TRV Stewardship Council

The Tennessee River Valley’s rich bio-diverse habitat also serves as an important recreational and commercial address for the people and communities located in the watershed.  The challenges of stewarding the public lands and waterways begins with the agencies that are charged with  protecting the lands and waters, and extends to the many non-profit friends groups that build trails, pick up litter, organize public programs, and work to conserve these wide open spaces for future generations.    

Across the Valley, there is a movement for friends groups to partner with public agencies and private entities including visitors to the area.  On any given weekend, you may find the Friends of Land Between the Lakes guiding a paddling group that is also assisting with litter collection; a Knoxville brewery hosting a tap night to raise funds for Keep Tennessee River Beautiful; a kayak regatta event hosted by the Alabama Scenic Rivers to introduce youth to river paddling and river conservation, a TVA hosted BioBlitz on public lands; or one of the many bike/ hike trail clubs that host trail day days across the region.

Voluntourism is geotourism.  Kudos to all of the voluntourists who engage, learn, and explore.

https://www.tennesseerivervalleygeotourism.org/content/friends-of-land-between-the-lakes/tenf04fc69c988189707

(use with Keep the Tennessee  River Beautiful) https://www.tennesseerivervalleygeotourism.org/content/conservation-comes-naturally-in-the-tennessee-river-valley/ten13b09b91b4f0f64cb   

In 2010, Geotourism became a new vocabulary word for many of us across the Tennessee River Valley.  While it seemed that the individual partners were  working in disparate silos- conservation, historic preservation,  tourism promotion, agriculture,  and water/land stewardship, but under the definition of tourism……  the collective group was actually working towards a common vision. National Geographic published 13 geotourism principles that have been slightly modified and adopted by our Council as the foundation for the work we do educating our partner agencies, communities, governments, and businesses across the Valley.

1. Integrity of a Place Enhance the geographical character of the destination by developing and improving it in ways distinctive to the locale. Encourage market differentiation and cultural pride in ways that are reflective of natural and cultural heritage.

2. International Codes Adhere to the principles embodied in the World Tourism Organization’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and the principles of the Cultural Tourism Charter established by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

3. Community Involvement Base tourism on community resources to the extent possible, encouraging local small businesses and civic groups to build partnerships to promote and provide a distinctive, honest visitor experience and market their locales effectively. Help businesses develop approaches to tourism that build on the area’s nature, history, and culture, including food and drink, artisanship, performance arts, and the like.

4. Community Benefit Encourage micro- to medium-size enterprises and tourism business strategies that emphasize economic and social benefits to involved communities, especially poverty alleviation, with clear communication of the destination stewardship policies required to maintain those benefits.

5. Tourist Satisfaction Ensure that satisfied, excited geotravelers bring new vacation stories home and send friends off to experience the same thing, thus providing continuing demand for the destination.

6. Conservation of Resources Encourage businesses to minimize water pollution, solid waste, energy consumption, water usage, landscaping chemicals, and overly bright nighttime lighting. Advertise these measures in a way that attracts the large, environmentally sympathetic tourist market.

7. Protection and Enhancement of Destination Appeal: Encourage the destination to sustain natural habitats, heritage sites, aesthetic appeal, and local culture. Prevent degradation by keeping the volume of tourists within maximum acceptable limits. Seek business models that can operate profitably within those limits. Use persuasion, incentives, and legal enforcement as needed.

8. Planning: Recognize and respect immediate economic need without sacrificing long-term character and the geotourism potential of the destination. Adopt public strategies for mitigating practices that are incompatible with geotourism and damaging to the image of the destination.

9. Land Use: Anticipate development pressures and apply techniques to prevent undesired overdevelopment and degradation so as to retain a diversity of natural and scenic environments and ensure continued resident access to waterfronts.

10. Market Diversity: Encourage a full range of appropriate food and lodging facilities, so as to appeal to the entire demographic spectrum of the geotourism market and so maximize economic resiliency over both the short and long term.

11. Interactive Interpretation: Engage both visitors and hosts in learning about the place. Encourage residents to show off the natural and cultural heritage of their communities, so that tourists gain a richer experience and residents develop pride in their locales.

12. Market Selectivity: Encourage growth in tourism market segments most likely to appreciate, respect, and disseminate information about the distinctive assets of the locale.

13. Evaluation: Establish an evaluation process to be conducted on a regular basis by an independent panel representing all stakeholders’ interests, and publicize evaluation results.