Already, more than 20,000 people visit the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge annually, despite its remote location and the loss of its visitors center to the Great Salt Lake 13 years ago.
The future could see those numbers jump by more than tenfold as improvements are made to the 72,000-acre site in northern Utah's Box Elder County, says refuge manager Al Trout.He sees a day when the refuge could bring up to 250,000 visitors and millions of tourist dollars each year.
"Where we're at now for economic impact isn't indicative of the future," Trout says. "We've got tremendous potential here that is barely being tapped."
More than 30,000 people visited the refuge the year before 1983 floodwaters heavily damaged the site, despite its out-of-the-way location 16 miles off I-15.
Visitor numbers are climbing again, Trout said, but he would like to see the figures accelerate. Plans are in the works for a new visitors center that will be visible from the freeway, and refuge water systems are being overhauled and wetlands management updated.
Trout said the most important element in visitor growth will be the measure of cooperation refuge promotion receives from Brigham City and Perry businessmen.
"If people are looking at the government to drive this economic development, that's not how it happens," Trout said. "There is a huge potential out there, but it needs to be tapped by the private sector. You're going to have a few enterprising folks that tap into it. They're going to do well, and other people will follow."
The International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies reports that retail sales generated by hunting, feeding, watching or photo-graphing birds brought $64.2 million to Utah in 1991. More than 3 million people in the United States hunted migratory birds that year, and 24.7 million people watched, photographed or fed them.
"I expect our use for bird watching will be tremendous," Trout said. "But we have places for bird watching opportunities 10 months out of the year."
An entire economy could be created around the refuge, he said, with hotels, restaurants and shops selling bird-related merchandise.
The new $8 million visitors center, which will house exhibits, a 125-seat theater, classrooms and laboratories, should begin construction within five years. Congress has not yet allocated the money for its construction, however.
"That will bring in multiple hundreds of thousands of visitors," Trout said. "The potential is there."