Crown of the Continent, Backbone of the World

The Crown of the Continent ecosystem (CotC) is impressive. Within ten million acres, it manages to enfold and cradle the most intact temperate ecosystem in the world. Ten million acres of intact wildland. That’s a real feat in today’s world obsessed with repurposing land for human activities. With a gargantuan range from West Alberta, Canada to southeast British Columbia and Western Montana, CotC assures us that there is hope for humans, natural landscapes, and local communities to co-exist in a peaceful and economically viable way! $$$ Once we and the people who govern us realize this as fact, we begin to think about how we can achieve these goals in tandem, instead of wasting time debating whether it’s possible.

How did the CotC achieve this? Its management has been heavily guided by the approach of geotourism: tourism based on appreciation of the site’s natural geographical features — this includes physical geomorphology and human geography aspects of culture, economy, and society. Sheena explained that the younger generation (that’s us!) was tired of commodification, was educated enough to know the damage conventional tourism inflicts on societies and environments, and wanted experiences that were socially and environmentally benign and unique. In her words, we crave hyperlocal experiences, not disneyfied ones i.e. experiences replicable anywhere (like Disneyland, hence the term). We didn’t want products, we wanted to understand stories, and we wanted the whole story, not just appetizing or appealing aspects. And we wanted to give back to the environment and communities that let us visit their places. We wanted to protect the goose that laid the golden egg.

That sounds more transactional than our pure intentions and genuine attitudes are, but one big thing I learnt from this session was environmental economics. As she flashes numerals on the screen in blue and green, I realised: numbers talk. 12 million tourists spending 3.16 billion USD creating 34,000 jobs. A flurry of numbers that don’t mean anything to me, but I’m not trying to communicate with me. I’m trying to persuade decision-makers and governments and companies and their language is statistical, it’s numerical. You can have the best, the most important message, but if you can’t get it effectively across to your audience, it bears no weight, makes no impact in the world. So of course I adapt my means. I’m going to bring this back to Singapore and tell them, don’t protect Mandai for its inhabitants, protect Mandai so that it can be a sustainable source of revenue for you.

The essential idea is to make it so that it becomes impossible for governments or corporations to interfere in the landscape without hurting their own prospects. To make it so that it pays to protect the environment, rather than to destroy it. For instance, Eastern Montana has a highly unique geomorphology: a distinctive prairie-to-mountain interface pointed out in Dr. Len’s readings too. This entails a highly dramatic landscape where a boundless expanse of grassland is abruptly met with “a massive tidal wave of stone” — a staggeringly tall and expansive border of mountains. Is there any reason why such a vista couldn’t be harnessed as it is to attract tourists and revenue?

And what about the five UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Alberta, alongside the world’s first International Peace Park (Waterton-Glacier, as discussed in Dr. Len’s class) and five dark sky preserves (a designation in Canada for places with unobstructed night sky that protects the natural rhythms of wildlife)? Is it so difficult to see how these naturally formidable and arresting landscapes would be perfect tourist attractions and require minimal intervention — therein reducing costs, a keyword for capitalist companies?

And CotC does all that while protecting major bird migration routes and ecosystems along the Yellowstone to Yukon corridor. My homestay mom Norma and I talked about this on one of our hikes in Yellowstone, so Caroline alluding to the corridor made my heart smile remembering our homestay weekend :’) Ktunaxa Nation in southern British Columbia is the only place within CotC with resource extraction, which is again a huge deal when you remember the volumes of minerals and petrochemical resources enclosed in the earth of this region.

But how exactly can we establish geotourism? The Nat Geo Centre for Sustainable Destinations (CSD) came up with 13 geotourism principles that undergird the process of establishing CotC and geotourism sites in general. But from the beginning, Caroline shared a cautionary tale that in the beginning, when National Geographic put places of interest on their platforms, the volume of visitors would increase beyond existing infrastructure’s ability to receive them. Today, thus, they work closely with communities to develop the site and ready them physically and psychologically for inflows of people and goods before using their platform to propagate information about the site. There is a formal framework for this:

1 identify planning tools 2 catalogue assets 3 destination development planning 4 build to scale 4 provide quality signature experiences

Vis-à-vis [2], they ask residents and communities on the land: what do you think your greatest assets are? Then they make 2 lists: a big list with everything, all the places of interest in an area; and a small list of environmentally- and culturally-sensitive sites. Then they take everything in the second list off the big list and promote what’s left. They make sure both environmental and social concerns are aired because the two are often intimately entwined and both need to be addressed to create a tenable geotourism site. Having diverse stakeholders onboard really strengthens this process.

This was one of the key lessons she shared: the need to understand and work with all stakeholders. This means putting conservationists and logging companies together, and getting them to speak to each other and relate in a most fundamental, human way. Direct discussion can help effective communication and further management plans when, for instance, the tribal council tells a logging company where they absolutely cannot touch because it is sacred land or essential in supporting the surrounding ecosystem. Including the tribes (CSKT, Blackfeet, and Blackfoot who used to be the same tribe as the Blackfeet, until the international line divided them so that the different bands now operate together but are of different nations) is an absolute priority for CotC’s management, and they deign to make a priori decisions and then asking for indigenous peoples’ input after.

Is this a mammoth task? Of course. Getting all the stakeholders of such a large area onboard takes sophisticated coordination and punchy communication skills. But in Caroline’s words, “We find the jurisdictional complexity an opportunity and fun challenge.” Really shows you what excellent people are managing the CotC. Some people may think, it’s easier to have just a few stakeholders onboard, makes our lives easier. But that’s never the logical process in solving a problem: identifying the problem should be followed by deliberating what the most judicious and comprehensive solution is, not what is easier for you. (Some of our world leaders can really take a leaf out of this book when it comes to climate change.) Here I drew a connection to what Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney said as well: don’t do what is popular and try to present it as right; do the right thing until it becomes popular. It’s never easy to do the right thing when it’s time-consuming or unpopular, but good leaders (like you all!) always try : )

Thereafter, they develop the destination, or [3]. They are incredibly selective of the experiences they create and businesses they work with, and ultimately work to give locals stewardship. This involves raising awareness and educating locals, because some local stakeholders may not be aware of others’ concerns and vice versa. This readies the stewards/locals psychologically; physically, they are trying to electrify transport within the region. Discussions are underway with airports to rent hybrid vehicles to tourists and construction of charging stations is ongoing. They’re super strategic about where the charging stations are too – rather than pepper them at massive tourist hotspots, they place them near rural communities so that tourists will often have to get off (while their vehicles are charging) and have a drink at a nearby coffeshop or walk around and shop a little. This spreads the spending and traffic, injecting a bit more equity in revenue generation, especially in areas that would otherwise see fewer visitors due to decreased infrastructural access.

Stories are then self-generating: people who visit post on social media websites, and CotC has a platform allowing visitors who use their recommendations to share their stories on a common platform. CotC also occasionally has special projects on public television like a KSPS documentary, some books, and engaging three photojournalists to do an ultra-marathon across a specific destination. Essentially, they look for unique and organic ways of partnering with people to get stories out.

They also ask that visitors refrain from geotagging locations with a view to reducing traffic in specific sites. Visitors abiding by CotC recommendations would thus tag either the state, province, or tour provider close to the area, but new visitors would still have to explore the place themselves, or refer to tourism books. This generally reduces degradation because thousands of visitors are not all pointed to one specific spot, they have to mill about exploring instead of directly heading there and then leaving, so all the pressure isn't concentrated in one location. Concomitantly, CotC is developing nearby Flathead National Forest to give, again, more options for exploration and to diffuse human traffic over a larger geographical area. It's patent that you don't need very complicated solutions, just thoughtful ways to alleviate the loads on infrastructure and local communities!

I still have a small bit to share about Natives, but I'll slot that in another post together with some conclusions about getting all the stakeholders onboard and even drawing connections to Shawn Johnson's sharing about conflict resolution. Hope to see you there : )

(8 September 2019)