TOURISM WITH A PURPOSE
Connection, To Progress Protection
Tourism can make a difference in outreach and protection for precarious species. One example is this blatant display creating awareness and instigating conversation for the the Great Lakes Piping Plover. Frontier Airlines, honoring a women directly responsible for the recovery of the Great Lakes Piping Plover, Dr. Francie Cuthbert.
Recovery actions, aided by many volunteers and beach visitors, has positioned the plover population to steadily increase. In 1983, the Great Lakes region had only twelve nesting pairs of piping plovers. In 2021, the region had over sixty! View the recovery response following induction onto the Endangered Species List. This steady recovery is a direct result of Dr. Cuthbert’s dedication and lifelong passion. Her vision in research and team building rescued a native shorebird from peril. Through tourism, whether displayed on the nose of an airbus or through hiking to a nesting site in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, connects others to wildlife. With this association, understanding, compassion and protection blossoms.
Great Lakes Piping Plover recovery is astonishing, but the birds themselves have protected many other species. Multiple life forms have benefitted with the piping plover placement on the ESL, an “umbrella coverage” by association.
Tourism, including topics within a recreational activity, exponentially provides protection through information. Imagine the millions who view this Frontier Airlines airbus and the intrigue instilled for the species. Simply outstanding!
Humans protect only what they love, and love only what they understand.
Sleeping Bear Tour Co. presents information to the visitor in direct context to the landscape and surroundings.
More information on the Great Lakes Piping Plover can be found on these sites:
Do you know the preferred rock the piping plover selects to build its nest. Click on photo to discover the answer!
The Great Lakes Piping plover is but one species within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore listed on the endangered species list. There are multiple species threatened, endangered, and let us not forget invasives which alter the landscapes exponentially. All Sleeping Bear Tour Co. activities include interpretive commentary and often times visualization of these notable specimens.
For Love Of Water
FLOW, based in Traverse City MI, empowers leaders and communities to protect the Great Lakes. Water is the essence of life. Without it, we have nothing. Eyes of the world are focused on the Great Lakes Basin as the answer to future, as well as current shortages. By ancient law, passed on from Roman times to the Magna Carta to the Northwest Ordinance, the Great Lakes are a “public trust” – waters and bottomlands held in trust for the benefit of the public to use and enjoy. With that trust comes a duty of stewardship; what the courts have called a “perpetual and solemn duty” to protect the Great Lakes for our use and enjoyment, our children’s, and that of future generations.
Encouraging and promoting the quote “Humans protect only what they love, and love only what they understand,” Sleeping Bear Tour Co. has created a unique tour to bring attention to FLOW’s mission.
Join us September 9, 2021, 4pm-6pm
Progressing the act of “Tourism For Protection,” Sleeping Bear Tour Co. does not operate in a brick and mortar building site.
Utilizing a home based work environment and meeting guests at trailheads, where the focus should be placed, we lessen our footprint on the earth. This has been practice wherever we provide services.
Offering t-shirts and homegoods online - all purchases support outreach and education pertaining to Great Lakes ecosystems.
Cedar, protector of the water, designated as the official shirt of WILDERNESS and the September 9, FLOW Hike.
IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE SPIRIT
SB2r - A little TOUR COMPANY BASED ON A LARGE PLANET
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