San Antonio River Authority Watershed Plan

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San Antonio River between Kenedy and Runge

Have you ever heard of Kenedy, Texas? What about Falls City, Helena, Runge, or Goliad? Surely you know of the San Antonio Riverwalk? The San Antonio River doesn’t suddenly halt once it passes the Alamo. The river flows south to San Antonio Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The spaces in between San Antonio and the Gulf, however, are relatively unknown even among Texans.

Mission Nuestra Señora del Rosario (established in 1754)
Fermata is part of a team that has been engaged by the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) to develop a holistic watershed plan for the lower San Antonio River in Karnes and Goliad counties. Our role is to develop sustainable park and recreation plans. Currently we are designing conceptual plans for a linear park along Escondido Creek in Kenedy, and the restoration of Lake Paul in Runge. Part of our planning includes expanding the San Antonio River water trail, and to consider ways to develop hike-and-bike trails on the original San Antonio / Aransas Pass rail bed.

The past is also part of our investigations, and this region is incredibly rich in Spanish Colonial and Texas history. The Oxcart Trail, the El Camino Real de los Tejas, Camp Kenedy (a WWII internment camp), La Bahia, and longhorn cattle drives are but a part of what the lower San Antonio River has to offer. Our thanks go to SARA and to URS (the prime on the contract) for allowing us to participate in such a remarkable project.

Fermata’s Ted Lee Eubanks at the National Conservation Training Center

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Ted joined a panel of nature tourism experts at the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia this week. The panel presented and discussed nature tourism and the implications for federal public lands. Joining Ted on the panel were Mike Carlo and Toni Westland of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Nancy Millar of the McAllen (Texas) Chamber of Commerce, with Nancy Zapotocki, Kevin Kilcullen, and Randy Robinson (all of the USFWS) providing behind-the-scenes support and guidance. This broadcast is the first presented in the USFWS Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Conservation series. Here is a link to this 90-minute broadcast. For those interested in additional information and resources related to Ted’s talk, we have added a page to our website with links to a broad collection of papers, reports, books, and presentations.

For those interested in watching the 90-minute segment, please use this link NCTC Human Dimensions in Conservation Series

Trails2Go On The Move

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Trails2goTrails2go continues to grow. We have added our newest SmartTrail, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. Here is the introduction to our newest SmartTrail.

The Philadelphia Museum District, one of the most prestigious convergences of art and science in the world, reaches from City Hall to the Philadelphia Art Museum. The thoroughfare that connects these remarkable institutions and public spaces is Benjamin Franklin Parkway (Parkway). Consider the facilities that border the Parkway: Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, Swann Memorial Fountain, Free Library of Philadelphia, Franklin Institute, Academy of Natural Sciences, Rodin Museum, Eakins Oval, the Barnes Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Few places in the U.S. or the world can boast of such a scientific and cultural richness. To reach these facilities simply walk the Parkway. You are never more than a stone’s throw from the next museum or institute. Most begin their journey at JFK Plaza (LOVE Park), but there is really no “bad” place to start. The challenge is to choose which one of these extraordinary facilities to enter first. Philadelphia and the Parkway did not originate together. The city constructed the parkway in the early 1900s to ease the industrial blight in Center City and to restore Philadelphia’s natural and artistic beauty. The French urban planner Jacques Gréber designed the Parkway in 1917 to emulate the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Gréber designated a route that extended from City Hall Tower to a fixed point on the hill that William Penn called “Fairmount”, now the site of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Parkway hosts many of the city’s annual cultural events, so be sure to check “events” on this app ahead of time. There is no wrong time or season for touring the Parkway; in fact, the shoulder seasons of spring and fall are delightful and less crowded. Although each facility along the Parkway is independently managed and funded, the Parkway property itself is the responsibility of the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department (PP&R). This Parkway SmartTail is only one of several that are being designed to connect visitors to the remarkable parks and facilities that comprise PP&R. Each new SmartTrail will be added to the Trails2Go app at no additional cost, so enjoy all of Philadelphia’s parks and sites.

NAI in St Paul

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NAI met in St Paul MN this week. Fermata exhibited earlier in the meeting. Ted held a workshop on the Tao of Interpretation on Saturday, the last day of the workshop. In fact, Ted presented one of the last sessions on the last day.

Needless to say, the crowd had thinned considerably. Those in attendance, however, were enthusiastic participants. This is a new presentation, and the crowd tolerated a few rough bumps. For example, the NAI inexplicably did not arrange for internet in the presentation rooms. Imagine giving a presentation on new media without access to the internet. In any case, the group that attended seemed unbothered by the glitches.

The presentation below is the one Ted gave at NAI. Please remember that all of Fermata’s work is protected under a Creative Commons license. You are welcome to use this material with attribution. The presentation is followed by a slide show of photos Ted took this week in St Paul as a demonstration for the guerrilla interpretation session. Click on the first photo to go directly to the gallery.

Nature Tourism in South Texas – A Model

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Green Jay, Laguna Atascosa NWR
Fermata began working in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of South Texas in the early 1990s. Our first project involved developing the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail for Texas Parks and Wildlife in that area. We followed that work with the feasibility study for the World Birding Center, the strategic plan for the World Birding Center, nature tourism strategies for several of the communities there such as Mission, Weslaco, and South Padre, a feasibility study for the new centers at Weslaco and South Padre Island, and interpretive enhancements at Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen.

Early in our work we assessed the economic impacts of nature tourism in key LRGV sites such as Santa Ana NWR, Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park, and the Sabal Palms sanctuary near Brownsville. At that time (at least 15 years ago) we estimated an annual impact of $125 million from nature tourism in South Texas. A number of people were surprised by that figure, and questioned its accuracy. How could birders and other nature tourists contribute so much to that economy?

In recent months a study by Texas A&M has covered the same ground. This research comes after the implementation of much of the work listed above. Texas A&M now estimates that the impact is $300 million per year, almost three times our original estimate made prior to the community, state, and federal investments.

The communities there have been on board from the very beginning, and the results show the importance of their commitment and investments. Texas Parks and Wildlife has led the effort from the outset, and their investments (including two new state parks) have been invaluable. Congratulations to all involved in making South Texas a model for nature tourism development!