Priority Action Items for Improving the Economic Benefit of Outdoor Recreation Tourism in the Central & Western Adirondacks

Based on the Findings from a Facilitated Workshop Discussion among Adirondack Business Owners on April 3, 2000 at the Adirondack Hotel in Long Lake

 

Introduction to the Workshop Findings

Business owners in the central and western Adirondacks reported in a recent survey that outdoor recreation is central to the health of the tourism economy in their area of the Adirondacks. The business owners also indicated that recreation and tourism planning are necessary for preventing recreational conflicts, maximizing enjoyment for the visitor, and for minimizing environmental impacts (Holmes & Associates 1999). In spite of the business owners’ interest in planning for one of the leading economic activities in the central Adirondack Park, there has been little research, planning, or public policy to address the future of outdoor recreation tourism in the area.

Tourism is significant to Adirondack communities because it represents a common thread unifying development and conservation issues in the Adirondacks. It seems evident that local business owners, in cooperation with community leaders and tourism officials, need to work together to optimize business revenues from tourism, while concurrently working to protect the natural resources that attract visitors to the region. As a follow-up to the 1999 study, the Wildlife Conservation Society and Holmes & Associates hosted a workshop to provide an opportunity for small business owners to further define priority issues and to outline an agenda for outdoor recreation tourism planning and promotion for an area of the Adirondacks most in need of economic assistance. The findings from this workshop are useful and informative because they represent the business owners’ needs, interests and ideas for improving the economic condition of their communities.

The findings are presented in two sections. Presented first are the main priority issues identified by the participants during the distillation session near the end of the workshop. The issues are organized under three different headings corresponding to local, regional, and State level issues. Following those over-all priorities are the main issues raised in within each of three workshop discussion sessions: Needed Innovations in Outdoor Recreation Tourism Development; Trails & Recreation Corridors; and, Unit Management Plans (UMPs). Under those three topics, the priority issues are categorized under three main areas of focus: Information and Education Priorities, Land Use Management Priorities, and Research and Marketing Priorities.

Background information and a description of the workshop follow the summary of priority issues.

 

Workshop Priority Issues for Communities, the Region, and the State

Priorities for Local Communities & Businesses
    1. Recognize the value of capitalizing on natural resource-based tourism.
    2. Make hamlets more attractive to visitors through community planning.
    3. Develop local community recreation plans that will contribute directly to the unit management plan (UMP) public input process.
    4. Consider new recreation opportunities they might have to offer, and how best to promote those opportunities.
    5. Create a mechanism for more pro-active participation of businesses in developing priorities and actions for addressing community and regional issues.

Priorities for Regional Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Colleges
  1. Be visionaries by encouraging, facilitating and providing education on community planning, tourism planning, small business issues, etc.
  2. Assist communities in inventorying their outdoor recreation opportunities.
  3. Help communities to develop tourism action plans based on those inventories and to obtain funding for initiatives to increase the economic benefit of outdoor recreation tourism in their communities.
  4. Facilitate partnerships between business, local government and state.
  5. Support Park-wide research on visitors (e.g., characteristics, interests, desires) that can be replicated on an annual basis.

Priorities for State of New York
  1. Develop an ultimate vision for the unit management plan (UMP) process.
  2. Solicit and be receptive to input from communities on UMPs and facilitate a user-friendly UMP process that minimizes political influence.
  3. Explore funding mechanisms within the UMPs (e.g., camper fees) that will generate revenue for maintenance and improvements to outdoor recreation facilities.
  4. Producer user-friendly planning documents and maintain public input and liaison with communities after the UMP process.
  5. Promote better stewardship with adequate funding to implement the UMPs.
  6. Organize public celebrations in adjacent communities as each UMP plan is completed.
  7. Assist in funding the proposed network of community information centers.

 

Priority Issues Under Three Main Topic Areas

1. Needed Innovations in Outdoor Recreation Tourism Development

Information and Education Priorities
    1. Reliable, timely and detailed information for visitors.
    2. Promote region’s ability to provide the full spectrum of recreation opportunities.
    3. Simplify where visitors can find information on recreation opportunities.
    4. Provide training to employees and education to visitors on the recreation opportunities on public lands and on protecting the region’s natural resources.
    5. Develop interpretative displays of nature, culture, history, etc. in each community to provide visitors the opportunity to "learn for pleasure" as they travel around the Adirondacks.

Land Use Management Priorities
    1. Provide a balance between wilderness, economics, and resource use.
    2. Develop a pro-active stewardship and recreation plan for the Adirondack Park.
    3. Minimize user conflicts.

Research and Marketing Priorities
    1. Survey visitors in the area to identify their characteristics for marketing efforts.
    2. Use a multi-lingual approach to market the area.
    3. Use a multi-generational approach to marketing the area.
    4. Better cooperation among political leaders, business & communities.
    5. Improve the linking and packaging of services: lodging, attractions, guides, etc.

2. Trails & Recreation Corridors: Maintaining, Improving and Adding Linkages

Information and Education Priorities
    1. Accurately identify corridor resources and define uses.
    2. Considerably improve available information on corridors and interpret the history of corridors, including cultural and natural.
    3. Develop themes and classify for certain corridors according to degree of difficulty.
    4. Improved signage, both by the State and by communities.

Land Use Management Priorities
    1. Develop loop trails – hut to hut.

Research and Marketing Priorities
    1. Enhanced marketing of corridors through development of maps and brochures.

3. Unit Management Plans (UMPs): Improving their Relationship with Outdoor Recreation Tourism in the Central Adirondacks

Information and Education Priorities
    1. Identify potential recreation opportunities and benefits to communities related to each of the State land use classifications.
    2. Better educate visitors on the use of State lands.

Land Use Management Priorities
    1. Increase public participation in the UMP process.
    2. Involve paid Adirondack recreation experts in the UMP process to enhance the plans’ validity.
    1. Clarify the regulations related to Mountain biking on State land, and identify additional opportunities for this growing sport.

Research and Marketing Priorities
    1. Assist communities in developing a vision and outdoor recreation plan before participating the UMP planning process.
    2. Promote and advertise public access opportunities in each Unit after the Plans are complete, especially the availability and diversity of recreation opportunities.

 

 

Background on the Workshop

Justification

The survey findings from 258 tourism business owners underscored how important outdoor recreation and tourism are to communities in the central Adirondacks. Around the same time those findings were released by the Wildlife Conservation Society in February 1999, a number of new initiatives were announced that are important next steps to actively improving the tourism economy of the area. The Natural History Museum, expected to open in Tupper Lake in 2001, will make a major contribution to both the local tourism economy and to the public’s understanding of Adirondack ecosystems. The Ten Rivers Recreation Area, encompassing the area within a 30 mile radius of Coney Mountain (situated between Long Lake and Tupper Lake), is a new, concerted effort to promote the natural resources and outdoor recreation opportunities in the central Adirondacks. In addition, the Wildlife Conservation Society is initiating a network of Community Information Centers in the center of Adirondack communities, with the first opening in Inlet in May 2000. These centers will use empty storefronts to provide visitors with better appreciation of the environment, the history and the outdoor recreation opportunities in the vicinity of each community. New outdoor recreation initiatives also are occurring in eastern Adirondacks and in the Lake Champlain area.

While recognizing the many valuable initiatives underway, the Wildlife Conservation Society has three main reasons for sponsoring this workshop at this particular time, and with a focus on outdoor recreation tourism in the central Adirondacks.

1.) In recognizing that outdoor recreation is the major component of the tourism economy of the central and western Adirondacks, how can the area improve the economic return from those activities? It is commonly heard that hikers, paddlers and x-country skiers do not spend money. While obviously not true, they could be spending more of their tourism dollars in small communities near their hiking, paddling, and skiing destinations. Harnessing the knowledge of these business owners may shed light on how to encourage those types of visitors to spend more time and money in the communities.

2.) Currently no organization or mechanism for tourism planning exists in the central Adirondacks. While the area offers a tremendous diversity of recreation opportunities, the dependence of that recreation on the quality of the natural resources requires a degree of foresight and planning to avoid degradation. Maintenance and improvement of trails and corridors, avoidance of recreation conflicts, and educating the visitor on ecology and environment protection are viewed as important issues in the central Adirondacks.

3.) Outdoor recreation and the natural environment are the enticements being used to attract visitors to the Adirondacks. However, once in the area, the majority of tourists do not venture far beyond the areas surrounding Lake George and Lake Placid. Meanwhile, the economic gap between those vibrant tourism economies and the economies of the central Adirondacks appears to be widening. That is not a healthy situation for the region’s economy or its natural environment. The emphasis placed on improving the quality of tourism, as represented by the WCS survey of business owners, appears to be a healthy alternative to past tourism development and promotion efforts. The WCS is very interested in maintaining a focus on the business owners’ interest in the quality of the outdoor recreation and tourism experience.

By dedicating a this day-long workshop focused on the interests of business owners in these small communities, the WCS aimed for degree a specificity that would clarify many of the most important next steps from the view of the small business owner.

 

Purpose and Goals

The main purpose of the workshop was to outline priority action items related to outdoor recreation tourism from the perspective of local business owners. The business owners participating in this workshop have identified specific planning, education and promotional activities that they believe can directly impact revenue and jobs in their communities, while protecting the natural resources on which their tourism economy depends.

The priorities identified in this document should be useful to local governments, state agencies, and organizations that are interested in improving the local economies and communities of the central and western Adirondacks. Our goal for this summary document is that it will help to refocus on-going tourism programs and that it will trigger new initiatives for enhancing the economic impact of outdoor recreation tourism in the small communities of the central and western Adirondacks.

 

Focus on Local Business Owners and Central & Western Adirondack Communities

Holmes & Associates mailed 188 invitations to tourism business owners, local community tourism officials, and local government officials residing in the central and western Adirondack Park, including the communities of Blue Mountain Lake, Cranberry Lake, Indian Lake, Inlet, Long Lake, Newcomb, North Creek, Old Forge, Raquette Lake, Speculator, Star Lake, and Tupper Lake.

 

Representation

Thirty-six individuals participated in the seven-hour workshop. The number of participants by community included: Saranac Lake (6), Inlet (5), Long Lake (4), Tupper Lake (4), North Creek (3), Lake Clear/Paul Smiths (3), Lake Placid (2), Old Forge (2), Blue Mountain Lake (1), Indian Lake (1), Raquette Lake (1), Star Lake (1), and "outside the Adirondacks" (3).

Types of business represented included: recreation equipment retailer, ski area, bicycle shop, bed & breakfast, guide, attraction, museum, hotel, resort, snowmobile association, ski touring council, Chamber of Commerce, and Town Government.

 

Approach

During the workshop, the participants discussed a number of priority actions for increasing the economic return to local communities from outdoor recreation tourism. Jack Drury, a consultant with the firm LeadingEDGE, applied his experience with group communication and collaboration in facilitating the discussion. Three topic areas were explored in a small group, brainstorming format: Innovations in Outdoor Recreation Tourism Development, Trails & Recreation Corridors, and Unit Management Plans. Each of the four sessions began with brief opening thoughts offered by invited experts as a way of providing background information on the topics. The experts providing information included:

In addition, two speakers made brief presentations over lunch:

After the opening remarks, each workshop participant had many opportunities to contribute their thoughts and ideas as they all discussed the same three topic areas in a small group format. The workshop concluded with a distillation and summary session in an attempt to capture they key priorities raised during the day, as presented above.

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