Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Idaho Beckons ‘Eco-Tourists’ Agencies Pitch State’s Outdoor Activities In Effort To Extend Tourist Stays

David Gunter Staff writer

State agencies in Idaho think tourists would spend more money if someone would only chase them into the woods for a day.

Working with the North Idaho Travel Committee, members of the Idaho Department of Fish & Game, Idaho Panhandle National Forests, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have listed a number of outdoor activities to include in this year’s North Idaho Tour Guide.

The publication will suggest various day trips to extend tourist stays and stretch vacation spending.

“The focus of the book is to keep people here longer, rather than just enticing them to come,” said Linda Clovis, whose firm, Savvy Marketing, designed the guide.

“The goal is to disperse people from more crowded areas and get them out into the woods,” said Rick Shaffer, chairman of the North Idaho Tourism Alliance. “We’d like them to stay one more hour, one more day or even another week and support the local economy.”

Activities in the guide include driving tours, outings to lakes, rivers and streams, and hikes along thousands of trail miles in North Idaho’s national forest lands.

“Our roads get a lot of press in relation to logging,” said David O’Brien, information team leader for Idaho Panhandle National Forests. “But by far, the preponderance of traffic is for recreational use.”

One of the most popular outdoor draws has been wildlife-watching, especially when bald eagles descend on North Idaho in winter. Some 4,400 people signed in at this year’s Wolf Lodge Bay Eagle Watch, held annually between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Hundreds more came to Lake Coeur d’Alene to watch the birds as part of commercially scheduled lake cruises and school field trips, said Beth Paragamian, watchable wildlife specialist for Idaho Fish & Game, U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

“We had people from 34 states and four foreign countries,” she said. “They were here from as far away as Africa, Peru and Japan.”

And though the eagles weren’t the thing that brought those tourists to the region in the first place, they did convince many of them to spend a day bird-watching in North Idaho.

“We had roughly 50 birds on the lake,” said Mark Taylor, landowner/sportsmen coordinator for Idaho Fish & Game. “That’s a pretty good return if you look at people per bird.”

According to a U.S. Department of Commerce survey, wildlife watchers spent more than $146 million in Idaho during 1996, including almost $60 million for food, lodging and other purchases. Nationwide, the commerce study showed nearly 63 million U.S. residents took part in some form of wildlife-watching activity in 1996, spending $29 billion.

The North Idaho Travel Alliance believes a trend toward “eco-tourism” makes the state’s northern counties a logical target for outdoor tourism. They also will use the guide, scheduled for release in March, to lure local residents.

“We have a market right here in our own back yard of people who either haven’t gotten out to do everything there is to do or don’t know what’s available,” Shaffer said.

While eco-tourism may shift some of the focus from traditional outdoor sports like hunting and fishing, Taylor noted that hunters and anglers still spend about $526 million in Idaho each year.

“And when I’m out with my family,” he added, “I’m always thinking, ‘Hmmm - I wonder how many elk are up there in those hills?”’

, DataTimes