Business owners, ranchers, local development officials, conservationists, and others interested in building up the region’s nature-based tourism industry:

Please join us for a free workshop to explore how to make the growing interest in nature tourism into an economic opportunity. Whether you’re from the Rainwater Basin, the Flint Hills, the Sandhills, or some other beautiful place, you are welcome!
For those who have experienced it, the Great Plains’ rolling grasslands, charismatic wildlife, and boundless scenery fill the heart with wonder. The public is becoming more interested in nature-based tourism — you may know about the economic benefits that sandhill crane watchers have brought to businesses in central Nebraska — so how do we create other success stories?
Working together with local businesses, landowners, and communities is an effective conservation strategy to promote thriving rural communities and preserve our natural heritage and wild places.

The workshop will be hosted by the University of Nebraska’s Center for Great Plains Studies in conjunction with the Willa Cather Foundation. It will be held at Red Cloud Opera House, 411 N Webster St, Red Cloud, NE 68970.
July 18 schedule:

9:30 – 10 a.m.: Check-in, refreshments, and gathering

10 – 10:30 a.m.: Ecotourism Opportunity on the Great Plains (Katie Nieland, Assistant Director, Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska)

15-minute break/networking

10:45 – 11:30 a.m.: Endangered species of the Great Plains (Sarah Sortum, rancher and ecotourism provider at Calamus Outfitters/Switzer Ranch)

15-minute break/networking

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: lunch speaker, Eco business practices (Rick Yoder, Nebraska Business Development Center)

15-minute break/networking

12:45 – 1:45 p.m.: Liability for nature tourism providers (Anthony Schutz, University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law)

15-minute break/networking

2 – 2:30 p.m.: Incorporating star gazing activities into your community events, ecotourism sites, and summer activities (John Johnson, Nebraska Star Party)

2:30 – 3 p.m.: Q&A/talk-back session

The workshop is free (including lunch) and is open to all. Registration is required. Please register here to secure your spot.

The Center’s Great Plains Ecotourism Coalition’s campaign to research and market nature-based tourism is part of a project funded by the Rural Futures Institute. More about the project here: http://visittheprairie.com