This is a great summary of a report just released showing that outdoor recreation brings a huge economic impact to the Gulf Coast, and creates more jobs than previously thought. The link to the article is below

For example, according the article, "wildlife-base tourism in the Gulf Coast is responsible for 2.6 million jobs in the region – five times the number of jobs generated by the region’s three next resource-based industries, commercial fishing, oil and gas, and shipping."

Always nice to have hard numbers to remind well-intentioned (and not-so-well-intentioned) civic leaders of the importance of protecting the resource. As we all know, money talks!

Gulf Coast Economics: Fish and Wildlife Dollars Hammer Development | Field & Stream