USA: Establishing Birthplace Of Rivers Protects, Preserves Grows Tourism

March 22 is World Water Day, a time to appreciate the benefits of clean water to our lives and our local economies. In West Virginia, clean water means everything to the whitewater and adventure travel industries.

Members of the West Virginia Professional River Outfitters Association have seen many changes in the whitewater industry over the years. But one thing has remained consistent: Our businesses and the state’s tourism industry rely on clean rivers. Nothing defines wild and wonderful like our world-class rivers and the mountains where they are born.

That’s why West Virginia’s outfitters and adventure tourism businesses are calling on President Obama to establish the Birthplace of Rivers National Monument in the southern Monongahela National Forest. The monument designation would preserve the headwaters that feed our renowned rivers, and recognize West Virginia’s highlands as the source of some of the cleanest water in the nation.

In 2014, the world’s attention turned to West Virginia during a water crisis that tarnished the entire state’s outdoor tourism reputation. Whitewater companies experienced firsthand the way changing perception impacts our tourism product. That was a tough year for our industry. River outfitters were among the most vocal supporters of the Birthplace of Rivers initiative. Sen. Joe Manchin assured us and other business leaders he would work to designate the monument as one way to highlight the quality of our water resources and turn our economy around.

West Virginians know our rivers offer some of the best outdoor experiences anywhere, but it seems like we’re constantly battling negative perceptions, fueled by stereotypes and headlines in national news that are rarely positive. What happens when we put a star on the map, declaring a place unique enough to warrant national monument status? As we know from other monuments, more visitors show up. Economies improve. People seem to know a place so special must be worth checking out.

Birthplace of Rivers, a tract of wild forests, bogs and geologic features that’s home to uniquely high concentration of headwaters — the start of six of West Virginia’s most famed rivers, to be exact — deserves to be a national monument. It’s time to create some positive headlines about water quality in our state, bringing new visitors and the dollars they’ll spend in local communities.

Around 42,000 additional visitors are expected to check out the Birthplace of Rivers, thanks to monument designation. When more people visit, more than just outfitters benefit. The estimated overall $14.5 million impact of national monument designation will be experienced by restaurants, small farms, local shops and lodging establishments, as well as local governments that depend on tourism-generated tax revenue. It’s more stability for employees in an outdoor recreation industry that already supports 82,000 jobs in the Mountain State.

Just ask businesses in northern New Mexico what a national monument does for marketing. For example, the Taos News recently cited the newly designated Río Grande del Norte National Monument as a reason why the local economy improved at a “rate that no one anticipated…” They go on to say that “tourism is one of the main economic drivers of economic growth.”

If northern New Mexico can do this, why can’t West Virginia? It’s not just a matter of wanting to protect headwaters and preserve traditional recreation access — the monument would do that. It’s also about growing the tourism economy and local tax base in ways we weren’t able to do before.

Many West Virginia business owners have waited for two years for Sen. Manchin to make good on his promise to introduce national monument legislation, but we can’t wait while another opportunity to boost the economy slips away. Now we’re turning our attention to the White House, because the president, as well as Congress, can create national monuments.

This effort has been West Virginia born, just like the headwaters in our highest mountains, and a lot of people are behind it. There couldn’t be a better time to boost our economy and make Mountaineers everywhere proud, simply by giving ‘Wild and Wonderful’ the national recognition it deserves.

Let’s celebrate World Water Day by protecting the Birthplace of Rivers.

PERU: Critical Gift For Peru Will Benefit The Whole World

Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae).

President Obama recently released a 'landmark' conservation policy that will benefit America's rivers, lands, and wildlife resources.
Scientists say a glacier that holds enough water to raise global sea levels by half a meter is crumbling into the sea.
Indonesia responds to the country’s haze that has polluted skies over a large swathe of Southeast Asia, and released upwards of 1.7 billion tons of carbon.

President Obama recently released a presidential memorandum declaring that development projects on America’s public lands, such as energy and mining, should result in in net benefit for the nation’s rivers, lands, and wildlife resources.

After more than a decade of discussion and planning, Peru on Sunday will officially designate Sierra del Divisor National Park, a 1.3 million hectare (3.3 million acre) reserve that is home to uncontacted indigenous tribes, endangered wildlife, and one of South America’s wildest landscapes.

What has been viewed for many years as an iconic experience at SeaWorld San Diego, will soon be no more. As a result of the ongoing public criticism, the amusement park has announced they will phase out the “theatrical” killer whale show by 2016.

This major glacier in northeast Greenland started to melt rapidly in 2012 and now it’s beginning to crumble into the sea. Scientists say the glacier holds enough water to raise global sea levels by half a meter.

Residents of north-eastern China have locked themselves indoors after their homes were enveloped by record high levels of smog. Experts say some areas are experiencing 56 times the levels of harmful air particles considered safe by the World Health Organization.

Indonesian president Joko Widodo has banned clearance and conversion of carbon-dense peatlands across the archipelago in response to the country’s haze that has polluted skies over a large swathe of Southeast Asia, and released upwards of 1.7 billion tons of carbon.

Led by New York attorney general, an investigation is now underway that is aimed at finding out if Exxon Mobil lied to the public about the risks of climate change or to investors about how those risks might hurt the oil business.

Only four northern white rhinos remain in the world, one aging female in San Diego, an one female and two males in a sanctuary located in Kenya. Officials explained that several options may be tried to save this species, including in-vitro fertilization in Africa.

After an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, disaster response officials decided to drop chemical dispersants with the hope they would break up the oil, but it seemed their plan not only failed – it made things worse.

The launch of a crowdfunded effort to clean the plastic out of an area expanding over 60 miles in the Pacific Ocean is upon us. Tests of a scaled-down prototype in the Netherlands proved to be successful last week, bringing us one step closer to making the cleanup a reality.

Cambodian authorities have detained four activists linked to the environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia. The four, all Cambodian nationals, await trial at a prison in the country’s southwestern province of Koh Kong.

For nearly a decade, conservationists have pushed for increased protection of Peru’s Sierra del Divisor Reserved Zone. This weekend, their dream became a reality, with official declaration from the Peruvian government making Sierra del Divisor the world’s newest national park.

Environmental groups have welcomed new technical guidelines issued by Indonesia’s forestry ministry, which if implemented correctly, could prohibit new development in Indonesia’s peatlands, keeping them moist to prevent wildfires.

The new book No More Endlings: Saving Species One Story at a Time may prove just the thing. No More Endlings (an endling refers to the last individual of a doomed species) details 47 endangered species success stories.

A group of scientists from the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and World Animal Protection launched a competition called “Think for Tigers,” which urges anyone associated with academic institutions, NGOs, governments and tech companies to propose an “innovative idea, product or solution” that could help scientists and park personnel monitor or track tigers in the wild.