Designing for multiple clients : locals, visitors and snakes!

aside and given protection status by Manitoba Conservation (Manitoba Mines Branch document, 2001) in order to protect these unique dens.One den, located under a road- ramp into the quarry, provides shelter for thousands of snakes, and is currently observed by international scientists undertaking snake research.Unlike the Narcisse snake dens, where the dens are surrounded by grass and parkland that provide camouflage and physical protection for the snakes, the lnwood quarry location provides the opportunity to view thousands of wild snakes set against the remains of the old quarry.The starkness of the quarry provides unique opportunities to engage the animals at close range while also giving broad views of the migrating snakes.The industrial influence on this landscape also gives the opportunity to introduce issues associated with nature and culture.The lnwood Quarry site in particular, and to a lesser extent the existing Narcisse Snake Dens, presents new issues in the development of an ecotourism site.The first issue relates to the defìnition of or what is considered ecotourism.Traditionally ecotourism occurs in pristine or relatively undisturbed (by humans), often quite large, natural areas.ln most cases, ecotourism takes place in a protected area, often designated as wilderness.This practicum questions these existing assumptions by presenting the need and benefits for providing ecotourism in a non-wilderness setting.The second issue looks at land designation.Not unlike the definitional issue, protected area designation assists land managers by defining categories and subsequent policies to manage these lands.For instance, wilderness areas, to be designated as such, require limited human modifications, must have a certain size or ecological area, and will be managed to restrict certain human activities such as motorized vehicle use.The quarry does not meet the usual profected area requirements and therefore would not normally be considered for protection designation.This practicum challenges this reasoning and suggests new thinking is required to meet current requirements of nature protection, sustainability and human engagement.The third issue looks at the current practices of quarry rehabilitation in Manitoba.The three issues or concerns, mentioned above, relating to ecotourism, protected areas and quarry rehabilitation are reflections of our human-nature relationship.How we, as humans, manage (designate, develop, access, etc) our natural areas will be based on how we perceive and value the land and its inhabitants.For this reason, this practicum will review, in chapter four, the human-nature relationship.This will also include an attempt to explain the human-snake relationship as formed through biological and culturalfactors.Part one of this practicum will review these four areas: ecotourism, protected areas, quarry rehabilitation and the human-nature relationship to provide the necessary background when planning and designing an area for snake ecotourism.The second part of this practicum will look at the unique situation of having three clients while planning and designing for ecotourism.The three clientslocals, visitors and snakesare equally important in the planning and design of an ecotourism area.The removal or reduction of the recognition of the importance of any one of these clients would most likely reduce or eliminate the success of the development.This section will identify the unique characteristics of each of the three clients and how they play a role in the planning and design requirements of snake ecotourism.Part three of this practicum applies what was learned in the fìrst two parts into the design process.First, the regional and site-specific contexts are described in chapter seven.This chapter explores the physical and cultural elements that will influence what may or may not be designed.The chapter ends discussing a synthesis of all the factors influencing design considerations.lt is from this discussion that the parameters are set that will guide design and master planning objectives.The last chapter, eight, applies what has been learned and puts it in a designed form.This process looks at preliminary thoughts concerned a Contributes to conservation of biodiversity.Susfarns the well being of local people.I ncludes an interpretation/learning experience.lnvolves responsible action on the part of tourists and the tourism industry.ls delivered primarily to small groups by small-sca/e busrness.Requires lowest posslb/e consumption of non-renewable resources.Sfresses local participation, ownership and busrness opportunities, particularly for rural people (Wood, 2002 p.10).This definition helps to clarify how ecotourism compares to other forms of alternative tourism that are often incorrectly used interchangeably.Alternative tourism,also known as 'special interest tourism' or 'responsible tourism', are alternatives to mass tourism which is characterized " with large numbers of people seeking replication of their own culture in institutionalized settings with little cultural or environmental interaction in authentic settings" ( Newsomeet al., 2002 p10).Alternative tourism that broadly focuses on 'nature' is referred to as natural area tourism.As explained by Newsome ef al. (2002), under this broad umbrella of natural area tourism, are 1) Adventure Tourism, with an emphasis on activity (such as the physical challenges associated with backcountry travel and travel in exotic, remote or unusual locations), 2) Nature Tourism, with an emphasis on the natural setting (the whole landscape) and fostering an understanding of conservation and the natural environment and 3) Wildlife Tourism, with an emphasis on viewing and learning about a natural area's living or biotic elements, the flora and fauna of a specific area (such as a safari in Kenya, bird watching or whale watching).Cultural Tourism is yet another category of alternative tourism that focuses on cultural or social elements such as human history, arts and crafts, religion and other forms of human expression.Like naturebased tourism, cultural tourism is developed in reaction to mass tourism and attempts to provide a more meaningful, and possibly more intimate and 'authentic'experience for the participant.Aspects of cultural and nature based tourism may also merge as tourism associated with rural, farm and indigenous people based tourism where divisions of cultural and nature are less apparent.Recently in the Manitoba context, the Travel Company (2002, p.8-9) defined ecotourism as "An enlightening nature-based travel experience that is respectful to the ecological, cultural and economic integrity of host communities/areas."lmplicit in the definition are the following principles, as adopted by the lnternational Ecotourism Society:Minimizing negative impacts on nature and culture that can damage a destination Educating the traveler Sfressrng the importance of responsible busrness Directing revenues to the conseruation and management of protected areas and biological diversity Emphasizing the need for regionaltourism zoning and visitor management plans Emphasizing the use of environmental and social base line sfudres Maximizing economic benefits locally Supporfing economic empowerment of local communities Ensuring development does not exceed social and environmental carry capacities Relying on infrastructure that has been developed in harmony with the environment For purposes of this research, the definition of ecotourism by Wood (2002),listing seven essential components, will be used since it helps to identify the intricacies of this form of tourism and it begins to inform design by setting physical and cultural parameters.ln addition, Wood's definition and principles do not distinguish between traditional ecotourism sites such as national parks and protected areas and the potential to use sites such as post-industrial sites such as agricultural land or quarry pits. Gurrent Practice: Designing EcotourismWhile academics, non-profit and government agencies debate definitional issues and the pros and cons of ecotourism development, there continues to be a void in the planning, management and design of natural areas accessed for ecotourism (Lindberg and Hawkins,

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