Shenandoah Proposal

Preliminary Draft - 9-30-96

Title: System Shenandoah Ecotourism: Linking the Shenandoah National Park Region to Virginia Tech

Abstract:

This project creates a new, synergistic organization among Virginia Tech, the Shenandoah National Park (U.S. Dept. Interior), and a new, modern, diverse, for-profit enterprise. The existing 190,000-acre Park is one resource base. The experience of the P.I. over 30 years at Tech and computer based resources developed is another. The staff of the Park and faculty of Virginia Tech in several colleges can complement the new ecotourism concept being developed. The Park users, already several hundred thousand a year, constitute a known market. They can be expanded, their use intensified, the Park can benefit, profits made, and additional benefits provided. A proportion of these profits will be dedicated to research at Virginia Tech. In addition, students will benefit through increased employment opportunities and funds for their education. New "Friends" of the Park will be created with funded projects. Proposals in diverse areas of the environment to federal agencies will be submitted with the advantage of work on and application to Federal lands (e.g., EPA, DOE, USDI, USGS).

The ecotourism subsystem to be developed includes:

1. Memberships
2. Newsletters
3. Nighty events (owl tours)
4. Black bear events
5. "Seep People" -- the wild things of forest seeps
6. Geology tours
7. Work camps -- tent camps for helpful Park exercise and work
8. Confederate Ranger -- challenge runs
9. Adventure trips -- high risk events
10. Avi - New sport of bird watching
11. Turkey Trot - ecology of the wild turkey
12. Trees of the Forest - Lessons and a contest with membership levels
13. Web Page
14. Automated registering and allocation
15. User surveys and system monitoring
16. Computer maps to assure managed use
17. Computer map sales
18. Equipment sales
19. Publications - introductory material for all of the above, field maps, and field documents
20. Special-purpose trails
21. "Expeditions" - simultaneous faunal and floral surveys
22. Special collections (e.g., insect collections)
23. Stream surveys
24. Brook Trout Ecology - lectures, camps, trips
25. Butterflies and Moths
26. Deer ecology
27. Special Places - 10, 20, and 30 special diverse places in the Park
28. Winter Snow Rides - day; night
29. International tour - a center for promotion and expansion of local tours to other countries supportive of Virginia Tech concepts.

These are all conducted by a private group on or near the Park. Education within Park facilities, where feasible, will be encouraged. The Park benefits by use rate and supporters; the new company benefits with part going to Virginia Tech. Tech benefits through research support, political support, and a wide variety of student benefits -- experience, money, motivation, future employment, graduate programs.