
SUMMARY OF SPORTSMEN'S EXPENDITURES, MISSOURI RIVER BASIN 
By 
A. J. Nicholson, Fish and Wildlife Administrator 
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and State agencies are 
concerned about the effects of Federal water development, such as those 
for irrigation and flood control, on the Nation's fish and wildlife re- 
sources. The effects of such developments are frequently expressed in 
monetary terms in order that benefits and losses may be appropriately 
assigned to a project. Since sport fish and game do noi nave a market 
value on which to base an evaluation, sportsmen's expenditures have 
been used as an indication of the value of these resources, 
Because of a lack of specific studies on sportsmen's expend- 
itures, fish and wildlife workers generally have had io reiy on esti- 
mates of expenditures by sportsmen in hunting or fishing. Since most 
fish and wildlife workers hunt and fish, and thus have direct knowledge 
of applicable expenditures, these estimates have been fairly accurate, 
Nevertheless, after passage of the Coordination Act (the Act of August 
14, 1946; 60 Stat. 1080; 16 U.S.C. 661; providing for studies of the ef- 
fects on fish and wildlife resources of Federal and ceriuin private water 
developments), specific studies of sportsmen's expenditures were con- 
sidered necessary. The Office of Missouri River Basin Studies, Fish 
and Wildlife Service, conducted a series of expenditure surveys in the 
Missouri River Basin from 1948 to 1954. These surveys were for the 
purpose of determining the average daily expenditure of fishermen or 
hunters using specific areas, and this daily expenditure was then used 
to determine the expenditure per pound of fish, or unit of bird or ani- 
mal bagged. 
These surveys have been reported individuaily. Unfortu- 
nately, most of the reports were reproduced in mimeograpned form 
and thus had a limited distribution. This publication is a brief sum- 
mary of these reports and is designed to consolidate the major findings 
for the use of fish and wildlife workers and others interested in the 
problem of fish and wildlife evaluation. Variations in sportsmen's ex- 
penditures that occur from area to area and between species are shown 
in tabular form, and the important factors influencing the expenditures 
