Oct 29 2008 - 6:00pm
Oct 29 2008 - 8:00pm
The Crown of the Continent Geotourism Council, including diverse representatives from British Columbia, Alberta and Montana, invites interested members of the Fernie community to meet Council members and learn more about the collaborative project with National Geographic Society. The public is invited to attend a community reception on Wednesday, October 29 at the Red Tree Lodge between 6 and 8 p.m.
The Council will present a brief overview of the project, but the reception primarily provides an informal opportunity for conversation. Tapas will be served along with a no-host bar. A $5 dollar contribution is requested to defray costs.
The Crown of the Continent Geotourism Council represents more than 40 regional partners, including business groups, the tourism industry, land management agencies, conservation groups, regional colleges and universities, and First Nations. In partnership with National Geographic, the partnership produced a “geotourism MapGuide” for the transboundary region that includes much of southeastern BC, southwestern Alberta, and northwestern Montana. The partnership also has developed a companion web site, www.crownofthecontinent.net.
Geotourism is defined by National Geographic Society and the Travel Industry Association 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 places, themes and stories represented in the MapGuide were nominated by local residents in 2007 in response to two questions: What’s special about this place, and what are people doing to keep it that way?
National Geographic selected the Crown of the Continent for one of its first geotourism projects because of the region’s world-class environmental and cultural values. “The objective of the MapGuide is to showcase the region’s most unique points of interest and to tell the broader story of a remarkable landscape beyond borders,” said Jonathan Tourtellot, director of National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations and senior editor for the map.
“The Crown of the Continent is one of the most intact natural ecosystems in the temperate zones of the world,” Tourtellot said during the international launch of the MapGuide last March. “It is a place of plunging valleys, sweet water, ancient cedar forests, native prairie and diverse wildlife. It’s also a place with a rich cultural heritage: Sovereign First Nations still occupy the same territory after thousands of years, alongside loggers, ranchers, miners and more recently an influx of new residents who have brought far-flung business ventures and incomes. This map tells the stories tied to this very special landscape.”
About 35 participants in the Crown of the Continent Geotourism Council will be meeting in Fernie Oct. 29-30. Previous meetings of the Council have been held in Pincher Creek, Alberta, and Whitefish, Montana.
Copies of the MapGuide are available at the Fernie Chamber of Commerce or from Kootenay Rockies Tourism. Copies of the free map also can be ordered on-line at www.crownofthecontinent.net.
For more information, contact Council coordinator Steve Thompson. He can be reached in Whitefish by phone (406-862-6793) or email (sthompson@npca.org).
