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Promoting Nature Tourism Along the Mississippi
River
A Workshop on Economic and Community
Development
Preliminary Schedule of Events
Day One -- Plenary Session
followed by mid-afternoon field trip (Apr. 25)
7:30-8.00 - Registration
8:00-8:10 - Opening remarks by National Audubon Society
8:10-8:15 - Welcome to Vicksburg – Laurence Leyens,
Mayor of Vicksburg
8:15-8:30 - Welcome to Mississippi and remarks on the
importance of nature tourism in economic development – Leland R.
Speed, Executive Director- Mississippi Development Authority
8:30 – 8:45 - Recognition of Workshop Sponsors
and remarks on what we hope to accomplish during the workshop - Madge
Lindsay-Audubon Mississippi
8:40-9:25 - Presentations on the Mississippi River as
an internationally significant ecological, historical, cultural, and recreational
resource – Sam Hamilton, Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service Southeast Region and Major General Don Riley, Director
of Civil Works, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
9:20-10:00 – Ecotourism as a tool for development
and conservation – Dr. Martha Honey, Executive Director of The International
Ecotourism Society
10:00-10:15 - Break
10:30-12:00 - Case history examples of nature tourism
success stories:
1. Promotion of crane watching along the Platte River in Nebraska –
Kent Skaggs, Rowe Sanctuary and Nicholson Audubon Center, Gibbon, Nebraska
2. Promotion of nature tourism in the Texas Prairie Rivers Region - Remelle
Farrar, Director Texas Prairie Rivers Region, Inc. and Canadian-Hemphill
County Community Development
3. Tara Wildlife – a local nature tourism success story –
Bill Tomlinson, Wildlife Technical Services, Inc.
12:00-1:30 - Luncheon with address on the 2005 Mississippi
River Source to Sea paddling expedition – John Pugh and Jessica
Robinson, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University
1:30- 2:15 - Panel Discussion on integration of nature
tourism with other forms of tourism - Ken Murphree, Former County Administrator,
Tunica County, MS; Dr. Luther Brown, Founding Director of the Delta Center
for Culture and Learning at Delta State University, Cleveland, MS; Kitty
Martin, Director West Feliciana Tourist Commission, St. Francisville,
LA; Terry Eastin, Executive Director, Mississippi River Trail, Inc. Coordinator
2:15- 5:00 - Mid afternoon field trip to Vicksburg Military
Park to explore integration of heritage and nature tourism – Bruce
Reid, Deputy Director of Audubon MS and Kurt Foote, Vicksburg National
Military Park Natural Resource Program Manager – Trip Leaders
6:30-8:30 – Reception at the Southern Cultural
Heritage Center featuring keynote address on the rediscovery of the ivory-billed
woodpecker in Arkansas - Bobby Harrison, Associate Professor of Art and
Photography, Oakwood College, Huntsville, Alabama (Keynote address to
be open to the public)
Day Two -- Plenary Session
(Apr. 26)
8:30-8:45 – Orientation – Bruce Reid –
Deputy Director of Audubon Mississippi
8:45-9:45 – Panel Discussion: Is nature tourism
right for you? - Approaches to evaluating nature tourism development potential
for individual communities -
Daryl Jones, Mississippi State University; Madge Lindsay, Audubon Mississippi,
Linda Holden, Economic Development Director, Moss Point, Mississippi
9:45-10:15 – Break
10:15-12:00 - Concurrent Sessions
• Session One. Resources and Tools to assist in
promoting nature tourism
1. Marketing Approaches – Kathy Jacobs, Mississippi State University
Extension Service
2. Site interpretation – Jay Miller – Administrator of Program
Services, Arkansas State Parks
3. Surveys to evaluate economic impacts of nature tourism enterprises
– Dr. Steve Grado, Mississippi State University, Department of Forestry
4. Use of the Internet to display and promote birding trail information
– a real world example - Andy Kilroy, Kilroy Technologies.
5. Development of Natural Resources Enterprises demonstration areas as
an aid to promoting nature tourism – Adam Rohnke, Mississippi State
University Extension Service
• Session Two. Real world experiences promoting
nature tourism (Robert Delaney, Moderator)
1. Clarendon, AR Big Woods Birding Festival – Kathy Radomski, Phillips
Community College of the University of Arkansas
2. Black Bayou, Louisiana Friends Success Story – Bob Eisenstadt,
Friends of Black Bayou
3. Mississippi River Natural and Recreational Corridor – Diana Threadgill,
TN Parks and Greenways Foundation
4. Outdoor Extravganzas - Cathy Shropshire, Mississippi Wildlife Federation
5. Okhissa Lake Project in the Homochitto National Forest – Mary
Bell Lunsford, U.S. Forest Service
6. Kayaking the Mississippi River – Keith Benoist, Mississippi Canoe
and Kayak Club
7. Promoting Nature Tourism through Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin
Program – Sandra Thompson, Executive Director Louisiana Atchafalaya
Basin Program
• Session Three. Private Lands and other Issues
and their relationship to promotion of Nature Tourism (Adam Rohnke, Moderator).
1. Natural resources enterprise development on private lands in Mississippi
–Adam Tullos, Mississippi State University
2. Marketing nature tourism in NE Louisiana by use of regional tourism
organizations – a case history – Cynthia Pilcher – Louisiana
State University Ag Center
3. Ivory-billed Expeditions – a newly organized nature tourism enterprise
involving private lands in Arkansas – Cary Martin, Little Rock Tours
4. Palmetto-Pear Tree Preserve – an example of integrating economic,
social, and environmental efforts to promote community development in
North Carolina –Ray Herndon, The Conservation Fund
5. Ethical Standards underpinning nature tourism – Dr. Matt Zuefle,
Park and Recreation Management Program, University of Mississippi
6. The role of nature tourism in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita – Linda Holden, Economic Development Director, Moss Point,
Mississippi
12:00 – Lunch on your own.
1:15 – 5:30 - PM Field Trips
Concurrent Field Trips: (There may be a charge for the out of town trips)
1. Tara Wildlife, MS - Observe opportunities for integration of agri-tourism
and nature tourism in the Mississippi Delta and a diverse nature tourism
operation adjacent to the Mississippi River near Vicksburg that caters
to hunters, fishers, birders, students, etc.
2. Poverty Point State Historic Site, LA - Observe Native American earthworks
and forested habitats in this highly significant historic site and the
Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge location of the fabled Singer Tract
where some of the last Ivory Billed Woodpeckers were seen – Ray
Aycock, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Trip Leader
3. Walking tour of historic downtown Vicksburg
Day Three – Mississippi
River Deck Barge Trip to explore nature tourism opportunities associated
with the river (Apr. 27) (Short presentations and other activities
interspersed with opportunities to view the river will take place)
9:00 – Board Deck Barge
9:15- 9:45 – Welcome and opening remarks, U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers and Audubon Mississippi
9:45–10:00 - The Mississippi River as an Ecological
Resource - Jack Killgore, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development
Center and Paul Hartfield, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
10:00 – 10:15 - The physical nature of the Lower
Mississippi River and sustainable environmental engineering – Sandra
Brewer - Corps of Engineers, MS Valley Division.
10:15-10:45 - Break
10:45-11:00 – The Lower Mississippi River Conservation
Initiative – Robert Delaney, Lower Mississippi River Conservation
Committee
11:00- 12:00 - Brief presentations on actual or potential
nature tourism operations on or near the river
• 11:00 -11:15 – Nature Tourism Opportunities
involving MS River Tour Boats - Delta Queen Steamboat Co.
• 11:15 -11:30 - Fishing the Lower MS River - Tommy
Shropshire, Lower Delta Partnership
• 11:30 – 11:45 – Canoeing the Mississippi
River, John Rusky, Quapaw Canoe Company
12:00-1:30 - Lunch on board the Corps Deck Barge with
fish sampling demonstration to show richness of aquatic life to follow
- Bubba Hubbard, Mississippi Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks and
others
1:30-3:00 - Breakout sessions to begin developing a plan
of action to foster a regional approach for promoting Nature tourism –
Facilitated by Pete Walley, University Research Center of the Institutions
of Higher Learning, Tommy Shropshire, Lower Delta Partnership, and others
3:00- 3:30 - Workshop evaluation exercise – Tom
Pullen, Workshop Coordinator.
3:30- 3:45 – Concluding remarks – Madge Lindsay,
Audubon Mississippi
4:00 – Disembark Deck Barge
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