Red-billed tropicbird, Great Bird Island, Antigua, by Ted Lee EubanksSummertime, and the living is easy? Hardly. Summer is the season for field work and for bringing projects to completion.
This summer I have visited Antigua & Barbuda on two occasions. The first visit (in spring, actually) consisted of a week of constant field work. I returned in late June to conduct a two-day workshop on avitourism in the region. With this workshop the project is complete.
Here are links to the various materials related to the project. We thank our client, the Environmental Awareness Group, as well as countless friends and supporters in the islands, for their help and aid in this important project.
An article about our work in Antigua & Barbuda will be published on the Nature Travel Network blog soon, and we will post a link to the article as soon as it is live.
Custer’s Meadow, Shoal Creek, Austin, Texas by Ted Lee Eubanks
January is the month for writing. The time is perfect. The holidays are completed, clients lazily make their way back to the office, and I get to avoid the cold north. I try to stay on the road during the warm months, and when Christmas arrives I start the tedious process of collecting and collating all of my thoughts and work in the reports that are required. I have spent most of this month ensconced in my office, failing away at the keyboard while my two cats watched approvingly.
The reports are done. The drafts for the first phase of the Caribbean birding trail interpretive plan, the Nebraska Sandhills Journey interpretive plan, and the ecotourism strategy for Kansas are all in circulation. Today I finished the final presentations for my workshops at NCTC next week, and I am making travel plans to return to Kansas for work on the byways later in the month. Yes, there is pride that comes with accomplishment. I try not to linger long in self-satisfaction, though. To be perfectly honest, a month in the office leaves me stir crazy.
I thoroughly enjoy the field work, I confess. There is nowhere I would rather be than out rather than in. But I have learned to appreciate my writing time as well. I do like to see the finished product, that magical moment when text, design, images, and insight come together in something singular.
I also found time this month to continue working on efforts to conserve Shoal Creek in Austin (my home). I created a blog for that effort several months ago. A number of stakeholders have joined me in creating a new organization, the Shoal Creek Conservancy, and the blog has been retooled to fit the needs of the organization. I enjoy this volunteer effort, and my time along the creek has opened my eyes to the incredible resource that it represents.
Fermata is well into its second decade, and I marvel at what we have accomplished over those years. More importantly, though, I am anticipating the next project, the next challenge. There is never a moment for rest in this business. Contracts are finite, and the demands of life are eternal. Hopefully our paths will cross during this new year.
Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you…Satchel Paige
Looking back is a luxury that we can rarely afford. Fermata is a consultancy; we live from contract to contract. The good news is that we stay busy. The bad news is that we rarely get the opportunity to look back over our accomplishments.
Monument Rocks, Kansas, by Ted Lee EubanksWith the year’s end approaching, perhaps we should take the time to consider our work. For example, I am currently helping Kansas develop an ecotourism strategy. Governor Brownback and Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KWPT) Secretary Robin Jennison brought me into the project to facilitate the development of the strategy. This coincides with our work on interpretive plans for the 11 Kansas byways, as well as the writing of an interpretive plan for the state byways as a whole.
This is not our first project where we have worked directly with the governor. Several years ago we developed the Maine ecotourism strategy for then-Governor Baldacci. In Pennsylvania we worked with Governor Tom Ridge, then continued with Governor Ed Rendell. The results of that decade-long collaboration were the Pennsylvania Wilds and another 4 Conservation Landscape Initiatives (CLIs). We began the birding trail craze in Texas with Governor Ann Richards.
Jamaican tody (Todus todus), Windsor Research Centre, Jamaica, by Ted Lee EubanksWe are also completing the final draft of an interpretive plan for the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway in Nebraska. Our work in Nebraska dates back to the 1990s when we looked at socio-economic benefits of the Platte River for the EPA. Even then I spent time in the Sandhills, one of the iconic American landscapes.
Our interpretive work for the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB) has extended across the Caribbean as well. Recently I completed an interpretive strategy for Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Grenada. Last week I worked in Jamaica with the Windsor Research Centre, conducting a workshop on sustainable recreation and tourism as a development alternative. We hope to continue our work on the Caribbean Bird Trail this next year, extending its reach throughout the Basin.
Aguas Blancas, Dominican Republic, by Ted Lee EubanksWe have also continued our work with URS on the San Antonio River. In the next few months we will look at the value of the lower river as a wildlife corridor that connects the Texas Hill Country with the Gulf of Mexico. The San Antonio River Authority (SARA) is the client, and we are excited to be able to continue our work in this fascinating and little-known region of Texas.
When I started Fermata in 1992 I thought that I would focus on birds and nature. Little did I know where the trail would lead. Now we work in cultural and historical landscapes as much as with nature. Our services now span the interpretive range from planning to products. Yet one trait ties all of these disparate parts together. We are still driven by curiosity, by a simple need to reveal “beautiful truths.”
We use any media at our disposal. We do not play favorites. The media are tools, like hammers and saws. If someone invents a better hammer, we will be the first to buy one.
We use Pinterest. Why? Check out the infographic below.
Red-billed Streamertail, the national bird of Jamaica, by Ted Lee EubanksThe Caribbean Birding Trail is a project of the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB) and its partner organizations. The Trail is being developed to help residents as well as travelers connect to the rich cultural and natural history of the Caribbean islands through birds. The Trail will aid visitors in enjoying the Caribbean birds, nature, history, and people along the entire expanse from Bermuda to Trinidad and Tobago.
Fermata is writing interpretive plans for the first two countries on the Trail, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. Ted Eubanks, along with Lisa Sorenson and Holly Robertson of the SCSCB, spent nearly a month in the two countries this summer. Our visits focused on five Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in these two countries: Sierra Bahoruco Oriental, Sierra Bahoruco, and Parque Nactional Valle Nuevo in the DR, and the Cockpit and Portland Bight regions of Jamaica. In October the team will travel to Grenada to complete this summer’s field work.
