TELE-WORKSHOP FACT SHEET March 2, 2005 POSSIBILITIES WITH PARTNERS: PERSPECTIVES FROM NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAYS PARTNERS TELE-WORKSHOP SPOTLIGHT SPEAKERS Derrick Crandall President AMERICAN RECREATION COALITION (LOGO) The American Recreation Coalition (ARC), a nonprofit, Washington-based federation, provides a unified voice for more than 100 organizations with recreation interests to ensure their participation in government policy-making on issues such as public land management, energy and liability. Among ARC’s primary missions is the stimulation of partnerships to provide quality recreation opportunities. Floyd Thompson National Program Leader TRAVEL AND TOURISM PROGRAM, USDA FOREST SERVICE (LOGO) An agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service was established in 1905. Gifford Pinchot, its first Chief, summarized the agency’s mission:“To provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run.” The Forest Service manages public lands in national forests and grasslands, encompassing 193 million acres; 69 of America’s BywaysTM are on or near National Forests. Kevin Fry President SCENIC AMERICA (LOGO) Scenic America and its state affiliates help citizens and elected officials take charge of how they want their communities to look and achieve their vision for their communities’ futures. Scenic America advocates local, state and federal laws that help protect and enhance natural beauty and distinctive community character, such as legislation that helps reduce billboard blight and keeps America’s highways and byways scenic. Jennifer Getz Program Analyst NATIONAL PARK SERVICE (LOGO) The National Park Service (NRS) preserves the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations.The U.S. national park system comprises 384 areas, covering more than 83 million acres in 49 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Saipan and the Virgin Islands; 73 of America’s BywaysTM are on or near National Parks. Brad Cownover Chief Landscape Architect BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (LOGO) The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, administers 2,671 million surface acres of public lands, located mainly in 12 western states.The BLM sustains the health, diversity and productivity of these public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The BLM focuses on commercial, recreation and conservation activities. THE VALUE OF PARTNERSHIP The January/February 2005 issue of Vistas emphasized the importance of partnerships.The Byway Leader Tele- Workshop expanded on the topic with a roundtable discussion with some of the National Scenic Byways Program partners. The partners shared insights about their missions and work, how they became involved with the National Scenic Byways Program, what they value about the Program, and more. Rob Draper,Team Leader of the Federal Highway Administration National Scenic Byways Program, introduced the Tele-Workshop with an overview of his perceptions of the benefits and values of partnerships. He described three main areas. 1. RESOURCES, RISK AND RETURN “To me, the real value of partnerships is when we come together and identify initiatives, which really none of us would take on our own because of the limited resources we have and because of the risks,” Rob said.“By bringing all of our resources to the table, we end up producing something that yields significant benefits for our individual interests.” 2. DIVERSITY Rob said,“The different perspectives, different expertise, that people bring to the table open our eyes to different approaches and different ways of thinking of things and forging solutions.” He added that diversity also includes different networks.“We each have our own more immediate networks that we operate in. As partners, we often can open doors to others we’re partnering with, and provide access to other people who wouldn’t otherwise interact with us.” 3. PUSH-PULL Partners interact in ways that motivate and energize each other, according to Rob.“We rely on one another to keep us going. [Our partners are there] to lean on, to keep us fresh,” he commented.“By pushing and pulling ourselves, we end up pushing and pulling one another from time to time.” BENEFITS TO BYWAY PARTNERS Rob asked the participating partners what they see as benefits of partnership with National Scenic Byways. Kevin Fry, Scenic America, said,“It’s an important way for us to fulfill our mission... We deal with a lot of issues related to scenic conservation and reducing visual pollution, or visual blight. Transportation issues are a huge part of that. We were involved way back in 1991 when the original ISTEA legislation was drafted, encouraging the creation of a National Scenic Byways Program.We recognized that the way we bring the American people to the scenic resources that are in this country is an important aspect of scenic conservation—you can’t separate the two of them. Our interest in byways comes from our desire to protect scenic resources—scenic views, the character of communities, and other aspects—but also to create transportation systems that allow people to enjoy those scenic resources and bring people to them in a way that is sensitive and beautiful. So the National Scenic Byways Program, for us, is just a natural extension of our core mission of protecting resources and encouraging people to appreciate the scenic heritage of the country. It’s not a stretch for us at all to get involved with the National Scenic Byway Program, and that’s why we’ve committed so many resources to working with the Program.” Echoing the positive position, Derrick Crandall, American Recreation Coalition,said,“When the President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors was meeting from 1985 to 1987, one of the recurring issues was that Americans were spending their leisure time... closer to home or in linear corridors as opposed to self- contained blocks of parks and other kinds of things.” He explained that driving for pleasure, one of the very top leisure forms, was not addressed by recreation interests or highway- related organizations then.The President’s Commission recommended the concept of the National Scenic Byways Program as a mechanism for providing a quality leisure-time opportunity for people who want to see America’s treasured places. Derrick added,“So, for us,it was a very logical, classic case where a good idea immediately energized a large constituency. A coalition of more than 40 organizations came together to work to make sure that ISTEA,which was a radically different highway bill,included the initial creation of the National Scenic Byways Program.” ARC has actively supported the National Scenic Byways community since then. Similarly, Floyd Thompson, USDA Forest Service, agreed that the National Scenic Byways Program created a way to reach out to potential travelers. Under the Program, the Department of Transportation may provide grants for byway marketing. The byway community also looks to the Federal Highway Administration to promote and market the collection of America’s Byways.(TM) “From the Forest Service’s standpoint,that has helped our agency the best. We don’t have authority to market National Forest Scenic Byways. The Department of Agriculture can market vegetables and beef real well, but we don’t have a way to market the Forest Service’s special places.The National Scenic Byways concept was a very great way to package similar attractions into a linear destination goal,and do that in a way that is seamless across boundaries with our community partners,” he said.“So it’s really been the kingpin,I think,for us to work with DOT and through our agreements with FHWA’s Federal Lands Highways Program to allow us to be a real active player with our private, external and Federal partners.” He added that National Scenic Byways also support the network approach to transportation planning, particularly for off-highway vehicle (OHV) route development. “Byways have become a great way to highlight some routes and prioritize our efforts where we’re going to invest the structure, time and energy.” Commenting on the discussion,Rob said, “Everyone is recognizing that byways are about protecting resources, creating recreational opportunities, providing access to recreational opportunities, as well as the recognition and promotion of tourism through driving. I couldn't agree with you more. We have common threads in our missions and interests that enable us to work together successfully and get things done.” Brad Cownover, BLM, spoke about the value of partnerships next. “Although we’ve had our Backcountry Byways Program as long as Forest Service byways, I think we’re still in a learning mode.The Bureau probably has not been as aggressively and conscientiously marketing maybe as other agencies have.When we talk about the future and connecting visitor experiences, communities, off-road vehicles, and others, we’re trying to identify what beneficial experiences people are looking for. How can we use the systems of roads that we have and trails in connection to other agencies and counties? Partnerships are important. Not just partnership of federal agencies, but maybe partnerships with counties that tie it together. So I think as we move forward, in our realm of byways, the idea of partnerships becomes extremely important, at both the micro and macro level.” Jennifer Getz, National Park Service, agreed. “The National Scenic Byways Program’s intrinsic qualities mesh very well with the National Park Service mission.The program itself gives us an opportunity for national parks to collaborate with partners to connect with gateway communities and tap into resources outside park boundaries.” From her perspective within transportation management, she sees the partnership with byways as a way to address congestion. Her team wants to move people, disperse them, and help them see that there are other avenues and different opportunities.“That’s where the [National Scenic Byways] Program helps us out as well—to meet our mission: resource protection and public enjoyment.” Like the BLM, the NPS has leveraged connections to designated National Scenic Byways, and several roads within NPS jurisdictions have received designation. “From a national level, we encourage parks to get involved,” Jennifer said.“But it’s up to the parks themselves to work with the gateway communities and other partners out there to make it work [at the local level].We provide the tools and encourage them to do it.” PARTNER RESOURCES FOR BYWAYS Partner organizations often serve as resources for Byways, offering their expertise and experience to enhance the relationship. In some cases, partners fill gaps that the National Scenic Byways Program legally can’t address, such as lobbying. Derrick Crandall said that ARC has “played a key leadership role in organizing and directing the flow of byways advocates to ensure that the program continues and grows,” and noted this resource position often meant rallying support against earmarking of funds during the TEA-21 days. “One of ARC’s critical roles, I think, as a partner in this coalition,is to lead efforts that government agencies can’t do, which is the lobbying on behalf of the Program,” Derrick said.“We had a major success late last year when the Congress passed legislation for the current year and left the National Scenic Byway Program intact without any earmarking—for the first time in three yearS... Congress seems to be looking elsewhere for money for their special projects.The next highway legislation,the TEA-LU,continues most of the essential ingredients of the National Scenic Byways Program, and provides us with something very important, which is additional funding.The great projects that so many of the byways have underway can be continued. We can continue to grow the system, and continue to fund new byway projects across the country.” Kevin pointed out that Scenic America has shared its expertise with Byways for mutually beneficial results. He said, “Conserving Our Treasured Places: Managing Visual Quality on Scenic Byways is the brand-new publication that we created in partnership with the America’s Byways Resource Center. It’s a fantastic piece, worked on by my predecessor, Meg Maguire, and the America’s Byways Resource Center.They did a great job in creating a guidebook for not only understanding scenic conservation issues along byways, but it also includes information on how to conduct workshops on byways to make sure that the scenic consequences are well considered. That’s one of the things we’ve been able to do working with the Resource Center:create a technical resource all byways can use to make sure that everyone understands the full implications of the scenic issues along the byways.” Kevin reminded the byway leaders that Scenic America currently provides ten statewide affiliates to serve as resources or as supporters of activities at the state level. An eleventh affiliate in Maryland will be available soon, too. He also noted that additional publications on scenic conservation issues are available from Scenic America. A new Web site will be up in April with a section devoted to byways and links to help drive public attention to byways and byways resources. Kevin added,“We just completed the creation of a new Web site working with the Project for Public Spaces that focuses on context-sensitive solutions for transportation design.The new site: http://contextsensitivesolutions.org has a lot of good information that might be useful for byways.” Technology has opened several partnership opportunities for byways. Derrick elaborated on the Virtual Byway Tours project to harness new technology to allow people to experience a byway visit and help them plan a trip.“It uses a technology developed at Florida International University called Terra Fly. You fly over an aerial photo that has been enhanced with icons that show such things as visitor centers, trails, boat ramps, campgrounds, nearly anything you can think of that would be of interest to a byway traveler—-all of which are clickable to link to a Web page that has more information about that particular icon. We have ten beta-tested Byways where we’ve now collected data and are in the process of getting it ready... We think it’s a great way to give people enough information so people know they want to visit your byway.” Floyd said that the Forest Service also uses technology to support recreation tourism planning for National Forest Scenic Byways, BLM Backcountry Byways, national trails, and other federal trail systems. “We try to the use the technology at byways.org.” He noted that byway leaders may want to submit events and links for Tourism Awareness Week to the Travel Industry of America (TIA) www.tia.org Web site. “They’re creating an information toolkit. Leverage your marketing through that Web site.” Another Web site opportunity for byways focuses on agritourism. Designed to fortify USDA economic corridors in rural areas, http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/RESS/altenterprise features links to farms, ranches and other agricultural attractions. In addition, the Forest Service is looking to connect its SUV-type route resources to the National Scenic Byways system.“[These] Type II Roads—-not paved, but passable roads-—have intrinsic qualities worth highlighting. The Forest Service manages 75,000 miles of passenger car roads and over 223,800 miles for high-clearance, SUV-type vehicles. Most of them were originally constructed for resource management purposes. Now we can go back and identify links and routes that are spectacular just off the National Scenic Byways system and highlight the driving opportunities.” Brad suggested that the BLM will also focus on off-road, more adventurous Backcountry Byways.He said,“Our byway program has kind of languished in the last ten years.We need to look at updating our policy, looking at our infrastructure. Are the byways providing what they were intended to provide? We have a lot of interest within the communities that the BLM is associated with, to maintain our program and expand it. We also have to look at how we can meet the visitor experience—not just our BLM Backcountry Byway, but maybe it’s also a Forest Service route that connects to it. It’s that kind of networking that will hopefully go on as we learn more about communities and partners.” PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD The partners concluded with a brief discussion of future opportunities that Byways may want to consider.Floyd said,“We had a chance last year to go into the TIA’s PowWow in the America’s BywaysTM booth.The power of collaboration among byways may be a way for them to leverage limited resources. No one individual organization has resources to do this.” Kevin suggested that the partnership has implications for the future outside of the byways community.“Our involvement with National Scenic Byways is part of our broader mission–-and it’s important to remember that the work we do with the byways on scenic conservation and on visual assessment and managing visual quality applies beyond the byways.We see what you’re doing as an example for everybody—-whether you’re involved in a formal byway program or not. From our point of view, the whole country needs to open its eyes to the scenic resources that we have, and our scenic heritage, and the character of our communities. Scenic byways are leading the pack to do that. The principles applied on byways should apply everywhere. Byways should be very proud of the work that they do in the context of the byway, but, more importantly, because it sets an example for everybody else.The scenic quality of the country, which is at extreme risk right now, needs the protection and the advocacy and the support of people everywhere—-citizens, advocates, government officials-—and the fact that scenic byways pull those people together on behalf of scenic conservation is a huge thing for us. You should be very proud of your work; you’re setting an example that goes far beyond the byway itself. We’re proud to be part of this effort.” Several listeners thanked the speakers for their support. Patricia McNally, Marketing Director-–National Scenic Byways Program, said,“Thank you to all the national partners. We’ve been working hard to do cooperative promotions and activities, so each of us has longer fingers out there-—letting people know we’re working together.” The rewards far outweigh the risks when the right resources come together. That’s partnership in action. Q&A Q. We’re starting our pre-meetings for our corridor management plans.People are asking, "How does this benefit us?" They’re thinking about the dollar signs.There’s more to it than that, of course. How would you answer the question? A.There have been some excellent Vistas articles in the past. A New Mexico study looked at the economic benefits of scenic byways. Look on the bywaysonline.org Web site for a piece called,“Benefits of Designation.” It talks about the four P’s:promotion, preservation, partnerships and pride. A Byway listener added,“When we go out and talk to people, we found it was very useful for tying in all the aspects of what we’re trying to do.” Q. Can you speak to specific work that shows the value of partnership? A.According to Derrick Crandall,during Partners Outdoors in February,the Creole Nature Trail supporters had an opportunity to show off what they’ve done, as well as the partnerships they’ve established with wildlife refuges.“We had 120 people, including directors of agencies, as well as public and private recreation groups and community leaders groups for the three-day session.We spent one day out with Shelley (the marketing contact) and her crew,and we came away absolutely mesmerized by what they’ve done and the integration of so many organizations. It’s always nice when you bring a group like that and the Byway’s host can assure that the mayors of the two gateways to the Trail both show up to greet you and have nothing but good things to say about the scenic byway. It was a great experience and I just want to publicly commend the Creole Nature Trail supporters for the wonderful job they did, not only showing themselves off,but presenting the whole idea as a Byway as a major regional catalyst.” RESOURCES Vistas, January/February 2005 Available online at www.bywaysonline.org American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Janet Oakley Director of Policy and Government Relations 444 North Capitol Street NW Suite 249 Washington, D.C. 20001 Tel: (202) 624-3698 Fax: (202) 624-5806 joakley@aashto.org www.aashto.org American Automobile Association (AAA) Helen Sramek Director of Federal Relations 1440 New York Avenue, NW Suite 100 Washington, D.C. 20005 Tel: (202) 942-2056 Fax: (202) 783-4788 hsramek@national.aaa.com www.aaamidatlantic.com American Bus Association (ABA) Peter J. Pantuso President and CEO Michael Hayes Publisher Destinations Magazine mhayes@buses.org www.buses.org 6363 Greenwich Drive 700 13th Street, NW Suite 575 Washington, D.C. 20005 Tel: (202) 218-7229 Toll-Free: (800) 283-2877 Fax: (202) 842-0850 ppantuso@buses.org www.buses.org American Recreation Coalition (ARC) Derrick Crandall, President 1225 New York Avenue, NW Suite 450 Washington, D.C. 20005 Tel: (202) 682-9530 Fax: (202) 682-9529 dcrandall@funoutdoors.com www.funoutdoors.com American Road Magazine Becky Repp General Manager P.O. Box 46519 Mt. Clemens, MI 48046 Tel: (586) 468-7299 Fax: (586) 468-7483 becky@mockturtlepress.com International Trade Administration Office of Travel & Tourism Industries (OTTI), Office of Domestic Operations (ODO)/Foreign Commercial Service (FCS) OTTI julie p. heizer Deputy Director, Industry Relations Office of Travel & Tourism Industries International Trade Administration U.S. Department of the Commerce 14th & Constitution Avenue, NW Room 1001 Washington, D.C. 20230 Tel: (202) 482-0140 or (202) 482-4904 Fax: (202) 482-2887 julie_heizer@ita.doc.gov http://tinet.ita.doc.gov ODO/FCS Rochelle Williams Tour & Travel Team Leader and International Trade Specialist San Diego Export Assistance Center 6363 Greenwich Drive Suite 230 San Diego, CA 92122 Tel: (619) 557-5899 Fax: (619) 557-6176 rochelle.williams@mail.doc.gov www.export.gov/cs Mapquest Bennett Moe Sr. Account Executive MapQuest Mapping Services 6470-D Dobbin Road Columbia, MD 21045 Tel: (443) 367-3046 BMoeMapQuest@aol.com www.oneworldmapping.com Mobil Travel Guide c/o PIL 7373 North Cicero Avenue Lincolnwood, IL 60712 Tel: (847) 329-5930 Tel: (847) 329-5920 National Park Service Jennifer Getz 1849 C Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20240 Tel: (202) 513-7030 Fax: (202) 565-1266 Jennifer_getz@nps.gov National Trust for Historic Preservation Peter Brink Vice President Thierry Roch Historic Hotels of America 1785 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20036 Tel: (800) 765-NTHP Midwest Office: mwro@nthp.org Mountains/Plains Office: mpro@nthp.org Northeast Office: nero@nthp.org www.nthp.org Scenic America Kevin Fry, President 1634 I Street, NW Suite 510 Washington, D.C. 20005 Tel: (202) 638-0550 Fax: (202) 638-3171 kfry@scenic.org www.scenic.org Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) Betsy O’Rourke Senior Vice President, Marketing 1100 New York Avenue, NW Suite 450 Washington, D.C. 20005-3934 Tel: (202) 408-8422 Fax: (202) 408-1255 borourke@tia.org U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs Ed Hall Transportation Specialist Division of Transportation MS 4058 MIB 1849 C. Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20240 Tel: (202) 219-0952 Fax: (202) 208-4696 ehalliii@aol.com U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Brad Cownover Chief Landscape Architect Visual Resource Mgt./Byways 1849 C. Street, NW LS-302 Washington, D.C. 20240 Tel: (202) 785-6574 Fax: (202) 452-7709 brad_cownover@blm.gov U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Sean Furniss National Coordinator, Refuge Roads Program National Wildlife Refuge System Division of Refuges, MS 670 4401 North Fairfax Drive Arlington,VA 22203 Tel: (703) 358-2043 Fax: (703) 358-1826 sean_furniss@fws.gov USDA Forest Service Floyd Thompson Travel & Tourism Program Recreation, Heritage & Wilderness Resources 201 4th Street, SW Washington, D.C. 20024 Tel: (202) 205-1423 Fax: (202) 205-1145 fthompson02@fs.fed.us America’s Byways Resource Center provides information, connections and expertise that help build better byways. State coordinators, local groups, volunteers and organizations with ties to nationally designated scenic byways look to us for hands-on assistance in planning, preserving, promoting and managing scenic byways. Please join us for 2005 Tele-Workshops focusing on the following topics: Date to be determined The Traveler July 6 Transportation Roundtable September 7 Making the Leap: A Motivational Discussion November 2 Legal Issues and Ethics America’s Byways Resource Center 227 West First Street, Suite 610 Duluth, Minnesota 55802 Tel: 218-625-3469 Fax: 218-625-3333 1-800-4BYWAYS (1-800-429-9297) Ext. 5 www.bywaysonline.org copyright 2005 America’s Byways Resource Center