Wildlife advocates called for a boycott on Wyoming tourism after a Sublette County man used a snowmobile to run down a wolf in February, then taped its mouth shut and showed it off in a bar in Daniel before killing it.
The incident sparked outrage across Wyoming, and around the world, and inspired a motorcycle rally from Austin, Texas, to Green River, as well as dozens of posts on Wyoming social media pages calling for boycotts of all things Wyoming.
But it doesn’t appear those boycott efforts gained much traction when it comes to dousing Cowboy State tourism.
Wyoming lodging tax collections rose a healthy 12% year over year, jumping from $57.1 million to $64.1 million for the 2024 fiscal year that ended June 30.
A county-by-county look at the state’s lodging taxes for June, July, August and September provided by Wyoming Economic Analysis Division Chief Economist Wenlin Liu shows that all but five Wyoming counties pulled in more lodging taxes for the summer season as well, based on 3% lodging tax collections.
Some counties did substantially better.
Teton County, for example, added $459,921 year over year in lodging taxes for June through September, a 6.1% rise.
Dollar-wise, the second highest increase was around $122,000 more in lodging taxes for Park County, a 6.5% bump, followed by $58,209 more for Sweetwater County (12.2%), $52,700 for Sheridan County (16.4%), $51,000 for Natrona County (7.1%) and $42,600 more for Campbell County (13.1%).
Sublette County, where Daniel is, was not one of five counties that took in less money. It did well when it comes to increasing its tourism, rising 23.8% or taking in $35,500 more in collections for the June-September period. Percentage-wise, that was the highest rise for the summer timeframe in the state.
Sublette was followed by Weston County with a 20.2% rise of $7,100, Sheridan County with a 16.4% rise, Lincoln County at 15.6% with $40,900 more, and Campbell County with a 13.1% rise.
The counties where lodging taxes decreased included Platte County, which took in $9,300 less year over year, a drop of 11.4%; followed by Niobrara County with an 8.6% drop of $2,600; Laramie County with a 0.9% drop of $8,200; Uinta County with a 0.8% drop of $1,400; and Carbon County with a .5% drop of $4,880.
Visitation for Yellowstone National Park — wildlife central for many Wyoming visitors — rose 6% year over year for the period January through October, according to figures released by the park.
More Advertising
Johnson County was one of the counties that told Cowboy State Daily it took in record amounts in some of its summer months. Its overall increase was 9.1%, or $18,426 for the summer months.
Johnson County Tourism Association Marketing Director Toby Carrig credited an intense advertising campaign aimed at letting the world know it has a lot of the elements tourists find attractive about the Tetons in the Bighorns, including lots of wildlife.
“(Wildlife) is certainly part of our marketing efforts, both on our website and with print materials and social media,” he said. “From the wildflowers to birds to obviously the bigger game like moose and elk, that’s all part of the draw and attractions for this area. So, it’s certainly part of our efforts.
“Obviously, preserving that and making sure it remains a healthy part of the environment is something that’s important as well.”
Carrig said many visitors don’t realize that wildlife watching opportunities are actually spread across Wyoming. It’s not just in Jackson Hole.
“It’s certainly something you can see when you’re driving along Highway 16,” he added. “Or people have gone up on (Highway) 14 to the Bighorns. You can certainly get the opportunity to see wildlife up there.”
Carrig is also part of a working group that’s collaborating on trail development, pedestrian bridges and other projects in the region, things he believes will be of interest to tourists in the future.
“Our collaborative has been meeting for just under a year,” he said.
Wolf Abuse Didn’t Reflect Wyoming Values
Wyoming Office of Tourism declined an interview with Cowboy State Daily about the efforts it made to mitigate damage to Wyoming tourism in the wake of the Daniel wolf abuse case.
Among the immediate steps the agency took after the incident, however, was the cancellation of wildlife-related advertising. It also sent out emails to tourism directors and other stakeholders offering tips on how to manage the widespread public criticism over a wolf’s abuse by a Wyoming resident.
Office of Tourism Executive Director Diane Shober said then that what had happened isn’t reflective of the values of the state of Wyoming.
“Wildlife is a primary reason why people come (to) Wyoming,” she said. “And its protection and preservation are of utmost importance to us. We encourage all visitors to respect and cherish Wyoming’s wildlife and natural resources.”
Wyoming Office of Tourism spokeswoman Piper Singer said in an email that Wyoming “held off on paid and organic social for a few weeks,” but otherwise did not see “any major impacts at all.”
A report is due in January or early February that will include summer tourism results, she added, and “all indicators are that it was a great year.”
Some Attitudes Need To Shift, Wildlife Advocates Say
While tourism directors might be breathing a collective sigh of relief, that doesn’t mean advocates aren’t still concerned about the state’s image when it comes to wildlife in general, and predators in particular.
Some, like Wyoming Wildlife Advocates Executive Director Kristin Combs, believe it’s high time for a shift in the state’s attitude about popular predators like wolves and bears. The world is watching Wyoming bears like 399, she pointed out.
“Ask any tour guide who works in the northwest part of the state, and they will definitively say that people want to see bears and wolves,” she said. “That’s like the first two things their list, with moose maybe being third.”
Or maybe, don’t ask anyone at all — just take note of all the tourists who are eager to stop along the way, watching wildlife alongside the road and snapping photos — hopefully from the recommended safe distances.
“It’s like hundreds and hundreds of people,” Combs said. “And it is a huge economic boon to our state.”
Those benefits don’t just belong to Jackson Hole, Combs added. People are driving to get to Jackson Hole, and spending money all along the way. Also, many savvy tourists have already figured out they can find wildlife in less crowded parts of the state, like Johnson County and the Bighorns.
“There’s this sort of golden goose of wildlife that’s such a huge benefit, not only to the ecosystem, but also to our economy,” Combs said. “And we should really be like propping that up, helping that to be a thing that can happen in multiple places across the state.”
Combs feels that the state’s tourism success this year was probably partially due to many people not being aware of what happened in Daniel. She also doesn’t really feel that running down animals with a snowmobile is a good look for the state’s wildlife tourism.
“The state continues to have pretty record years of tourism, which I think just really outlines how important the wildlife is,” she said.
Building On Wildlife Tourism
One of the groups in Wyoming that has already formed around the importance of wildlife to Cowboy State tourism is the WYldlife for Tomorrow group, formed under the umbrella of the WYldlife Fund.
WYldlife for Tomorrow has estimated conservatively that wildlife tourism brings in at least $500 million to Wyoming businesses across the state. The inspiration for the group were business owners who benefit from wildlife tourism, but felt they had few robust ways to regularly contribute to its ongoing health.
The group has been gaining momentum in Wyoming, with new partnerships offering co-branded beers, coffee and even a co-branded hotel room in Saratoga at the Riviera Motor Lodge, complete with a beautiful wildlife mural.
The co-branded products kick back a percentage of their proceeds to WYldlife Tourism for Tomorrow, which then uses the money for conservation projects, such as restoration of sagebrush steppe in Grand Teton National Park and wildlife crossings along busy highways prone to accidents.
WYldlife for Tomorrow is a new approach to supporting wildlife in the state, and relatively young, but it’s been getting national attention.
“We’re literally just at the ground level of this, but we’ve already had other states reach out,” McBarnes told Cowboy State Daily. “They’re like, ‘Hey, we’ve heard about what you guys are doing, can you tell us more? We want to develop a program like that.’”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
