Financial Returns To Industry From The Federal Aid - Wildlife and ...

Case Studies
Case studies of how local projects funded through the Wildlife Restoration Program
benefit industry were identified using a two-pronged approach. The first round involved
state self-nomination of projects. The second involved a review of U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Services‟ IFAIMS database. All projects were explored in depth to determine the level of
data available to analyze return on investments. Those studies presented here are
those which offered a rich level of data and should not be seen as an affirmation of any
one particular project over another.
The following section develops brief narratives fourteen case studies. Every effort is
made to report either an Excise-Tax-Related ROI or Total Project ROI or both in all case
studies. However, not all case studies will present a ROI. Some will provide a synopsis
of economic or other benefits to industry from specific hunting/shooting opportunities.
As seen earlier in this report, the overall Return-On-Investment to industry related to the
excise tax nationwide regularly exceeds 1,000 %. Individual projects funded with the
excise tax can be viewed as individual holdings in an investment portfolio. While some
holdings yield a positive return, others yield a negative return. Likewise, with wildlifeenhancement
projects, most pay positive returns (as evidenced by the significant overall
ROI) but others, when measured as a stand-alone entity, are negative. Those with
negative financial returns are not inherently “bad investments.” They may pay huge
dividends to the advancement of knowledge to wildlife management and science that
can be applied to make other projects a success – dividends that cannot be measured
by traditional financial metrics. Additionally, a state relies on a mix of hunting
opportunities to attract sportsmen and women to hunt in their state. Similar to grocery
stores offering loss leaders in order to provide a wide selection of products that attract
customers, a diversity of hunting/shooting opportunities in a state--some with positive
ROIs to industry and some with negative--attracts more hunters. This is fine as long as
the cumulative result of all projects is positive for industry.
It is important to note that many of these case studies investigate projects that have
spanned many decades and total program expenses are not attainable. In these cases,
a period of “recent history” is highlighted to reflect annual rather than total investments,
purchases and return on investments.
Conservation and Management Case Studies
Case #1: North Carolina Wild Turkey Re-introduction
Data Contributors: North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, National
Wild Turkey Federation.
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