Seeing Is Believing
Ecotourism Boosts Awareness of Wetlands Loss of Wetlands Loss
Ecotourism, the sometimes serious, often serendipitous search for an experience of nature, has become the rising star of the travel industry. Once limited to the elite and the offbeat, over 23 million Americans now seek opportunities that put them in touch with the pristine parts of our world.
Louisiana Office of State Parks
"It's about immersing yourself in nature, studying and admiring plants and animal life for their own sake and in their own environment," says Bo Boehringer, communications director for the Louisiana Office of State Parks. For some, that might mean hiking, canoeing or rafting, while for others, it's cross-country skiing or visiting a specially designed ecotourism preserve like Louisiana's Tickfaw State Park.
Driving all of these activities is the desire for a deeper, more fulfilling connection with the natural world. According to Boehringer, “As Americans become disenchanted with spending their money on more and more things, they turn to nature for experiences that are enduring.” Moreover, they’re doing so at a remarkable pace. For example:
- Ecotourism is increasing at a rate of 10 to 15 percent a year, the largest jump among all outdoor recreational activities.
- Americans now spend $10 billion annually on trips specifically to watch wildlife.
- Thirty million American adults take a trip of 100 miles or more to visit a national park every year.
- According to a 1998 survey, 48 percent of Americans who take a trip, regardless of destination, will participate in a nature-based activity
This skyrocketing interest in ecotourism also boosts the hopes of Louisianans working to preserve and restore the state’s coastal wetlands. They believe that more and more Americans will see for themselves the meaning of 30 square miles of annual coastal wetlands loss.
Chicagoans, for example, who experience Louisiana’s coastal wetlands first-hand may acquire a visceral understanding of the gravity of the habitat loss to egrets, herons, ibis and other waterfowl. They may also recognize that the Mississippi River that runs through their state is the same river that feeds and replenishes the marshes of the Atchafalaya, Barataria and Terrebonne basins. And if this connection is made, many Louisianans are confident that the nation will be ready to support federal funding at levels that can truly address the state’s problem of coastal wetlands loss.
Louisiana Office of State Parks