Articles

• Adapting to shifting sands
• 5 Questions on Engagement
• MASGC shares in Gulf Guardian Award
• Program to certify nature-tour operators
• Bruening recognized for outstanding service
• Symposium to feature adaptive management
• Water-access committee nears end of mission
• Volunteers grow 45,000 oysters for restoration
• Potential end-users test tool for sea-level rise planning
• Fink joins Office of Coast Survey in Mobile
• Featured Publication
• From the Director

Sea Briefs is a report on the results of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.

Editor: Melissa Schneider

Frontpage graphics: Matthew Capps

This newsletter is available in PDF format from:
masgc.org/seabriefs

MASGC supports applied, interdisciplinary marine science research, education and outreach efforts to foster the sustainable development and management of the Mississippi and Alabama coasts and nearshore ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico

Mississippi-Alabama
Sea Grant Consortium
703 East Beach Drive
Ocean Springs, MS 39564
Phone: 228-818-8838
E-mail: seabriefs@masgc.org
MASGP 09-011-04

Program to certify nature-tour operators

The Nature Tourism Initiative in Alabama is launching the Coastal Nature Guide Certification Program.

“Nature tourism experiences should provide quality opportunities to engage the public with natural resources in ways that lead to greater understanding and appreciation, while protecting and preserving the wildlife they are viewing,” said Joanne McDonough of the Nature Tourism Initiative.

With this program, customers and potential customers of certified tour operators will know their guides have received raining in stewardship, ecosystems and natural-resource laws. The workshop will teach several principles, including local ecosystems, applicable local resource protection laws and more. After implementing these practices in their businesses, nature tour operators will request evaluations that will include a tour observation and the review of Web sites, brochures and business licenses. Once the program director finds the business to be in compliance, the nature tour operator will receive the certification and decal of the program’s logo to display.

Founding Nature Tourism Initiative Program partners include the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Local partners in the program include the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources - Coastal Section, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center, Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, Baldwin County Soil and Water Conservation District VI, Alabama Department of Marine Resources and the Alabama Department of Freshwater Fisheries and Wildlife.