A Geotourism Analysis in Spring Green, Wisconsin
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Jennifer Reece Maggie Strassman Sara Dorsey Mike Kenyon Creativity Shining Through: A Geotourism Analysis in Spring Green, Wisconsin Introduction Canoeing down the Lowe Wisconsin River, paddlers encounter a variety ofthe state's natural and cultural wonders; blue herons stepping through marshes, rolling bluffs set against the open sky, and local residents casting lines off wooden docks. Our group's research interests span the discipline of geography, linking people with environment and evaluating ways in which they use their space, much like a paddler observes his or her surroundings. Our particular interests include sustainable tourism, working to provide incentives to protect natural areas, encouraging a vested interest in conserving biodiversity, urban parks and green space, and ecotourism as a form of community development. Combining our interests, we analyzed geotourism in Spring Green, as defined by National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations, a forerunner in the emerging field ofgeotourism. Our research and conclusions are valuable to the Spring Green community, whose motto is "Creativity Shining Through" because they shed light on the impact ofthe area's tourist industry. The geotourism industry is a phenomenon generally applied to international or well-known places. However, we feel this project is an interesting complement to existing research, as well as our personal research endeavors. Literature Review Geotourism was first introduced as an idea in 2002 by National Geographic Traveler Magazine and the Travel Industry Association ofAmerica. Jonathan B. Tourtellot, editor of National Geographic, and wife Sally Bensusen coined the term a few years earlier due to the need for a concept more encompassing than simply sustainable tourism or ecotourism. In the past two decades ecotourism has arisen as a popular strategy for merging the interests ofenvironmental conservation and development, as the ideal combination ofa sustainable use ofthe environment and community-based-conservation, an economic activity that transects many sectors, levels, and interests. To thoroughly understand geotourism, one must first have a solid understanding its discursive root, ecotourism. In many ways, ecotourism has been a reaction to the suppression of livelihood strategies that are no longer viable due to international conservation strategies for local communities. For consumers, ecotourism has been gaining popularity on the general belief that ecotourism is less harmful on the environment and local communities than other types of tourism. While biologists hail ecotourism as a profitable road to conservation (Lindberg, 1998, Sherman & Dixion, 1991), and development agencies sight ecotourism as successful economic development in third world contexts (Diamantes, 2004, Wunder, 2000), scholars have recently critiqued its inability to provide sustainable mutually beneficial relationships for the community and the environment. Geotourism hopes to address this issue. Much of the discourse surrounding ecotourism and its potential impacts depend wholly on the definition used. The issue ofscale, whether ecotourism is a project ofthe nation, region, or small community is not present in any definition, although must have a significant impact when assessing the impact ofecotourism. Perhaps the most popular definition is that ofThe Ecotourism Society, coined in 1991: "Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well being oflocal people". Most authors agree that ecotourism is more than just nature-based tourism or adventure tourism, and must include ecological and socio-economic benefits for local communities as well as an education component. However, the term is somewhat ambiguous and defined by the people themselves, allowing actors to speak the same language while pursuing different objectives (Gray, 2002). Ideally ecotourism is a perfect combination ofdevelopment and conservation that includes the local population; the essential feature is sustainability (Wearing & Neil, 1999). In theory it should provide a viable economic alternative to environmental exploitation often caused by development (Diamantis, 2004), turning a countries natural beauty into its comparative advantage (Cater & Lowman, 1994). Peattie et ai, (1999) shows how ecotourism is stimu1ating a post industrial economy in Tasmania and Newfoundland, once dependent on primary production that can now capitalize on natural assets. Wunder (2000) analyzed three indigenous Cuyabeno communities on the Colombia-Peru border involved in different levels ofecotourism participation, in which all three communities generated significant additional monetary income. Ecotourism should also promote the conservation ofenvironmentally sensitive areas (Valentine, 1991), and involve local populations much more than mass tourism, even stop the decrease ofcultural heritage (Carter & Lowman, 1994). Sherman and Dixon (1991) discus how marine ecotourism revenues in the Philippines allowed for the prohibition oflogging in a nearby watershed, as logging would lead to the sedimentation of offshore waters and the revenue would not have compensated for the damaged caused to the marine environment Local tourism income provides a powerful incentive for conservation, by making traditional resource management more sustainable, by substituting degrading activities, and by increasing local protection capacity against external threats (Wunder, 2000). Lindberg (1998) summarized studies in the East African savanna, which found that lions and elephant herds generated far more income when exploited for wildlife observation as opposed to trophy hunting. Honey says "aroWld the world, ecotourism has been hailed as a panacea: a way to fund conservation and scientific research, protect fragile and pristine ecosystems, benefit rural communities, promote development in poor countries, enhance ecological and cu1tural sensitivity, instill environmental awareness and social conscience in the travel industry, satisfy and educate the discriminating tourist, and some claim, build world peace" (Honey, 1999, p.4) The reality ofecotowism is that while better than any other form oftowism, it does not hold up to its ideals. Ecotourism requires much support, in the form ofregulations and restrictions, from all participating actors. In the context ofthe Third World, this may not be possible and it is unfair for the local community to bear this cost (Forsyth, 2002). The contradiction between local involvement and environmental conservation within development prioritizes western views of nature and blames the host community when things do not go according to plan (Gray, 2002). Forsyth (2002), shows how the government was unable to stop the planting ofpalm trees to meet tourist's expectations of what a Thai beach should look like, damaging a sensitive ecosystem and reinforcing what could be a detrimental ideal ofisland culture and environment. Further, Kontogeorgopoulos (1999) shows how the Thai government was also able to use ecotourism to ultimately boost overall tourism growth, further endangering fragile ecosystems. The critiques associated with ecotourism are varied and focus mainly on the impact on the environment and the communities involved, arguably the two things it should benefit most. Generally these critiques follow those levied against development, tourism, and nature-focused conservation. First, the problem associated with the term sustainable development is inevitably associated with the debates surrounding ecotourism. One ofthe most popular ways in which ecotourism is experienced is through visiting protected areas (biosphere reserves, national parks, etc.). Wearing & Neil (1999) argue that nowhere are the conflicting views over ecotourism more evident than the current debate over the function and purpose ofprotected areas, the debate between preservation and use, ecotourism embodies this dilemma. Protected areas are often associated with the removal and restriction of traditional use for the original inhabitants (Cater & Lowman, 1994) and therefore cause unrest in conservation and development discourse. For example, Perreault (1996) addresses a situation in the Ecuadorian Highlands in which a protected area lead to community fracturalization and violence when ecotourism and the protection ofnature was pitted against tradition land-use livelihoods. Also, tour operators often have little stake or fmancial investment in the host destination and therefore have little interest in the long-term sustainability ofa place, placing responsibility on the tourist, who mayor may not be concerned about their impacts (Priskin, 2003). Many use ecotourism as a marketing ploy to re-Iabel their product to charge higher prices (Diedrich, 2007). Even when the environment is taken into account the services requested and expectations of tourists, who are often not environmentalists themselves (Cater & Lowman, 1994), often burden the land to a much greater extent than those who live there. The imposed western values on local communities, including ideas ofnature and culture, and the reasons behind the rise in ecotourism as a desirable activity for those living in the western world have not been widely addressed in the literature. Weaver (2002) does address ecotourism as an elitist concept, conforming travel destinations to western ideals (Forsyth, 2002), in search of 'authenticity'. However, the nature-culture dichotomy (Ortner, 1974) and wilderness myth (Cronon, 1995 & Slater, 1995) assumed in western