Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center

One of my favorite natural places near Lincoln is the Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center.  Whenever a friend or family member from out of state comes to visit, I take them here.  I can't think of a better way to convince them that natural tallgrass prairie can, in fact, be beautiful. And it is!  According to their website, the Center covers 808 acres of preserved tallgrass prairie (650 acres of which have never been plowed), with miles of walking trails, ponds, wetlands, wildflowers, grasses, and a high diversity of birds and wildlife.  There are even a few preserved wagon ruts from the nineteenth-century!

The Spring Creek Audubon Center is also a big proponent of education.  Their on-site education building is built of green materials (reclaimed construction material, straw-bale insulation, etc.), and here school students of all ages come on field trips and are taught about the scientific method, introductory concepts of ecology, investigation of habitats and species adaptations, and general problem-solving skills.

The Center also hosts a variety of public events to raise conservation awareness and build a sense of community based around the prairie.  Classes are offered in papermaking and basket weaving, and there are wildflower, bird, and insect walks throughout the year.  Each autumn, there is an annual "Twilight on the Tallgrass" prairie festival with a variety of events, booths, crafts, food, music, and educational programs.
For more information, photos, and directions, visit their website: http://springcreekprairie.audubon.org/

Cycling in Lincoln

In a recent Lincoln Journal Star article, there was a little talk about the city of Lincoln becoming a "premier biking city." There are some tentative plans to make major allowances for bikes along the city streets, splitting it between bicycles and automobiles. There are already some such layouts downtown at least, and now the City Council is considering applying the same idea to N Street. It has its costs but in addition to pleasing cyclists in Lincoln, the city is thinking about how to encourage business and tourism.
I appreciate the bike trails, (which if anyone didn't know, are largely converted railway lines), a lot, personally. I use the MoPac quite a bit. I don't mind saving the gas and getting a little exercise too. I would say those 2 factors, economy and exercise, are the main reasons for most people cycling, but probably not the only ones. If anyone reading this has any other reasons, they should write something under this post!

Grizzly vs. Mountain Lion

This isn't really ecotourism-related but I still thought it was interesting and it dealt with wildlife.  Check out this link....

http://now.msn.com/living/0328-mountain-lion-hiker.aspx

I wonder why the bear didn't then go after the man thinking he was a threat to the cub as well? Hmmm....either way, that's one lucky dude!

What I've learned

In this class, I feel like the something I have learned is to be more aware with what I do. I've always been cautious to not litter, try to stay on the path, and things like that, but this class has showed me to look more in-depth at things. Over spring break, I was in Colorado and went on a couple of hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park and Roosevelt National Park. Besides the gorgeous views, I looked closely at what I was doing and what others were doing. I started to notice more, like people off the path, leaving apple cores, and having their dog on a hike which specifically said no dogs. It was very interesting to look at things with a different perspective on how we could be harming the environment around us.

Before one of the hikes, I noticed a sign that had the Leave No Trace Environmental Ethics. I was very happy to see it and relieved to see how people are trying to help out and keep the awareness alive!

~Kathryn Moore

Wildlife Tourism---Grizzly Bears!

I was reading the articles for class about Wildlife Tourism.  The article about wildlife responses to human had a picture of grizzlies in Katmai National Park.  I had seen this video, also in Katmai with the grizzlies.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/grizzly-bear-charges-alaskan-tourists-video-010559736.html

If you watched the video, you can see the tourists are very close to the bear and the bear clearly seems threatened based on his response.  It doesn't seem the bear was habituated because he didn't ignore the tourists sitting there.  I wonder if tourists get to close to wildlife in these instances.  Clearly the bear was not happy about it and I don't know about you, but I don't know if I could sit still like they do in the video because I would be so scared! That article we read for class mentions that having these animals out there makes them more susceptible to poaching and hunting if they leave their protected areas.  Anyway, I just thought this video was fitting for wildlife tourism and the effects it can have on both animal and people.

So the other day I was thinking about setting up a volunteer project for this student group I am in here at UNL and whenever I go to find projects my mind always tends to lean towards ones specific to my major. I started thinking of different environmental service projects in my head when the idea of Eco-tourism mixed with volunteer work popped into my head! I thought this combination would be the best of both worlds... well at least for those like me who love outdoors but also wouldn't mind volunteering to help others including other species.This idea goes hand in hand with what we have been learning in class especially the broad term of Eco-tourism meaning to help conserve, educate, and involve the local communities. I think if places market or advertise volunteerism as a tourist opportunity many people involved in service learning would take interest and spread the word!! One idea would be for parks to involve hikers and climbers to join in a project to help with conserving trails or helping to get rid of invasive species. Another great idea would be for those visiting indigenous villages to instead of observing the native people ask to get involved with a land management project such as farming or harvesting.  Of course these are broad ideas and there are many more different was to combine volunteering with Eco-tourism, these were just to get your own idea flowing!! 

When to visit Minnesota  we took time before hiking to help pull out the invasive garlic mustard plant from the area! I felt empowered knowing that I could help conserve an area so beautiful!

Here is a photo of the garlic mustard at work!

Are You Standard or Explorer?

From zorbing [photo above] to skidoos. From parascending to elephant riding. I ran into this exciting list of activities while I was curiously wondering how much travel insurance cost if I were to travel for a year. $913 for standard coverage and $1,200 for explorer coverage. It's worth looking into!

Check out which activities are covered in this list: Adventure sports for residents of USA

Simple travel insurance quote: www.worldnomads.com/travel-insurance/

Here's a link to a website that has eco-tourism conferences that include countries from around the world. They had a conference in 2011 that was based on making urban spaces more liveable while protecting biodiversity.  http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/etour.html

Here's a video about the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference in Portland, Oregon from 2010. It has some key points on people's views of eco-tourism.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ifm3TC41Wc&feature=related

This is a comical cartoon about eco-tourism and how the animals would react if they could. http://youtu.be/rb8tLfViFHA