SITKA, ALASKA Click here to visit the project's website.

The “framework for sustainable tourism” echoes the “transition framework for economic development and timber harvesting” developed at the Tongass Futures Roundtable over the last couple of years. Both represent a change in direction for the Forest Service under the Obama administration.

Deb Lyons, the director of Sitka Trailworks, the Forest Service’s lead partner in the project, told the Sitka Chamber of Commerce that the effort resembled other local tourism planning projects, with one big difference: This was on the government’s dime.

The Forest Service has hired Anchorage-based consultant Agnew::Beck to develop the plan.

Three public meetings have already been held this fall in town to generate input. Cruise passengers, locals, and guides and other vendors have been surveyed. Lyons told the chamber that Alaskans were already more outdoor savvy than the lower forty-eight market. She said the idea was not to crowd out the activities that Sitkans already enjoy.

“Our goal isn’t to increase the use levels on all the trails so that locals are displaced. We aren’t going there at all. We want to keep it compatible. One of the things that came back in the visitors surveys — I think there was only one comment that identified any sort of conflict with tours and visitors that are currently on the trails. Ninety-nine percent of the people said, I’ve been out on the trails with visitors, and it’s not a problem. We’re hoping to keep using the management tools that are in place and keep the quality of experience very high for folks who live here, but there does seem to be some underutilized opportunity here.”

Those “opportunities” run the gamut in the plan – everything from better playgrounds, to better information at the docks about local sightseeing, to hut-to-hut hiking and kayaking trails.

Trailworks board member Charles Horan was in the audience for the presentation. He and his wife had just returned from a trip to New Zealand, where they hiked the 33-mile Milford Track. Great walks like the Milford Track can be the primary reason people will choose a destination. Horan suggested that sustainable recreation in Sitka included building a brand.

“Does Sitka want to brand itself as one of the legs of the stool of the economy? Can people come here to experience the Alaska they’re dreaming of and thinking about (not the jewelry stores)? I think this is a great opportunity, and I’m excited to see Sitka emerge as a branded place for this type of stuff, and this is the process. We need to get the community on board: it can’t be an agency or group, it has to be a community desire to be that kind of brand.”

Lyons illustrated some of the plan’s goals by discussing Portland, Oregon, which has so successfully branded itself as an outdoor destination that outdoor gear companies had relocated there. She also pointed to a project underway to brand Anchorage, and to the success of Moab, Utah, where 78-percent of the economy revolves around mountain-bike tourism.

Lyons admitted that she was “trolling” for business participation as the plan moves forward. A number of chamber members were eager to have a logo designed, and to get started. Lyons suggested that all ideas were welcome, but at this stage anything beyond planning might be premature.

“If it’s identified that we need to do something about Sitka branding, then it’s everybody’s idea to do that. This is the process where nobody’s in charge.”

Lyons stressed that the framework for sustainable recreation was a ten-year action plan, and it was important to expand participation beyond her organization, Sitka Trailworks, and the US Forest Service. She was looking to the National Park Service, the Sitka Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Sitka Economic Development Association, and the Sitka Tribe to all be involved.

Tourism planning in Sitka has been problematic in the past. A months-long attempt by the Long-Range Planning and Economic Development Commission to write a collaborative visitor industry plan several years ago ended in failure.

Lyons said that one consistent answer in planning surveys given to local residents was to “stay realistic.”

Lyons expected that Agnew::Beck would have a draft plan prepared for release to the public this December. A final plan would roll out in the spring.
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