TikTok³ÉÈË°æ

Jun 15, 2025 By Ben Moyer 4 min read

It grabs your attention when a place you’ve been to and enjoyed earns acclaim. That happened to me this week when I learned of an economic study performed by the prestigious natural resource research firm Responsive Management, based in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Their research studied the economic value of trout fishing on streams and rivers flowing within lands of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in western North Carolina.

Responsive Management found that trout fishing on the Cherokee Reservation known as Qualla Boundary generated $94 million of economic impact on and off Indian lands during the most recent complete fishing season. The survey examined anglers’ expenditures on travel, lodging, meals, equipment, licenses, and federal, state, and local taxes. To fish on reservation lands all anglers must buy a license from the Cherokee natural resource agency, so researchers knew that nearly 43,000 anglers fished on Cherokee-managed streams. The mean total expenditure on a fishing trip per angler was $1,246.74. Researchers applied a “multiplier effect” calculation, which gauges the additional activity churned by direct angler spending to determine total economic impact of $94 million. Trout fishing on the Qualla Boundary supports 700 jobs among Cherokee people.

The primary reasons anglers gave for fishing there were that the streams hold good numbers of trout, the fish average large size and are in good condition, and that the surrounding landscape is beautiful.

I’ve fished there, in Raven Fork of the Oconaluftee River, and agree with those observations. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians lands border Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a rugged region of high mountains, rushing streams, and an amazing diversity of wildlife and native vegetation. My son Aaron lives in North Carolina, and after a visit a couple of years ago we detoured west to the mountains for some fishing. As a bonus to the inspiring deep-forest surroundings, a bear emerged from the woods and splashed across the stream while I struggled to land a large trout. You can also tour interesting museums that interpret Cherokee culture, and nearby you can see herds of elk re-introduced into the Smoky Mountains.

The survey found that some anglers travel more than 500 miles to fish on the Cherokee Reservation, which is about a hundred miles more than the distance from here in Fayette County. So, you could conclude that anglers from as far away as Cleveland or even New York City might venture there. The survey did not ask anglers where they lived, only the distance they traveled to fish.

Those anglers apparently have developed loyalty to Cherokee streams. When asked if they fished other waters, off the reservation, while visiting North Carolina, nearly 60% said “never.”

The number of days anglers fished ranged from “more than 20” to “one,” with “three” days the most common response.

I was surprised by this impressive economic impact of fishing because of the devastating floods that ravaged western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee in September 2024. Other news stories I’ve read, though, state that streams on the Qualla Boundary Cherokee lands flooded but absorbed less permanent damage than watersheds only a little farther west. “We were spared,” said one Cherokee leader in an interview.

Considering this survey, it would be interesting to know the economic value of trout fishing in our own Laurel Highlands region. It must be considerable. More than ever, out-of-state anglers flock to Ohiopyle and Confluence to fish the Youghiogheny River for big aggressive trout. Many hire guides and shop and eat locally. Our smaller Yough tributaries such as Meadow Run, Dunbar Creek, and Laurel Hill Creek are more popular than ever with anglers from outside the region. You can sense this from parked license plates.

A more wide-reaching economic study done in 2019 and commissioned by the Mountain Watershed Association found that clean water and its municipal, safety, and recreational benefits contribute $3.7 billion to the Laurel Highlands region’s economy every year. That study, though, considered more than fishing. It examined municipal savings through cleaner drinking water sources, boating, water-linked sightseeing, attractiveness to business, swimming, and fishing. These are important findings because we don’t often think about the cash value of clean water, or what dirty water costs us, whether we invest public money to clean it up or just decide to accept it, which means lost opportunity costs from people who don’t want to live or work in a polluted place.

For information about trout fishing on the Qualla Boundary Cherokee lands in North Carolina, and to buy a tribal fishing permit, visit www.fishcherokee.com.

Ben Moyer is a member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and the Outdoor Writers Association of America.