The authors argue that bear sightings are a measurable component of a park’s economic impact, going so far as to assign an approximate dollar value to each bear species.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Overall, the study concludes that “corresponding annual per-animal estimates of at least $46,000 for a grizzly bear and $15,000 for a black bear.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That puts the total annual value of Yellowstone bear sightings at roughly $8.7 million for grizzlies and $6.9 million for black bears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Can someone put a fixed dollar amount on a bear’s value?\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the grizzly gets potentially closer to being removed from the Endangered Species List, many states might be eyeing this study with interest, while conservationists are concerned.<\/p>\n
“Just as a wolf is the voice of the wild, the grizzly is the soul of the American wildland,” said retired wildlife expert Chuck Neal. “You cannot put a price on a grizzly head. The grizzly is priceless.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Many](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Yellowstone-grizzlies-Jonathan-Newton-via-Getty-Images-11.1.25.jpg\")
Many wildlife experts and advocates say you can\u2019t put a price on Yellowstone\u2019s famous grizzly bears, that they\u2019re \u201cpriceless.\u201d A new study says they\u2019re actually worth about $50,000 each a year to the park. (Jonathan Newton via Getty Images)Per Bear, Per Sighting, Per Year<\/p>\n
The study, conducted by Leslie Richardson with the NPS and Aaron Enriquez with the USGS, uses survey data collected in Yellowstone by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Visitors were asked to answer a series of targeted questions about their experiences viewing bears in the park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“What we’ve done is tried to quantify just one small piece of the total economic value of bears by estimating a ‘use’ value from bear sightings,” Enriquez told\u00a0The National Parks Experience<\/a>. “The entire total value of bears would be higher, especially if one accounted for ‘non-use’ values like existence value.\u00a0<\/p>\n “As more types of values get filled in over time, we’ll continue to have a better picture of how much society benefits from bears.”<\/p>\n The simplified explanation of the study is that the travel costs of Yellowstone’s visitors were used to determine the relative value of bear viewing per sighting per trip to reach an aggregate value of all bear sightings during the survey.<\/p>\n Equations derived from these numbers yielded the aggregate monetary contribution per bear in Yellowstone, per sighting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Using this formula, Richardson and Enriquez determined that the average value of a bear viewing during a two-day Yellowstone trip, based on visitors’ travel expenses, is $153, with a range of $57 to $549 depending on the season.<\/p>\n The value per bear sighting is $14.08 for each black bear and $15.91 for each grizzly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Using this value, the average per-animal view value of $46,178 per grizzly bear and $15,198 per black bear.\u00a0<\/p>\n That means that the “societal economic values” of bear sightings in Yellowstone are roughly $6.9 million for black bears and $8.7 million for grizzlies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Where’s The Value?\u00a0<\/p>\n The study puts a high price on each grizzly’s head, but even the authors expected some pushback given the high importance Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho place on bears, as reflected in each state’s per-animal restitution value.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wyoming’s restitution value is $5,000 per black bear and $25,000 per grizzly. Montana’s restitution value for both bears is considerably less: $1,000 per black bear and $8,000 per grizzly.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Neal called the study’s premise “nonsense.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “This kind of exercise seems to be done by people who know the price of everything but the value of nothing,” he said. “There are certain individuals who would say if a bear is worth $46,000, we can easily afford to lose $46,000.”<\/p>\n Neal was referring to the growing momentum behind the effort to\u00a0remove grizzlies from the Endangered Species List<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n That momentum went into overdrive when Brian Nesvik, former director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, was appointed as\u00a0the new chief of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service<\/a>\u00a0in August.<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, called Nesvik “one of the strongest advocates for delisting the grizzly bear.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She introduced a bill in January to delist the grizzly before Nesvik’s confirmation, which passed the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee in July.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rob Wallace, who previously oversaw the NPS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told Cowboy State Daily that he believes Nesvik will be able to navigate the bureaucratic complexities and successfully delist grizzlies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Many](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/yellowstone-bears-Nature-Picture-Library-via-Alamy-11.1.25.jpg\")
Many wildlife experts and advocates say you can\u2019t put a price on Yellowstone\u2019s famous grizzly bears, that they\u2019re \u201cpriceless.\u201d A new study says they\u2019re actually worth about $50,000 each a year to the park. (Nature Picture Library via Alamy)Conservation Or Capitalism?<\/p>\n![\"Many](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/yellowstone-bears-2-Nature-Picture-Library-via-Alamy-11.1.25.jpg\")
Many wildlife experts and advocates say you can\u2019t put a price on Yellowstone\u2019s famous grizzly bears, that they\u2019re \u201cpriceless.\u201d A new study says they\u2019re actually worth about $50,000 each a year to the park. (Nature Picture Library via Alamy)A Price On Priceless<\/p>\n