There is a new report analyzing the value of protected open space in SE PA that should interest you. The study, commissioned by the GreenSpace Alliance and Delaware Valley Regional Planning, reports the following:
Approximately 300 square miles, or 14%, of the five-county region is protected open space. The study found that this area:
Adds $16 billion to the value of southeastern Pennsylvania’s housing stock – an average property value increase of $10,000 per household;
Saves local governments and taxpayers more than $132 million a year in costs associated with provision of environmental services such as drinking water filtration and flood control;
Helps residents and businesses avoid nearly $800 million in direct and indirect medical costs as a result of recreation that takes place on protected open space;
Generates more than $270 million in state and local tax revenue; and
Fermata’s projects are often protracted affairs, epical rather than ephemeral. Our work often extends for a decade or more, with the completion of each phase catalyzing another. Frequently the people we began a project with move on to new opportunities or retirement before we finish. We are often the last one’s standing, the only people remaining who remember precisely how it all began.
One door opens as another closes, and one of ours, the Illinois River Road, has recently shut. Our work along the Illinois River began over seven years ago, in March 2003. Meetings with Michael Reuter, Doug Blodgett, and Jo Skoglund of the Illinois Nature Conservancy in Peoria then focused on their needs for a public use plan for a new property they were restoring – Emiquon. Once one of America’s most productive fisheries, Emiquon had been drained and farmed for corn for nearly a century. The Conservancy had acquired the property, and had plans to restore the backwater wetlands and marshes.
During the same trip I met Keith Arnold and Vicky Clark with the Peoria CVB, an organization whose support would lead us ultimately to a new national scenic byway. Vicky had been contemplating a scenic byway for the region, and I quickly became interested in the Illinois River Road (a moribund state byway that ran along the river). After we completed the public use plan for Emiquon, the Peoria CVB asked us to help organize a byway along the river. We began (wisely) at the local level, and eventually developed the Illinois River Country Nature Trail. Fermata developed guides for each of the trail loops, and an organizational structure that would serve us well in the next phases of the work.
Next we were asked to develop the Corridor Management Plan for a new federal byway, the Illinois River Road. In 2005 the byway received federal designation, one of two that we had been associated with to receive designation that year (the other being Wetlands and Wildlife in Kansas). The byway next received an enhancement grant from the National Scenic Byway Program, and we were asked to help develop many of the enhancements. After masterminding an interpretive plan, Fermata has now completed a byway guide, brochure, maps, and interpretive signs. The signs were delivered to Peoria in early August, bringing our work to a close.
Illinois River Cruiser
We thank Anaise Berry (Director), Keith Arnold (now at the Corpus Christi CVB) and Vicky Clark (at the EDCCI), the Economic Development Council of Central Illinois, the Heartland Partnership, and communities such as Pekin, Peoria, Canton, Princeton, Ottawa, Chillicothe, and Havana for their support and interest over the years. The byway board has been incredibly helpful and supportive over the years as well, and a few (Terry Svob and Michael Wiant, for example) have been involved since the beginning. Finally, I want to thank the Fermata associates both past and current who continue to generate sterling work after all of these years. Without people such as Brenda Adams-Weyant, Sandra Murphy, and Maja Smith involved, none of this would have happened. I am indeed blessed with such a creative, accomplished, and patient team.
For more information about this byway project, the executive summary that we prepared is available here.
The current gusher despoiling the Gulf of Mexico has captured the attention of the world, and no aspect better illustrates the sickening impacts than the birds. Photographs of oiled birds litter the media, and discussions of effects on the coast usually include people and birds. No one can gaze at the grisly photos of brown pelicans completed immersed in toxic goo without feeling both compassion and fury.
No one knows this part of the world more intimately than we do, at least when it comes to the places where birds are to be seen along the Gulf. Since our inception in the early 1990s we have worked on numerous birding projects in the Gulf, including the development of the first birding trail in the world, the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail. The following is a list of the Gulf of Mexico birding projects we have been involved in, with links to the trails themselves and, in some cases, our reports and products as well.
RARE invited Ted Eubanks to aid in the original establishment of the Mesoamerian Ecotourism Alliance, or MEA. MEA includes representatives from the Yucatan, thus the connection to the Gulf. Meetings were held in Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Through those meetings we met Jon Kohl, who works with Fermata on guide training. This photo, taken by Ted, is from the meeting in Lancetilla (Honduras).
RARE staff in Lancetilla, Honduras
Texas
Madge Lindsay of Texas Parks and Wildlife and Ted met while working on Governor Ann Richards’ nature tourism plan for Texas. After completing the plan the two of them began to plot ways to actually implement the recommendations (including brainstorming at the Watchable Wildlife conference in Corpus Christi in 1993). The result? The Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, the first in the world.
Here are the first three trails, in their order of development. The dedication of the first trail took place in Rockport, with Roger Tory Peterson as the guest of honor.
Formal trails are relatively new, having begun in Texas in 1996, when the first of three segments of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, the brainchild of Ted Eubanks and Madge Lindsay, were opened. The rest, as they say, is history, with similar trails popping up across North America. The trails, often marked roadways with site-specific stops, fuse regional education, conservation, and ecotourism. Most of these birding trails also have detailed accompanying maps, providing guidance to the sites and to the birds (and usually other wildlife) to be found along the trails…American Birding Association
The success of the birding trails led to establishment of the World Birding Center and its partner sites in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of Texas. The following is research that Fermata conducted as part of the feasibility study.
However, another article predated this research that should be mentioned. Earlier Ted, Dick Payne, and Paul Kerlinger published High Island: A Case Study in Avitourism (Birding 25: 415-420. Eubanks, T., P. Kerlinger and R. H. Payne, 1993), an article noteworthy in two aspects. First, this survey is among the first conducted in Texas regarding the economic impacts of birding. Second, in this article Ted coined the word “avitourism,” a word that has come into worldwide usage.
The following are but two of the studies that we completed for the World Birding Center and its member communities. We also completed strategies for Hidalgo, Weslaco (which ultimately led to the creation of the Llano Grande State Park), and Mission. Our economic feasibility study for the South Padre Island WBC resulted in a sizable ($ 1 million) grant from the Texas legislature.
In 2002, a meeting was sponsored by the George P Mitchell family. Amongst those attending this meeting were members of the Mitchell family, several local birders and naturalists, members of the Parks Board and Councilwoman Ms Lyda Ann Thomas. The meeting was led by Ted Eubanks a renowned ecotourism expert and local son. A direct result of that meeting was the creation of a Galveston Nature Tourism council with Lyda Ann Thomas as its Chairman, and the decision to put a Birding festival, to be named “FeatherFest” on the Galveston calendar during the first week of April…GINTC
Ted, along with his coauthors, compiled their decades of birding in two landmark publications. The following are the two books, published by Texas A&M University Press.
Fermata organized an interpretive exhibit comprised of many of Ted’s bird photographs. The exhibit, Faces of Flight, showed in Galveston as well as Houston Hobby Airport. The interpretive panels that accompanied the exhibit informed the public about the habitats of the Texas coast and the need to protect them.
Faces of Flight poster, Galveston exhibit
Fermata also created an interpretive sign for the Galveston Seawall, informing visitors about the birds in the area. During Hurricane Ike volunteers rescued the panel, and stored it until after the storm. Little remained atop that stretch of the seawall, and our sign surely would have been destroyed. It has been reinstalled, and is back to telling people about the incredible birds of the Gulf coast.
Galveston's Nature at the Beach interpretive sign, designed by Fermata
Fermata aided The Conservation Fund in the establishment and organization of the Texas Pineywoods Experience. This intiative generally focuses on the woodlands and rivers of East Texas, but it does extend south to Beaumont, Port Arthur, and the Gulf. Andy Jones and the TCF staff have been instrumental in the recent establishment of the Neches River NWR (against withering opposition from Dallas and the water boards), and the expansion of the Big Thicket National Preserve.
Slightly to the west, Fermata completed a study of the nature tourism market along the Trinity River. The river flows south from Dallas to Galveston Bay. Our results are available here.
Two additional Texas coastal projects are still in their nascence. Bird and Bayou is focused on the birds and bayou system of Houston. Buffalo Bayou, where Houston began, flows into Galveston Bay. We are also hopeful that we can get Tides to Tall Timbers off the ground as well. This initiative will connect the Galveston region to the Texas Pineywoods Experience.
Louisiana
Inspired by Texas, Louisiana followed with a series of birding trails of their own. The state engaged Fermata to develop the trail, beginning with the coast. America’s Wetland adopted that trail, and it has become the America’s Wetland Birding Trail. Fermata then completed the remainder of the state.
The Mississippi River Birding Trail (now known as the Great River Birding Trail) is a highway trail connecting prime birding sites along the Upper Mississippi River. The upper GRBT 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.
Mississippi and Alabama
Mississippi and Alabama developed their coastal trails around the same time as Louisiana. In Alabama, Fermata aided in the creation of the North Alabama Birding Trail. Mississippi is part of Audubon’s Great River Birding Trail which extends from Minnesota to the Gulf. Ted spoke in Mississippi at a Governor’s rural development conference to aid in the development of their birding trail (as he also did in Minnesota to help in the Great River Birding Trail).
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has developed a series of spectacular birding trails along their coasts. Staff from Florida met with Fermata early in the project, and we were happy to provide tips on how its done. Ted Eubanks also traveled to Florida and spoke at their annual ecotourism conference about developing birding trails.
Should the oil catch the Loop Current and head up the Atlantic Coast, we have important experiences and projects to share as well. Virgina developed their birding and wildlife trails on the heels of Texas. Representatives from Virginia visited Texas to see how the trails worked, and soon hired Fermata to help develop the trails in their state. These trails, a project of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, became the first birding trails to encompass an entire state. Of particular interest is the initial trail developed along the coast.
Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail
Fermata also worked with the New Jersey Department of Fish, Game, and Wildlife to assess the value of wildlife viewing in Delaware Bay. This study aided the state in better understanding the risks of over harvesting horseshoe crabs and the subsequent decline in red knots. Our report can be downloaded here.
Ted also met with representatives on the Delmarva Peninsula about birding trails on a number of occasions. Jeff Gordon and others have developed a wonderful series of birding trails in Delaware.
Pennsylvania has no Atlantic coastline, unless you consider (as we do) the Chesapeake Bay simply to be an extension of the Susquehanna River. Fermata is currently completing a Conservation Landscape Initiative (CLI) for PA DCNR for the Lower Susquehanna. The final report should be available soon.
Finally, if the oil somehow wanders as far north as Maine, we have been there as well. Fermata assisted the state in developing an implementation plan for nature tourism, including coastal Down East. Here is a link to our recommendations.
Sunrise from Cadillac Mountain, Maine
We pray that our efforts along both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts aid the public in understanding what is at risk. These are rich, complex, diverse ecosystems that are under assault. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased; and not impaired in value.” Each American generation must embrace that responsibility. Will we accept ours?
Political currents steer us all, and at their whim. Since the advent of the Rendell Administration in Pennsylvania Fermata has been working alongside the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in a series of progressive conservation efforts. The initiatives (called CLIs, or Conservation Landscape Initiatives) have matured to a point where they are beginning to influence other states as well the federal government. The CLIs were the brainchild of Michael DiBerardinis, who served as the Secretary of the agency. Secretary DiBernardinis is now Commissioner DiBerardinis of the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department. As a native Philadelphian, the Commissioner felt it time to return home from Harrisburg. With a new administration certain (Governor Rendell is at the end of his 2nd term), Commissioner DiBerardinis decided to tackle one more challenge – the reshaping of Fairmount Park, the Philadelphia park system.
Fortunately the Commissioner has asked Fermata to help (i.e., lucky for us). The Commissioner is one of the most progressive and inspiring conservation and recreation leaders in the country, and we are honored to work for him again. Fermata’s Ted Eubanks has now visited Philadelphia on four occasions, and has come away in awe of the history of Fairmount Park. Even though many Philadelphians tire of hearing about their firsts (America’s first hospital, zoo, art museum, free library), we believe it important to remind our public that Fairmount is America’s first park. Over the centuries the park has grown to include the cultural and scientific centers arrayed along Ben Franklin Parkway, the Wissahickon Valley, the Schuylkill trail, East and West Park, and a mind-bending assortment of facilities, lands, staff, and volunteers. Fairmount is America’s largest urban park, and the system offers more park land per capita than any American city over 1 million population.
Forbidden Road, Wissahickon Valley
Consider this. Standing in Love Park, you can walk up Ben Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Water Works, connect to the Schuylkill River Trail and hike or bike to where connects with the Wissahickon Trail, continue up the Wissahickon to Forbidden Drive, follow Forbidden Drive to Northwestern Avenue, and for that entire 16 miles never leave park land. Hiking along Forbidden Road in the Wissahickon Valley you would never know that you are within in a stone’s throw of downtown Philadelphia. Fairmount is America’s great urban park, conserved and nurtured by the people of America’s first great city. For more information, go to Fairmount Park under Current Projects.
The next few weeks are dominated by travel. There is nothing like spring to entice one outside. This week I am in Scott County, assessing sites for a heritage tourism analysis. We are working with Carolyn Brackett, a Senior Program Associate with the Heritage Tourism Program, National Trust for Historic Preservation. After returning to Texas on Thursday I will be in Galveston, trying to finish dismantling the Houston office.
On Sunday I fly to Pittsburgh, and then spend next week in Pennsylvania. I am speaking at Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Marcellus Shale conference Monday. I then travel to Harrisburg on Tuesday to attend the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation’s annual awards dinner that night. PA DCNR parks recently won the gold medal for being the best state park system in the nation, and that night we will all celebrate their success.
I will continue on to Philadelphia the following morning, and I will work the remainder of the week in Fairmount Park. The last time I visited Philadelphia we were hampered by the remainder of a blizzard, and it will be wonderful to see the park facilities exposed.
Finally I will fly to Chicago on Sundayt, and then drive to Valparaiso (Indiana) for a couple of days work on Indiana Beyond the Beach. We are about to unveil a number of new products regarding the BTB Discovery Trail, so stay tuned. I will blog from the road as I travel these next weeks.
