OpportunityTitle: Northern California coast Geotourism Initiative Start-up
Description: This project involves the participation of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation to provide technical assistance with the initiation of the Northern California Coast Geotourism Project. United States Department of the Interior&#146;s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Geographic Society are working in partnership to enhance public involvement in and build capacity for cooperative conservation of the California Coastal National Monument, administered by the BLM, and the adjoining California coastal jurisdictions by collaborating with a wide variety of entities to develop and implement the California Coast Geotourism Initiative. The first stage of this effort is to develop a collaborative geotourism project for the Northern Coast of California (i.e., from the Oregon border to San Francisco Bay). This project includes the development of a Northern California Coast &#147;Geotourism MapGuide&#148; and tools to help communities begin and manage a geotourism project. This initiative will provide technical assistance, develop new cooperative conservation tools, and be funded jointly by public and private dollars. [NOTE: A national memorandum of understanding (MOU) was recently signed by the U.S. Department o the Interior, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and their agencies (including BLM) with the National Geographic Society as &#147;a first step to promote geotourism as a collaborative approach among governmental agencies and private partners.&#148; Pioneered by National Geographic since 2002, geotourism refers to &#147;tourism that helps sustain or enhance the geographical character of a place &#151; its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and well-being of its residents&#148;. This project is part of a geotourism initiative under this MOU. The process used in conducting this project has been developed by the National Geographic Society and has been used successfully on a wide variety of recent geotourism initiatives within the United States, between the United States and its neighbors (i.e., both with Mexico and Canada), and on numerous initiatives around the world.]
GrantorContactEmailDescription: tthaler@blm.gov
GrantorContactText: Traci Thaler &lt;br/&gt;Grants and Agmts Specialist &lt;br/&gt;Phone 916-978-4529