The Recreation Response to Disaster
Coping with Adversity National Scenic Byways response to Disasters
3 Byways – How they coped
Copyright © 1996 Hugh Morton
Public domain.
Copyright © July 2002 Maine Department of Transportation.
The National Scenic Byway Program • First Byways established in 1996. • Authorized by ISTEA (Federal Transportation Act) • Designated by Secretary of Transportation • Managed by local grassroots groups • Now 150 National Scenic Byways • Resource Center ‐ training and technical assistance to byway groups.
Gunflint Trail, MN
Loess Hills, IA
Creole Nature Trail, LA
Gunflint Trail National Scenic Byway
Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway
Public domain. Courtesy of @Explore Minnesota Tourism Copyright © 1999 Explore Minnesota Tourism.
Gunflint Trail – The Events July 4,1999 Derecho
Gunflint Trail Response and Fire Prevention • US Forest Service, Minnesota DNR, County Government, Local Organizations • NEPA alternative arrangements • Salvage Logging, Fuel Reduction (outside Wilderness) • Prescribed Fire for Fuel Reduction (inside and outside wilderness) • Firewise Program for private lands
Gunflint Trail ‐ Firewise
The Events ‐ Cavity Lake Fire ‐ 2006 • Burned 32,000 acres (mostly in blowdown) • Largest Fire in MN since 1918 • Did not reach Gunflint Trail (Previous Rx burns helped slow fire)
Photo courtesy Superior National Forest
The Events ‐ Ham Lake Fire ‐ 2007 • Human‐caused • 85,000 acres, burning in US and into Canada • Crossed Gunflint Trail, destroying 100+ resorts, homes, campgrounds
Gunflint Trail Results of Effective Planning • Successful Evacuation • Firewise successful in protecting many properties • Prescribed fire and fuel reduction partially successful in keeping Cavity Fire from Gunflint Trail and properties.
The Response ‐ Gunflint Green Up • Annual event to reforest areas burned along byway. • Partners ‐ Byway, USFS, MN DNR • Yr. 1 (2008) 450 volunteers planted over 50,000 trees • • Added Benefit – put “heads in beds during slow business period
Courtesy of Gunflint Tral Scenic Byway
The Response ‐ Gunflint Historical Society • Preserve and tell history of Gunflint Trail • Raised over $1 Million to restore and establish Gunflint Museum at historic lodge • Helps bring more tourists to area • Partnership with US Forest Service
The Actions ‐ Becoming a Boundary Waters Family • Educational Outreach to groups not comfortable with wilderness camping • Also reaches out to under‐represented groups • Hands‐on seminars to teach canoe‐camping skills • Partnership with byway & USFS
The Response ‐ Other Gunflint Trail Activities • Updated Corridor Management Plan and National Scenic Byway Designation – 2009 • Vegetation Management Plan – in cooperation with MN DNR & US Forest Service • Millenium Trail – new hiking trail construction
Creole Nature Trail 3 National & 1 State Wildlife Refuge
Photos courtesy of Creole Nature Trail
Creole Holly Beach
Creole Nature Trail – The Events • • • •
August 2005 – Hurricane Katrina (category 3) September 2005 – Hurricane Rita (category 3) September 2008 – Hurricane Ike (category 2) April 2010 – BP Oil Spill (public perception)
Photo courtesy of Creole Nature Trail
Creole Holly Beach after Hurricane Rita
Creole Nature Trail – The Impacts • Widespread flooding along byway • Oil tanks, refrigerators, household refuse, contaminants and debris scattered throughout wetlands and refuges • Damage to interpretive displays • Damage to byway waysides, turnouts • Decrease in visitation due to public misperception of BP oil spill effects
Creole Nature Trail – The Response Storm Resistant Interpretation • GPS tour guide – not impacted by storms, multiple languages, familiar technology • Reinforced interpretive panels
Creole Nature Trail – The Response National Hurricane Museum • Located inland, but on the Byway • Partners include local govts, National Weather Service, convention & visitor’s bureaus, private businesses • Preserve artifacts, tell personal histories, interpret advances in storm prediction technology • Grant received for design. Fundraising ongoing for development
Creole Nature Trail – Other Responses • Marshland Clean‐up: Worked with partners to convince legislators for prompt action to clean up refuges before contaminants sunk into marshland. • Repairing Infrastructure: Worked with FHWA and other grantees to re‐align grant funds to reconstruction projects
Loess Hills National Scenic Byway • Copyright © July 1998 Golden Hills RC&D, Inc..
Copyright © December 1999 Golden Hills RC&D, Inc..
Copyright © 1999 Loess Hills Hospitality Association
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Copyright © 1999 Loess Hills Hospitality Association
Copyright © July 1998 Golden Hills RC&D, Inc..
Loess Hills Scenic Byway – The Event • Winter & Spring 2011 – Record snowfall in western states drained by Missouri River • Reservoirs at maximum capacity by early spring • Early June – some spillways opened for first time ever. Stayed open for months • Areas along river remained flooded from early June until August
Loess Hills Area – The Impacts • Interstates 29 and 680 – long stretches closed for months and severely damaged • Many state, county and local roads closed • 350 homes damaged or destroyed • 280,000 acres of farmland impacted • $207 million in lost crops • Thousands of acres of trees at risk of dying due to submergence
Loess Hills Scenic Byway – The Impacts • Southern Loess Hills Visitor Center • Before and After flooding • Water rose to 6 feet and stayed there for two months • Finally drained from VC in October
Loess Hills – The Impacts After
Before Flooding
After During Flood
Loess Hills – The Response • 24 Volunteers worked for two days to remove all exhibits from Visitor Center • Had to go 1 hour away to even rent a truck to haul exhibits • Put exhibits in storage until Visitor Center can be rehabilitated • State Park employees removed key parts of infrastructure
Loess Hills – The Response • Interstate Traffic routed onto Scenic Byway, since it is on high ground • Campgrounds along Scenic Byway made available to people flooded out of their homes • Fundraising well underway for restoration of Southern Loess Hills visitor center
Emergency Plans – Preplanning for Disaster • Emergency plans long‐established in area of museums and historic properties • Not as well known in outdoor recreation‐ related fields • Can be critical to your program • Many great guides available by searching internet for emergency, disaster or museum planning
Examples of Successes • Gunflint Trail ‐ Fire Prevention, Firewise, Gunflint Green Up • Creole Nature Trail – Storm resistant interp, Going Big (Museum), National marketing • Loess Hills (immediate emergency pre‐ planning) Saving interpretive displays
Byways Journal – Spring 2012 See the Spring Byways Journal for an article with information about disaster planning and disaster response. Out next month.
Quotes “Gunflint Green Up started when community leaders chose to look forward instead of dwelling on what we had lost. We wanted the broader community of residents and vacationers to join us in moving forward. What better way than spend to spend a day planting trees for the next generation. Now we can measure our progress as the trees mature.” ‐ Nancy Seaton, Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway leader
Quotes “It is not our abilities that show what we truly are, it is our choices.” ‐Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts Headmaster “Choose wisely.” ‐Anonymous