- Biodiversity
- Cultural Heritage
2014 | CREST and Stanford University |
Released in January 2014, this study examines the economic impacts of two outdoor recreational activities in the magnificent Great Bear Rainforest in coastal British Columbia: bear hunting and bear viewing. It is the first to compare the economic value of these two sectors and comes in the midst of public controversy over trophy bear hunting. The study was conducted by CREST researchers at Stanford University and in Washington, DC, together with two BC-based experts. The nine-month study finds that bear viewing tourism generates 12 times more in visitor spending than trophy bear hunting. First Nation peoples living in Canada’s magnificent Great Bear Rainforest have called for a ban on bear hunting, while the British Columbia government continues to issue hunting licenses. An article based on the study was published in the Journal of Ecotourism.