"The Economic Potential of Rewilding the Adirondacks"

I found this article on The Adirondack Almanack that related to our proposal supporting the reintroduction of native wildlife such as the wolf or moose or as the article refers to them "megafauna." The main argument of the article is that wildlife is one of the major factors that drives tourism revenue, citing the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone leading to higher percentage of visitors hoping to catch glimpse of the animals. The author, Steve Hall, contends that this influx of visitors lead to 35 million more dollars being spent in local economies surrounding Yellowstone. Interestingly many if not all of us saw or met Steve Hall or his wife Wendy when we visited the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge in Wilmington on our field trip. One point that I definitely agree with and have seen in action is the idea that wildlife tourism is not necessarily about what you are likely to see but "what you believe you may see." He also notes that even seeing an animal cross a road could be a huge draw. I have seen this idea in action on Cape Cod where the presence of Great Whites has been selling T-shirt and drawing media attention to the coast for the past few years. Steve also points out that when ROOST (The Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism) took surveys of tourists in the park the only mention of wildlife viewing was the "Wolf Walk" program that he runs at his refuge.  In the conclusion of his article to asserts that this introduction would not only broaden the Adirondack economy but also "promote a real return to 'Forever Wild.'" I thought that his argument made a lot of sense, but after taking part in many of the discussion we have had in class I have trouble seeing his plan coming to fruition without complication and compromise. I also wonder what else he would consider to be "a real return to Forever Wild" in the Adirondacks because as we have discussed in class the phrase invites ambiguity and argument.


Here's the link if you want to read his overview and argument further. I found the article to be a very cool way to wrap up my posts for the class as it provided a certain level of continuity between the experiential and human elements of the field trip and the many themes and discussion we have had in class: http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2014/12/the-economic-potential-of-rewilding-the-adirondacks.html