related dollars in 2004. The County’s Director of Tourism has acknowledged the horses’ significant economic impact. Employees at Corolla's visitor center estimate that 40 percent of tourist inquiries are related to the horses, and the County uses the horse herd in all of its marketing endeavors. In November 2005, recognizing the economic value of North Carolina’s wild horses, Congress gave the National Park Service permission to increase the size of the herd on Shackleford Banks. The mandate is meant to maintain the herd's genetic diversity without straining the resources of the grassy barrier island where they live, part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. The herd's base size will increase to 110 and will periodically be allowed to expand to 130 or more, under a bill approved unanimously by the U.S. Senate. While Eastern states have embraced their wild herds as a tourism resource, in the West, whose spirit its wild herds truly embody, BLM has failed to acknowledge the wild horse as having any value on the range. Attempts to develop ecotourism programs in collaboration with the government are routinely ignored.
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