Check this out - an article from 1997 that talks about just this with some
specifics. I went to Google and did a search on the title of the article
and came up with all sorts of hits, if you are interested.

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/OC/OCinfo/OCBv1n3.html

Thank you,
Cathy Wise
cathy.wise at attws.com
Marysville, WA
> ----------
> From: Lauren Braden[SMTP:LaurenB at seattleaudubon.org]
> Reply To: LaurenB at seattleaudubon.org
> Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 10:35 AM
> To: 'tweeters at u.washington.edu'
> Subject: Economics vs. the environment - from the OTHER side
>
> I am not sure where this orginated, but it is an interesting
> perspective...
>
> > BIRD WATCHING A US $25 BILLION A YEAR INDUSTRY
> >
> > Bird watching has become a major industry in North America (Canada, the
> United
> > States and Mexico). It generates cold, hard cash, and lots of it - - US
> $25
> > billion a year It employs over 60,000 people. It rivals the chemical
> industry
> > and the steel industry in economic clout. Bird watching is a
> non-consumptive
> > use of renewable resources. It depends upon the protection of wildlands
> and
> > wilderness habitat. It thrives and grows on the protection of
> biodiversity.
> > Yet the economy and employment provided by bird watching is being
> threatened
> > by traditional economic activity, such as forestry (levelling forests,
> > strip-mining, and chemical industries, that destroy bird habitat,
> pollute
> bird
> > air and water, and reduce biodiversity.
>
> Unfortunately, there is no Bird Watching Industry Association that has
> matched lobbying clout of the Mining
> > Associations or the Pulp and Paper Associations. How often do you hear
> an
> > orchestrated complaint from the forest industry that environmentalists
> are
> > threatening logging jobs and threatening economic growth? What you don't
> hear
> > are the bird watching jobs and others like fisheries jobs are threatened
> by
> > the clear-cut logging and strip-mining. It is no longer a matter of
> forestry,
> > mining, oil extraction versus the environment. It is no longer a matter
> of
> > economic engines being stymied by nature-lovers. It is a matter of
> economics
> > versus economics. Jobs versus jobs. There is big money and huge
> job-creation
> > in environmentally-friendly jobs such as bird watching. An economic
> balance
> > must be struck between the two economies. Part of this balance includes
> > providing a strong lobby on behalf of bird watching and the environment
> > industries that are being threatened by unsustainable development. Part
> of
> > this balance means modifying tax and fiscal measures to level the
> playing
> > field between the competing economies. It also means shifting to a
> sustainable
> > economic accounting approach by both governments and industry. Visit the
> > Audubon Society website at http://www.audubon.org/campaign/ .
> >
> > ********************************************
> >
> >> THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER
> > 506 Victoria Ave., Montreal, Quebec H3Y 2R5
> > Ph. (514) 369-0230, Fax (514) 369-3282
> > Email cibe at web.net
> > Vol. 5, No. 5, February 6, 2001
>