NAI Blog

Bison in Yellowstone National Park.

The U.S. Government and President Obama are soliciting ideas about protecting the places we love in the nation. There are public hearings being held all over the United States and their America’s Great Outdoors Initiative website allows you to post your ideas. I posted my ideas there as follows.

I find the comments on my post there interesting for they reflect the broad range of thinking in the U.S. about government intervention and shared responsibility. Some do not want the government in our lives in any manner whatever – no taxes, no public education, just NO.

Those of us who love parks, wilderness, natural areas, clean air, clean water and a healthy environment know that the shared responsibility for those must depend on all of us. Leaving people to their own with no protection of natural resources would doom mankind to an early extinction at our own hands. There are those who would cut every last tree, mine every mountain and drain every oil basin, no matter what the damage to our land, air and water.

A hundred years ago most Americans lived on farms and learning about food, land and energy was a part of everyday life. Young people today assume that food comes from grocery stores and energy comes from wall sockets. How would they learn about the real sources. Simcity and similar video games do teach about such things in a virtual environment, but nothing helps you understand how the world works as well as hands-on experiences with the real places and things.

I would like to see every 18-year old give some period of time to her/his community, parks, non-profit service organizations or military service with no exemptions at all. We would all learn earlier in our work lives what value there is in public service. It would provide a valuable opportunity for contextual learning in all directions. Military personnel face those realities on our behalf.

During the hard times of the Great Depression, my father worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) cutting trees in Illinois. He had a 7^th grade education and was unemployed with three children to feed. He used to complain of the long days of outdoor labor and low pay but later would brag of the good work that was done and the value of a job of any kind in those dark days.

In my first job as a park ranger and visitor center manager, I was very aware that the visitor center was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a picnic shelter. Later walls were added along with exhibits and a visitor contact area. I often had young workers from Youth Conservation Corps or Young Adult Conservation Corps helping me. I’ve written before in this blog about the great experiences with those programs. They give young people a better understanding of how the world really functions. All the resources we use in life still come from the Earth.

The America’s Great Outdoors Initiative is a great chance for you to share your ideas or give your view on the ideas of others. It is especially a good time to share the value of outdoor experiences for young people to learn about our planet. I welcome whatever judgment you make of my suggestions.

-Tim Merriman

Chief of Interpretation Larry Frederick orients us to the popular Sheep Lakes area of Rocky Mountain National Park.

NAI just finished hosting the Civic Tourism III Conference in Fort Collins and it was very exciting. Despite light attendance of 63 agency staffers, interpreters, convention and visitor bureau staff and community volunteers, those present were enthusiastic about doing more to help communities have the kind of tourism they want.

Dan Shilling’s book, Civic Tourism: The Poetry and Politics of Place, was given to each attendee. The book emphasizes that civic tourism should include the triple bottom line of equity (social), environment and economics, invest in the story and connect with the public. Tourism is one of the top three economic forces in every state in the U.S., but there is no cabinet level position for tourism in the federal government. Many states have a tourism office that only spends money on advertising. They want more people to come but do not invest in development of the “STORY,” the product, the visitor experience, the attractions.

The Estes Park Museum tells the story of the community very well.

At Civic Tourism III we had a full day of mobile workshops that took groups out to Blackhawk/Central City, Estes Park and Fort Collins with varied attractions and tourism hosts. We wanted to study and compare communities who encourage tourism and learn what we could from them. Blackhawk is a gambling and mining town. Estes Park is a gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park and has always been a tourist town. Fort Collins has a central theme of “where renewal is a way of life with a focus on “Beets, Brews and Bikes.” The sugar beet industry was the main community support for decades, but is gone. Micro-breweries like New Belgium and Odell’s are a part of the current lifestyle with their tasting rooms and unique stories. The lifestyles of the community today are very much about renewal and sustainability.

Dave DiMatteo at New Belgium interprets their story and core values.

We took the participants to New Belgium, where they interpret their beer with the story of founder Jeff Lebesch bicycling across Belgium, meeting brewmeisters and doing lots of tasting. Each employee gets a free trip to bicycle across Belgium at their five-year anniversary. It is  likely the “greenest” brewery in the nation with its own wind farm for electricity generation.  They have made sustainability and wise use of resources part of their core values along with bicycle events (Tour de Fat), employee ownership and a rich culture of storytelling. They tell their story very well.

One enduring observation of the three communities visited and the many communities discussed was the lack of a town’s abilities to tell the story on the streets. Estes Park explained they get three million visitors downtown but only about 12,000 at the local museum, which tells the story of Estes very well. It’s three blocks from the high traffic zones.

Can you tell the community story on the streets and why should you? Towns usually have a unique, authentic story or stories that arise from their natural and cultural assets and history. Often these days the story is covered up or lost in the melee of highways, franchise stores and strangely themed neighborhoods. James Howard Kuntsler described this phenomenon in his book, The Geography of Nowhere.  If we don’t tell our story on the streets, we may be a “been there, done that” visitor experience, another generic community. Most will not visit the local museum and dig out the deeper identity of the community.

A city interpretive guide starts our walking tour near the Roman Baths.

I have tried to think of where I’ve seen a town’s story thoughtfully told at the street level in diverse ways. Providence, Rhode Island, and the Blackstone Valley do a good job with their visitor center museum combination. Mystic, Connecticut, has incredible attractions and some downtown interpretive signage that shares their rich history. Bath, England, has wonderful street interpretive tours that engage visitors with their unique history. Singapore has interesting signage on their major streets that tell the fascinating story of how a trading post turned into a major seaport and industrial city-nation in a fairly short period of time.

Interpretive planning has largely been focused on sites like parks, zoos, historic houses, museums and aquariums in the past. In recent years the Scenic Byways Resource Center has introduced corridors and communities to interpretive planning as an opportunity to share their stories. A very few CVBs like Great Bend Kansas have been out front acquiring interpretive planning skills to plan holistic experiences for visitors. Kris Collier as President and CEO of the Great Bend CVB is a Certified Interpretive Trainer and Planner who works with local attractions to build a culture of collaboration among the rural communities in her region. It can be done, but it takes leadership.

It is exciting to think about what our diverse towns and communities might be like if they embraced their local stories and became skilled at telling them. NAI’s interpretive planning courses can be hosted anywhere and the towns and cities of North America pose a great opportunity. We need to put our stories on the streets, but we have to plan it and not just hope it happens.

-Tim Merriman

Photo by Victor Iglesias

Science interpretation is a growing opportunity in the science community. Science education is a more commonly used term, but , in my view that is really more appropriate to formal education. Children or adults learning science at a community school or college are motivated by class credits, degrees, graduation and grades. Science interpretation is more about connecting non-formal audiences at a science center, zoo, natural area, park or research center with the important work of scientists. Some science programs have built into their funding a commitment to sharing those stories with diverse publics. But sometimes there are forgotten audiences.

A regional director for U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) invited me to a conversation about interpretation about eight years ago. He pointed out that the Republican Contract for America that Speaker Gingrich promoted had put the USGS at ZERO in the federal budget. Apparently Congressional leaders did not understand the key role that this agency plays in monitoring water throughout the U.S. along with its long history of map making and other forms of geological and ecological research. He explained that USGS scientists are excellent at communicating their research to the scientific community but may have left out the general public and Congress, forgotten audiences of some importance.

With careful effort USGS leadership did inform Congress of what they do and money for the agency was restored. After all, these are the folks that predict flooding, droughts and all sorts of other natural disasters. Their knowledge helps agriculture, industry, tourism, emergency agencies and communities in diverse ways. He vowed to do more to interpret USGS science to broader audiences including Congress. Indeed, we’ve had several of their staff take the Interpretive Trainer’s Course since that conversation.

Too often we hear media stories about science that make it all sound like a huge waste of money without consideration of the incredible potential that arises from very basic research. Fleming’s penicillin research would likely be reported in a modern newscast as, “wasteful spending to study the blue mold that grows on oranges.” That blue penicillin mold has saved millions of lives since the late 1930’s.

Science needs a public interface with the masses and with decision makers. Global climate change is just one example of an important story from researchers being hijacked by  more sensational stories about “misleading emails.” If we are to plan and react with understanding to our changing climate, the good work of scientists must be better understood by taxpayers and decision makers. Interpretation is a communication approach that is still relatively unknown to many communities of science professionals. And many science programs forget that their funders and taxpaying supporters may not really understand how their thoughtful work in science leads to public benefits.

Science professionals could be trained in interpretive planning and writing. Or science programs could employ interpreters or interpretive planners to connect with their forgotten audiences. Sometimes scientists take on the task themselves with no interpretive planning or writing knowledge and the results can be disappointing. Signs with thousands of jargon-laden text do not make a connection with anyone.

At NAI we do not meet many scientists seeking help with interpretation of their work yet, but we look forward to more opportunities to assist scientists with science interpretation. It will benefit all of us to help everyone understand the important work of scientists.

-Tim Merriman

Bob Hinkle introduces the planning class to the West Creek Reservation site for the new WaterShed project.

I’m not in the new sitcom, Hot in Cleveland. I’m in Cleveland and it’s not hot this week, temperature-wise. But it is really HOT in our business due to Cleveland Metroparks (CM). Bob Hinkle is the Chief of Outdoor Education and for 39 years he has been a member of NAI and AIN before that, one of our two parent organizations. His leadership in CM’s education and interpretive programs for 28 years has been amazing. Dr. Bob, as many affectionately call him, has encouraged professional development as a cultural norm in this old and revered park district.

This is our fourth interpretive planning course in Cleveland at his request and managers of nature centers and programs in this system are required to earn the Certified Interpretive Manager or Planner credential. CM’s planner, landscape architect and designers have had the planner course, helping them work together with site managers and interpreters, all using a common process and planning vocabulary.

Lisa Brochu explains logic models with an example.

This week’s course is working on the challenge of planning the interpretive elements on the WaterShed grounds that augment the services of the building in achieving site objectives. Participants are from all over the U.S. and Canada along with six staff members of CM, with varying levels of experience in interpretive planning and graphic design. During the course, participants are exposed to planning principles and processes, then apply what they’ve learned to the on-site project challenge.

The culture of professional development and interpretive planning encouraged by Bob Hinkle is important to the success of CM’s six nature centers and other outdoor programs. Large organizations with  policies, politics and bureaucracy can end up with a “can’t do it” emotional environment, but thoughtful training and planning keeps professionals open to personal growth and empowers them with an understanding of what they CAN DO cost effectively and efficiently. CM continues to invest in helping their dedicated professionals grow and become better planners – that’s HOT and is making a difference in Cleveland.

-Tim Merriman

Freeman Tilden’s Six Principles of Interpretation (Interpreting Our Heritage, 1957) have endured as wisdom about the profession for 53 years. In 1998 Ted Cable and Larry Beck updated them as the first six in their Fifteen Guiding Principles in their excellent book, Interpretation for the 21st Century. So I hereby propose the 7th or 16th Principle, depending on whether you cite Tilden or Cable and Beck. It is:

“Interpretation is management.”

For all my 40 years in the field I’ve heard, “Interpretation is a management tool.” The difference between that statement and the belief that interpretation is management is subtle, but important. A tool can be picked up or left in the toolshed. It may or may not be useful depending on how someone wants to solve a particular problem. If we believe that interpretation is management, then it becomes an integral part of every operation, not an option.

Hundreds of social science and communications studies document the ability of well-planned communication to influence attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Using that knowledge, we can design thematic programs and media that help achieve our objectives.

I first heard Mike Watson, former Superintendent of Mather Training Center for National Park Service, say, “Interpretation is management” many years ago. The more I’ve thought about it over the years, the more convinced I am that this idea should be fundamental to how we think and teach in this profession. In 2007 we added the words “mission-based” to our definition of interpretation after deep discussions with other professionals in the Definitions Project that produced a new lexicon for the field.

To me this Sixteenth Principle is key because it suggests that what we do must be designed to make a difference in pursuit of our mission. Few managers will keep interpretive programs through thick and thin unless it has value as management. It’s the 7th or 16th Principle of interpretation in my view.

-Tim Merriman

Tomo Hara of Japan, Rick Morales from Panama and Tim Merriman chat at the 2010 International Conference in Townsville, Australia.

More than 40 years ago my college roommate, Bernie, told me that his supervisor in the guidance counseling office at Southern Illinois University shared the secret of long relationships. It was simple – “Give 100%, expect nothing back. Don’t think you are in a 50/50 relationship with your spouse, friends, customers or anyone. You’ll begin to feel you’re giving 55? and they are only giving 45%. You turn a relationship into a contest. Then someone has to win and someone has to lose. It was a wise thought back then and one I need as a reminder every day or two.

If you care enough about thoughtful relationships to give 100% and just be surprised and pleased at anything shared back with you, you will do well with relationships. I was not surprised today to get a promotion from the Simple Truths website indicating they sell a book based on this idea as the 100/0 Principle. I know the notion is at least 40 years old, but perhaps it is thousands of years old, as old as relationships.

Interpreters meet people daily with an opportunity to create lasting relationships. The visitor or guest that seems to be with us for the day may return, tell a friend or not see us for decades. Just this past year a woman from Illinois contacted me by Facebook to ask if I am the same Tim Merriman who worked at Giant City State Park. Geri explained she is a Postmaster in a town near where I grew up. She visited the park and attended my snake program and I showed her family the behind the scenes animals during their visit. She said it made a great impression and she raised her children to be respectful of wildlife and snakes especially. I was pleased to learn more about her life, family and deep interest in nature and we continue as Facebook friends.

Our investment in others will come back in great ways if we do not expect it to be an equal exchange. We share all we can and should expect that an investment in honest, thoughtful communication will lead better places, even if we disagree at times. I am not suggesting we be doormats, just not turn relationships into contests with a winner and loser. We can and should have honest dialogues about real issues of importance.

Relationships with partners, donors, members, supporters and guests are easier if you take personal responsibility for communicating well. Honesty is important. But honesty can be a bludgeon or it can be helpful in a relationship. It depends on the kindness in the delivery. Helping a colleague perform better may require some honest advice from a friendly perspective. If it just sounds like criticism, it doesn’t work as well. It can also be opening an honest discussion rather than a heated disagreement. Either can be about the same issues, but the one with empathy is likely to help the relationship grow.

I claim no personal mastery of all of this. Every day is a challenge in finding the right words in each relationship. It is all worth the effort to do better in every circumstance. Complaints are especially an opportunity to work on relationships. The LAST method is often taught by trainers as a way of remembering the right reaction to complaints. LAST stands for Listen, Apologize, Soften and Thank.

In application it sounds something like. “Umm, OK (listen while they explain), I apologize for what happened. That would upset me as well. Let’s talk about how we might make this situation better for you. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We only get better if we know what is not working.” It’s easy to be defensive (I know, I’ve done that too often), throw someone under the bus (the blame game), or over react. Most folks just want a fair hearing and fixing a problem will often result in a better relationship, maybe a lasting one. Sometimes they know there is no real “fix.” They just want to vent and be heard to protect a future guest from whatever happened.

Relationships take honest effort on our part and listening skills. We cannot expect others to do their part. We only control ourselves. Every day we have new opportunities to create great new relationships that will enrich our lives and our organizations. It is not always easy, but it is worth the effort.

-Tim Merriman

For thirteen years I directed a nature center in Pueblo, Colorado. In my first days there I was surprised to hear the gravel industry across the river from the center described as “the enemy” by some board members. I was told they owned all the land south and west of us and would eventually mine it all, leaving behind lakes surrounded by sterile hills of concrete slabs. I could agree that I did not want to see all of the riparian cottonwoods cut down for the gravel mines, but I could not grasp the concept of them being the enemy, so I got acquainted with them.

At Rotary meetings, I would often sit with Mark, their General Manager, and chat. He was a nice fellow and obviously cared about civic responsibility. Our conversations led to candid talk about the relationship we potentially had as neighbors. His employer owned the land and planned to mine it. We relied on the woods to the west for scenic beauty and wildlife habitat. We preferred it not being mined, but they owned it and had permits to get it done. And yet, they would prefer we not show up at “404″ permit hearings and attempt to block their normal business interests of mining gravel and making concrete. Gravel is the number one mineral in Colorado, not gold, silver or molybdenum as many might think.

In the spirit of cooperation Mark invited me to tour their gravel mines and concrete operation and suggest how they might work more compatibly with the nature center. As we drove around, I commented that they seemed to be burying huge granite boulders. He explained that they were too big for their crusher so they buried them as waste material. I suggested it would make great riprap for the river banks they were currently covering with large flat slabs of waste concrete. He smiled when he said, “Concrete is beautiful.” I laughed. We shared the unspoken joke of seeing each other’s different perspectives on how we work with resources and people. He said they might be able to do something about their approach to riprapping. We went on to talk about cottonwood reforestation on the older banks of the river and lake. They had a replanting program as required by mineland reclamation laws. I suggested they leave a few large “mother” trees and blast the hillsides with water when the cotton seeds of the cottonwoods blow all directions in June each year. They would get free regeneration of native trees. He thought that sounded reasonable. We did consider the possibility that the healthy beaver population would defeat this idea by cutting down the few trees left. That had happened throughout this Arkansas River valley when only a few trees were available for beaver food. Our tour resulted in two possible suggestions for changing some of their work approaches.

I went back to the nature center, pleased that we had such an interesting conversation. I had shared my hope that there would be a way for the gravel company to trade the cottonwood stand by the nature center for other property to mine. He said anything is possible. By the next day we looked across the river and the gravel company had covered sixty feet or so of river bank with the large “waste” granite boulders, covering the concrete slabs. From then on the river banks where they worked had more of a natural granite look and the concrete was obscured. I called to thank Mark and he said to come back in a few days and see their “mother” trees. I did and they had welded industrial size beaver guards around half a dozen large female trees. He explained that they had large pumps and could easily spray regeneration areas to start new cottonwoods.

Over the next few years we encouraged discussions between state parks and the gravel company about land trades. Eventually a corn field on state parks land that held gravel deposits was traded for the cottonwood stand by the nature center. Valco Sand & Gravel has since sold to LaFarge and continues to be a major gravel and concrete provider in Pueblo. Meetings during this period were frustrating because Valco had a clear fifty year plan and state parks did not work that strategically, but eventually it all worked. We found that collaborating with our friends next door was valuable for all of us. Their good will was evident in every way and they often donated concrete to nature center projects.

Some viewed our getting acquainted with a gravel company as fraternizing with the enemy. I think we got to know our neighbors and learned they were good people with an interest in taking care of the community. We all listened and learned.

-Tim Merriman

I wrote recently about the interpreter as artist. Some organizations view what we do in interpretation as “education” all the time. I do not. I think we can use an interpretive approach to everything we do, but education in our current context usually depends upon the motivation of our audience.

If a teacher calls a park, museum, zoo, nature center, aquarium or historic site and says, “We’re coming to visit on a field trip,” we should ask the next question. What do you hope to achieve from the trip? Some field trips are recreational and the teacher may have no specific learning objectives for the visit. They want to get the kids out of the school and have a good time and perhaps learn something.

Interpretive programs for recreational groups from schools or as families have a chance to inspire young people, but cognitive learning is not the objective. We can do things with kids that use their imaginations and sense of wonder. Their motivations are intrinsic and they want to have an enjoyable experience. We are trying to sew a seed of interest about our resources that will sprout and grow in the audience at its own rate.

Many teachers want experiences at natural and cultural heritage sites to achieve specific objectives. They want to reinforce a unit on ecology or American history. They hope their kids will perform better on statewide exams. The objectives are more educational than recreational, though both might be important. They want to learn something – concepts or critical thinking skills.

If we have a “one size fits all” program for school groups, it may not help the teacher meet specific objectives. They may not return if the program seems to be more fun than substantive learning. We have to adapt to them to be successful, presuming we want each school group to return again and again..

It would be desirable if all interpreters had some educational training to understand what teachers now face in meeting state standards. That just is not realistic. People come to our field from diverse disciplines. However, we can all ask questions and listen to the teachers and parents who bring us formal educational audiences. Their motivations are extrinsic usually – grades, test performance, graduation, etc. We can help them get what they want but we need to craft our programs and services around those needs. We can also get acquainted with school district curriculum specialists and take part in their in-service training activities to better understand their needs.

Few interpreters work only with recreational audiences and no organized school groups. Few work with formal school groups only. We are challenged to adapt each day and do what will work best for each group. We are all educators at times and use an interpretive approach all the time in my view.

-Tim Merriman

We used to have an idea that a book was a bound volume of knowledge or stories. I looked down through the first 13 definitions of “book” on dictionary.com before finding one that said, “a collection of facts and information about . . . (sports).” It still doesn’t fit what a book is becoming. They’ll need a new definition. Books are no longer just bound volumes of words. The Kindle and iPad are becoming very fashionable and practical. You carry one book-sized item with a library inside and you can visit the library for more books at the touch of a button.

If you’re wondering what that has to do with interpretation, consider this. Any publisher has had to judge whether to publish a book or not on projections about volume of sales. Few organizations could afford to publish a book that would sell slowly or to a few hundred individuals. Downloadable (as well as print-on-demand) books have changed the dynamic of this and that’s good for our profession. Many great books will not appeal to thousands of professionals but deserve to be available to those who will want and use the information and ideas.

Also with downloadable books, authors are better paid. A book author gets 10 to 15% commissions on sales of print books, but 40% is usual with a downloadable book. And the buyer gets a better price, usually at around $10. Furthermore, the book does not have to be a big seller to be profitable to the author and publisher.

Print-on-demand books have also added a new dimension to publishing. Now a downloadable book can also be available to a reader who prefers the bound paper volume. Amazon provides print-on-demand books at great rates with appropriate profit to the publisher and author. We just set up Interpretive Perspectives, the new book by Ted Cable and Larry Beck, as a print-on-demand book with Amazon. They sent back a proof that looks as good as any perfect-bound printed book I’ve seen. It’s amazing. We can have it both ways.

I’ve written about this before to make the point that we can now publish books of merit that may not sell beyond a niche audience of a few hundred. If the author is willing to write it for this niche audience, a publisher can reasonably consider publishing it. I thought the digital form would be digital only, unavailable in print. This new interpretive book can be downloaded from NAI’s Association Store or from Amazon as a traditional printed book. NAI will not have the extraordinary costs of printing and storing thousands of book to add a new title to our InterpPress offerings. Still, we will not get into publishing natural and cultural history books. Our niche is the interpretive book market.

Heidi Bailey recently wrote Putting Interpretation on the Map, and it’s for sale at the Association Store as a downloadable book. Soon it will also be available as a print-on-demand book. These two titles mentioned have been a test of these approaches. The authors have been wonderfully cooperative in working with us on this new concept for InterpPress books.

We will have examples of both books as “print” items at the National Workshop in Las Vegas in November. We will also be looking for other interpretive books to publish in these digital or print-on-demand formats. If you’ve written an interpretive book or thought of writing one, but are worried that the audience is too small for it, this may be your opportunity. If you have an idea for a book or a draft manuscript and its about interpretation, you should send it to Paul Caputo at NAI to consider it for publication.

There are obviously still books that will sell to all professionals in the field and might best be printed and sold as a print item by the thousands. But many of us will prefer it on a Kindle or iPad and that option becomes easier every day. What’s in a book? Words of wisdom, how-to, philosophy, techniques, tools, stories and big ideas. And now they are even more accessible whether digital or printed on paper. I think that’s great. What do you think?

-Tim Merriman

When you think of a community, do you think of the buildings or the people? Do you think of how it looks now, or its history, its traditions? Do you think of the

Vandalia Statehouse 1819-1839

businesses or the churches?  I think about these questions every time I think about my hometown, Vandalia, Illinois. I spent my first 17 years there walking in the footsteps of “___WHO___?” I didn’t know at 17. My hometown was not and is not a tourist attraction and my education growing up did not tell me much about the history of the community. I learned it later as I went home from college or after I was working as a state park interpreter.

Tim's sister and brother, Rosie Merriman Gerkin and Jim Merriman at Lincoln Park

What did I learn? I learned that I had walked in the footsteps of young Abraham Lincoln day after day. He was a young attorney serving in the state legislature of Illinois. Vandalia was the capital from 1819 to 1839 and the old capitol building still stands there. I don’t recall visiting it until I was grown, even though it was an interpretive site when I was in school. I had no inspirational connection with my hometown or community.

When I go back I still see the 1800s facades by looking up at Gallatin Street buildings, but modern facades look back at me at eye level. It doesn’t seem to have a unique history – but it really does. There are a few reminders of that history . . . a small park across from the statehouse has a statue of Lincoln and the library has some Lincoln memorabilia. I remember the plaster mask made from a mold of his actual face.

Vandalia, like many places, has a more public identity on its Interstate exit with a Walmart, McDonald’s and Arby’s. They look similar to every other store of their kind, not unique to a historic state capital.

When I first heard Dan Shilling talk about “Civic Tourism” at a meeting of ALHFAM (Association of Living History Farms and Agricultural Museums), I was immediately taken with the good sense it made to plan tourism in a community around the authentic stories and with civic engagement to learn from local people what they hoped to get from tourism. Civic tourism includes a focus on triple-bottom line economics – equity, economy and ecology. How do we balance our social, economic and environmental needs? We have to plan together as a community to get it done. Dan’s book, Civic Tourism: The Poetry and Politics of Place, suggests a very different approach to planning tourism in a community and partnerships are important to success.

Partnerships do not necessarily just happen in small communities, even those united around a desire to have tourism or tell their stories. Dr. Shilling points out that much of the work of traditional tourism is about “heads and beds.” How many will stay overnight and how much with they eat? We can ask those questions but we need to also ask, “What are our objectives for the health and well being of local people? What authentic stories can we tell and what kinds of experiences will share those? How will we measure success in social, economic and environmental terms?”

NAI is hosting the Civic Tourism III Conference in Fort Collins from August 11 to 14 with a theme of “Helping Diverse Interests Work Toward a Common Community Goal.” Michael Kirschman will speak on “What is it Worth: The True Value of Open Space.” Dr. Dan Shilling will update us on Civic Tourism, where it has been and where it is going. This will be a great conversation among all who attend to share what we have learned by working with communities. This event is a great value at $325 per person and Colorado is spectacular in August.

Please think of joining us or tell a friend about the opportunity to learn more about building effective partnerships in communities. I know people in my hometown still work on strategies to keep the history alive and it is a challenge. We all need to know more about how we do this. Our lives in our communities are made richer by working together toward a common goal.

- Tim Merriman