The National Geographic Society’s (NGS) Center for Sustainable Destinations has embarked on a ‘geotourism’ program for the Greater Yellowstone Region. NGS defines geotourism as, “tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.”
The project will solicit feedback from locals and visitors to put together a Geotourism MapGuide for the region centered on Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. This region encompasses parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and is one of the largest intact temperate ecosystems in the world.
The project has plans to conduct public forums and presentations within the communities to encourage community involvement. An online form has been set up to allow visitors to submit favorite landmarks, places, events, local businesses and their experiences. Diverse input is being sought in order to represent perspectives from historic preservation, natural resources, public lands management, indigenous people, agriculture, tourism, business and local government.
The process is designed to open a dialog between stakeholders in order to devise a forward-looking approach to tourism and economic development of this region. Previous MapGuides have been completed in the Crown of the Continent (Alberta, British Columbia, Montana), Sonoran Desert (Arizona, Sonora), Vermont and Appalachia.
Funding and regional expertise is being contributed by the Wyoming Travel & Tourism, the Idaho Division of Tourism Development and the Montana Department of Commerce (Travel Montana). Partners also include the Yellowstone Country tourism region and the Bozeman, Big Sky and West Yellowstone convention and visitor bureaus in Montana, and the Sonoran Institute. The U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service are contributing funding for the community-involvement process.
Visit the Yellowstone Geotourism site here.
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The geotourism site noted above does not seem to go to a geotourism site… some web magazine?
Thanks for pointing that out Neil. I’ve fixed the link at the bottom to now go to the proper site.