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Decemberr 19, 2000 Contemplations At Year’s End
Fermata began the New Year and millennium frozen stiff on a beach in Japan waiting for the first rays of sun (Hatsu Hinode) to restore sensation to our extremities. We finished this exhilarating year frozen stiff in a skiff on the Ohio River. Despite this hypothermic introduction, what warmed our hearts were the challenges we faced, the tasks we completed, and the remarkable people we had the honor to meet and work with this past twelve breathtaking months. Where’ve You Been? Since November 1, Fermata has entered the busiest period in our firm’s history, with a schedule that even hardened travelers shrink back from in awe and fear. We’ve also brought to conclusion two important projects that have significantly expanded the scope of nature tourism, and have embarked on the second phase of one of the most expansive nature tourism projects in the U.S. Our completion of the nature tourism strategy for Charles County, Maryland, marks the first time that an area located close to the Washington, D.C. metroplex has seriously investigated nature tourism as a workable strategy for fending off urban sprawl. Much of the credit goes to the county’s tourism director, Ms. Joanne Roland, who has long been a staunch advocate of nature tourism as a tool to protect the region’s cultural flavor and natural resources. Charles County hosts a significant population of Bald Eagles, a population that can be easily viewed virtually any day of the year. Tying this opportunity in with the major cultural tourism in and around the D.C. area would be a superb way for the county to begin introducing the world to some of its beautiful parks and riverfront lands. Fermata was pleased to be involved with this project, and looks forward to the county’s implementation of its recommendations. So where do we go on vacation? Given our time on the road (over 25 states and several foreign countries in 2000) one would think that we would pull the pillows over our collective heads and stay at home and in bed. However, nature is seductive, and she tempts you with her charms no matter how road weary or homesick you may be. Our motto? Give in! So we threw out the dirty clothes, replaced them with a cleaner version, and spent Thanksgiving in Sedona and northern Arizona. Traipsing through portions of the Prescott National Forest, we wandered into flocks of Pinyon Jays, Pygmy Nuthatches and an obliging Three-toed Woodpecker near Mount Humphreys. However, nothing could prepare us for the sensory overload of sunset at the Grand Canyon. Honestly, we never tire of the view from the South Rim. We spent hours mesmerized by the sunlight as it danced along the North Rim amongst the rocks, ice and snow. That evening we set up the Questar and celebrated crystalline views of the Orion Nebula, Jupiter, Saturn and the Milky Way in its spangled glory. We finished our trip with visits to the Red Rock and Tonto Natural Bridge state parks. Though hardly unusual in our native Texas, we were still thrilled to watch a small herd of javelina feed on the lawn at the latter. Home is where the heart is, they say. So we reserve a special word of appreciation for the communities, individuals, agencies, and organizations that successfully cooperated to bring the first phase of the World Birding Center to conclusion. An overview of this revolutionary project can be found in the Trip du Jour archives. In essence, the World Birding Center seeks to irrevocably bind South Texas communities to the preservation of their critical bird, butterfly, and floral habitat. Rather than a hierarchical, state-led initiative that dictates to the region’s predominantly Hispanic residents how the project will function, the World Birding Center has truly been a project led by South Texas communities for all South Texans. A tremendous investment of time, and a monetary investment of almost eight million dollars have injected a sense of urgency and importance that has put the project on the path to success. The extent of that commitment was evident at the ribbon cutting ceremonies held on December 8th at Quinta Mazatlan, where Fermata presented the project to state legislators, local government, citizen groups, and the press. State legislator Kino Flores praised Fermata’s presentation as one of the best he had ever seen, although we were quick to point out that the presentation could not have been done without the unified efforts of countless South Texans. This phase marks the end of planning; Fermata’s business planning team, which included David Heil and Associates (particularly Shann Weston), and business consultant Mike Putegnat, laid out an exact blueprint for how the World Birding Center should be structured, and a timeline for accomplishing each phase of the work. Fermata was particularly pleased with the conclusion of this phase of the project because it was built in part on the feasibility work that our firm had conducted, feasibility assessments that relied on the use of site assessment technology that we developed specifically for evaluating the nature tourism potential of a given site. The ribbon cutting ceremony also coincided with a phone call from our lawyer, who informed us that our site assessment protocol has now been granted patent-pending status by the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office. The Great Midwest Before heading to the Rio Grande Valley for the ceremony, however, Fermata was experiencing a different type of climate in Bismarck, North Dakota, where, as they like to say, "Forty below keeps the riff-raff out." Fermata addressed the North Dakota Water Users’ Convention about alternative recreational water uses, specifically for nature tourism and for use by wildlife itself. Our meeting with this group was a perfect example of the kind of work we enjoy–meeting with groups that do not traditionally get to hear the message of economic development and habitat conservation via nature tourism–and we feel that our work in North Dakota to date has led to precisely the kind of shifting emphasis of local communities towards nature tourism that our firm so wholeheartedly supports. The initiative that began as a strategic plan for the 30,000 acres of the Lonetree Wildlife Management Area, has begun to drop down like an early-season snowfall on other communities in the region. Minot has expressed interest in a visitor center that would focus on the area’s substantial natural venues. We have received numerous e-mail messages from North Dakotans asking for copies of the presentation made at the conference, and other messages indicating interest and support for the idea of nature tourism-based and wildlife-based water use. Fermata will return to North Dakota in January of the New Year in order to further explore opportunities with Minot, and to continue our work with the Garrison Conservancy District. Texans are not normally known for their ability to endure ruggedly cold climes, yet, after going to the Valley, Fermata hopped on a plane and flew up to Ottawa County, Ohio, where we conducted a three-day strategic planning session on developing nature tourism. At the invitation of the Old Woman Creek State Nature Preserve and the Ottawa County Visitors Bureau, we met with stakeholders and were able to utilize our latest presentation tools, which include a revamped and updated series of statistics on nature tourism, as well as our handbook on nature tourism development. Ottawa County has significant resources around which a nature tourism strategy can be developed. In addition to a national wildlife refuge and state parks, a significant undeveloped stretch of lakeshore property along Lake Erie is in this county. Critically, three islands easily accessible from Ottawa County–Kelly Island, Middle Bass Island, and North Bass Island–sit immediately across from Point Pelee in Canada, which is one of the most important migratory flyways in North America. Fermata is convinced that an effective strategy linking nature tourism in Ottawa County to these islands, and then to Point Pelee, can have a significant developmental impact on the region while concurrently establishing protection for key, or, as we would argue, irreplaceable natural resources. Unsatisfied with the freezing temperatures of North Dakota and Ohio, Fermata next visited Lincoln, Nebraska at the invitation of the state legislature, where we spoke about the economic impact of wildlife watching in a state that is unjustly known more for its cornfields and football team than for its significant natural resources. Pioneering research that our firm conducted on the economic impact of wildlife watching on the Middle Platte River has begun to penetrate the various levels of policymaking in Nebraska, and that state is now starting to consider the considerable dollar opportunities afforded by a nature tourism strategy. Fermata works throughout the Great Plains, and no state is a better example of the economic and social displacement occurring in agriculturally dependent communities than Nebraska, where many rural families would echo the sentiments expressed by a rural East Texan: "What we got here is an import-export economy. We import our televisions and automobiles, and we export our young people." Our work in Nebraska, and the legislature’s interest in nature tourism as an alternative to economically depressed agriculture, is significant because it demonstrates two key points: One, that persistence pays off. In the world of nature tourism, where we essentially make recommendations to local communities about how they can profit from changing their economic focus–a focus that has often existed for a century or more–change is by definition slow. Yet when the facts that attend nature tourism become known, both its economic facts and the fact that it can be a positive tool for habitat preservation, then local communities tend to respond quickly and decisively. This validates much of our business philosophy, which is that people don’t need to be told what to do–they need exposure to facts, after which they can tell us what they want. Still, though, we’re not finished with wheat and corn, because after Nebraska Fermata visited Kansas for a two-day strategic session on opportunities in Dorothy’s State at the invitation of the state’s mid-region planning commission. World-class natural resources exist in Kansas, particularly the Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivara national wildlife refuges, both places that have spectacle-scale concentrations of migrating geese and waterfowl. As a result of our strategic planning session, we are now discussing with Great Bend, Kansas ways to proceed with a plan for incorporating these resources into a sustainable development plan for the area. Happy Trails to You After the Midwest we returned to Texas, where we visited the Llano Estacado Audubon Society in Lubbock to discuss their assistance in the new Great Texas Nature Trails, which will be the largest wildlife viewing project in history, stretching from the border in Mexico to the northern reaches of the state’s border with Oklahoma. Fermata’s conception and implementation of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail in conjunction with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department led directly to this new joint effort, and Fermata is now gearing up to commence site inspections for the wildlife trail in January. Linda Campbell, Nature Tourism Coordinator at Parks and Wildlife, was instrumental in the success of the first trail, and was also a key player in seeing that the Department pursued this second series of trails through the Texas Hill Country and Panhandle. Although the extent of Fermata’s services has expanded considerably beyond trail design, assessment, and implementation, in many ways nature trails are at the core of what we are. We expect that the communities along the Great Texas Nature Trail will become empowered by their participation in this form of tourism, and will also begin taking aggressive steps to protect their natural resources. We also look forward to taking a considered, in-depth look at some of the tremendous sites in the Lone Star State. Nature trails, particularly statewide nature trails, have been emulated all over the United States as a direct result of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail. Virginia, however, has been in the process of aggressively developing a nature tourism strategy that creates a constituency for wildlife and wildlife viewing recreation. At the core of the Virginia plan is a coastal wildlife trail that will incorporate over two hundred sites in the first phase of the trail alone. Fermata worked under contract with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to conduct stakeholder meetings and site nominations for the first phase of the trail. Our firm also worked with the department to identify funding sources for the trail, and as a direct result of those joint efforts Virginia now has a sizeable war chest devoted exclusively to the development of the trail. Now that the site nomination process has concluded, Virginia has moved ahead with the site inspection phase, and Fermata was in Richmond, Virginia to attend a pre-bid conference with the department and other firms that intend to bid on the site assessment contract. During that time we had the chance to bird Belle Island in the James River, Leesylvania State Park, Fredericksburg National Military Park, and the Julie Metz Wetland, a mitigation project designed to compensate for habitat loss along the Potomac. Although we didn’t see anything rare, it was a pleasure to see flocks of Eastern Bluebirds, Great Black-backed Gulls, and the waterfowl inhabiting the marsh. Thick as Thieves Fermata also spent four days in deep East Texas among the communities located amidst the biological region known as the Big Thicket. We could say that this area is tremendously diverse, but the phrase that sums it up best is the phrase by which botanists refer to it–America’s Ark. Here you can see reindeer moss, normally at home on the Arctic tundra, standing next to prickly pear cactus. The list of flora and fauna is overwhelming, and the number of distinct biological habitats equally so. Fermata was hired by the communities of the Big Thicket, under the auspices of Beaumont electric company Entergy, to produce a strategic plan for marketing the region’s natural resources to wildlife viewing tourists. The core of the plan will be the sites on the Big Thicket Loop of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, and Fermata spent three very enjoyable days with local birder and naturalist Buddy Hollis, where we got a slice of nature, a slice of local culture, and a very in-depth picture of the region’s natural wonders. Our stay in Texas quickly ended, and soon Fermata winged its way to Adams County, Ohio. There Fermata is working with the county's communities and organizations to develop a strategic plan that takes advantage of the Appalachia toe hills. The Edge of Appalachia is one of The Nature Conservancy's Last Great Places, and this sanctuary runs the length of Brush Creek in eastern Adams County. In addition, the 60,000-acre Shawnee State Park and State Forest straddles the Adams and Scioto county line. Blessed with the Edge of Appalachia, along with the Ohio River that delineates the county to the south, Adams County is poised to serve a burgeoning urban clientele in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus. Finally, Fermata visited Palacios, Texas, at the invitation of the Texas Environmental Grant Makers Group, an organization that funds environmental projects through private charity. We spoke about other types of projects that might merit investigation, projects distinct from the traditional ones funded by the group. At the Mad Island Wildlife Refuge, where The Nature Conservancy hosted the group, we saw flocks of Sandhill Cranes, immense gatherings of Snow Geese, four White-tailed Hawks, and two Crested Caracaras. The only thing at the refuge larger and more aggressive than the hawks was, of course, the mosquitoes, which we fended off with large aluminum baseball bats, flamethrowers, and hatchets. From Fermata to you, Feliz Navidad y un Nuevo Año Prospero!
Trip du Jour, December 19, 2000
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