Nature Tourism Training

Nature Tourism Alliance in Latin American Alianza en Mesoamerica para el Desarrollo del Ecotourismo

A marketing alliance of Mesoamerican countries to promote nature tourism and products that support habitat conservation was one major outcome of an international workshop on nature tourism sponsored by RARE. Fermata Inc. presented our work on the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail during this workshop, held in Belize, July 1999. Fermata Inc has been asked to mentor a series of subsequent meetings for the alliance, and participated in the first workshop in Guatemala City, January 2000. The next meeting of the alliance will be held in Honduras in May 2000.

The task for each country during the next four months is to identify model ecotourism sites, and assess their ecotourism potential using a protocol developed by Fermata Inc. to establish a EOV (Ecotourism Opportunity Value). These valuations will be presented in Honduras in May, after which business plans will be constructed based on these initial resource assessments. A final meeting will be held in September in Mexico, when the final reports will be presented to RARE for integration into a single document for funding.

To read about the initial workshop and find out more about RARE, click the following link to RARE's website: www.rarecenter.org/ecdp/index.html.

Birding Trail Development Workshops

Lake Champlain Birding Trail

Ghostwriters Inc., coordinators for the proposed Lake Champlain Birding Trail, has engaged the services of Fermata Inc. to assist in the development of this project. The George D. Aiken Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc., as well as representatives from states parks, fish and wildlife departments, Audubon chapters, regional and county planning commissions, and chambers of commerce, are participating in this initiative. The National Park Service-Rivers Trails and Conservation Assistance Program and the Lake Champlain Byways Program are also providing support. Ted Eubanks of Fermata Inc. will be meeting with the steering committee in early November 1999 to discuss the steps that are necessary in developing a trail modeled after the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail.

Mary Jeanne Packer is the Managing Director of Ghostwriters Communications.

The Mississippi River Birding Trail

The Mississippi River Birding Trail (MRBT) will be a highway trail connecting prime birding sites along the Upper Mississippi River. The MRBT is a project of the Minnesota office of the National Audubon Society, as well as a number of partners from Minnesota and the adjacent states of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. The coalition contracted with Fermata Inc. to conduct a seminar to give purpose and direction to the project.

The Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program also contracted with Fermata Inc. to conduct an introductory workshop on creating a Louisiana Coastal Birding Trail. We have also advised state officials from California and Florida on starting trails in their states.

Introduction to Nature Tourism

Fermata Inc. was first brought to Canadian, Texas to host a tourism workshop to introduce local ranchers and other community leaders to the economic potential of nature tourism. That meeting inspired a contract with Fermata Inc. to devise a marketing strategy which included the formation of the Texas Prairie Rivers Initiative.