Recreation & Tourism

crabby ecotours                                                                                          North Harford HS

                                                                                                                                3/18/2011

Recreation and Tourism play an important part as a stakeholder in a community. Tourism  

brings in people from the outside community, and brings in billions of dollars each year. Tourism is a $17.7 billion industry in Virginia. (http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3328 )  Recreation helps bring in tourist, doesn't cost a lot of money, and is very environmentally friendly. There may be issues with space and the resources needed for them but the money they bring in is more than would be spent on it. Recreation and tourism brings in people who will help local business owners and the government. The Bay would be a huge part of this with fishing, crabbing, watching wildlife, or boating. Natural disasters can hurt a community's recreation and cost a lot of money but fishing and crabbing help make it not that huge of an upset. People might not want to have tourism on a polluted Bay so the waterways need to be kept clean all the time and that cost money.

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    From:   A Van & 6 Kids - Other - LHS                                                               Ask

                                                                                                                        3/28/2011

       We support tourism because begging from tourists is our main source of cash flow. 

       However, we believe that it can be done in a more ecofriendly way than is currently

       practiced.  The excess income from tourism is being put into retirement funds for

       already wealthy CEO's, not into bay saving efforts.  Resorts and hotels are not built to

        ecofriendly standards. These include solar panels and water saving toilets(wish we had

        one).  The effect of natural disasters on our communities is minimal, at least in

       comparison to other states. 

    From:   One Shot One Kill - farmer - LHS                                                          Ask

                                                                                                                        3/30/2011

       We agree on your point of view as long as the tourist dont litter and over fish to lower

        the population of the bay life dramtically. Other than that your ideas are

       understandable.

    From:   EPA Bay program - CBP_Fed - GCHS                                                      Ask

                                                                                                                        3/30/2011

       The revenues brought in from tourists should mainly go towards the Bay's restoration.

       As long as tourists didn't damage wildlife or litter they would be very important to the

       bay? If fishing and crabbing are profitable, they should not be overharvested.

    From:   The Ranger in Power - local_gov - LHS                                                   Ask

                                                                                                                        3/31/2011

       I agree that we need tourist to bring in tax revenue.  There was a comment by another

        group that all funds brought in by tourist need to go to Bay restoration.  Increasing

       the # of tourists will require more money spent at local levels to provide services for

       these folks, especially the more wastewater that will be generated.  I will ask the

       other group this question, "Do you support an additional tax on tourists to pay for Bay

       restoration projects, and if so, what are you going to tax?" ie. levying meals taxes,

       tolls, or hotel room taxes for examples.

    From:   Sydney's House - homeowner - MslmnHS                                                Ask

                                                                                                                        4/8/2011

       Your ideas are good.  The bay is good for recreation, as long as it's not abused.

Recreation & Tourism

Great White Buffalo                                                                                     James Wood HS

                                                                                                                                3/23/2011

Our group is important to the Chesapeake Bay because we show people the beauty of the POV:

bay and how people can have fun in these areas. We generally make the revenue for the

states bordering the bay. We also create jobs for those people who have been laid-off. A

percentage of the money can go to cleaning up the area. It can also go to cleaning up the

water.

The pollution will affect the tourism industry in many ways.  The first way is that it would

force businesses to close down due to low income.  Without income, it would be very hard

to continue to make efforts to keep the bay clean.  For people that do come to the bay it

would seem less desirable to visit and they may not want to return to the area, and the

pollution could be hazardous to visitors.

There are many solutions to help make the water cleaner and maintain the water

cleanliness.  One way is to get a law passed not to allow any sewage pumped into the bay. 

Other ways to help cut down sewage are rebuilding the wildlife that has been affected by

current pollution. 

The other pollution source that is affecting the watershed is non-point pollution. This

pollution is coming from the run-off from businesses, construction sites and neighborhoods.

 The other place that it is coming from is the farms. This pollution is the hardest to stop.

This would hurt us the most because it would be so hard to clean up and cost so much. 

This Clean-up solution would cost a good bit of money. One way that we would get this

money to help with the cost would be to raise rates on activities. We would do this so we

can raise the taxes to help fund these clean-ups. We would also need to add aquatic

animals to the environment.

One way that we could help with the pollution from the farms would be to use a cover crop.

 The cover crop is there to help with the run-off from the fields. This will also help soak up

 the fertilizer and the nutrients from getting to the local streams or the bay which is the

direct source. We could also use Riparian Buffers which is tall grasses or trees that we

would plant along side the streams or river to soak up the run-off. \\

The direct benefits of helping to clean up the bay would be astonishing.  It would attract

people back to the bay which would ultimately increase the revenue of the local tourism

industry.

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    From:   MODERATOR - other - PHWS                                                                 Ask

                                                                                                                        4/18/2011

       Is sewage currently being pumped directly into the bay? From what source?

       Many of these programs were funded through taxes as are the majority of

       government programs.  However, with the new budgets, much of the funding for

       Chesapeake bay clean up has been cut.  Unless you have some sort of hot tub time

       machine, that budget pay cut cannot be undone.  How would you convince people to

       raise taxes?  you mention increasing rates for certain activities.  what activities would

       you increase rates on?

       Do you have any other creative ideas to fun your proposed BMPs?

Recreation & Tourism

CWI                                                                                                               James Wood HS

                                                                                                                                3/29/2011

 Our group is important to the Chesapeake Bay because we show people the beauty of the POV:

bay and how people can have fun in these areas. We generally make the revenue for the

states bordering the bay. We also create jobs for those people who have been laid-off. A

percentage of the money can go to cleaning up the area. It can also go to cleaning up the

water.

The pollution will affect the tourism industry in many ways.  The first way is that it would

force businesses to close down due to low income.  Without income, it would be very hard

to continue to make efforts to keep the bay clean.  For people that do come to the bay it

would seem less desirable to visit and they may not want to return to the area, and the

pollution could be hazardous to visitors.

There are many solutions to help make the water cleaner and maintain the water

cleanliness.  One way is to get a law passed not to allow any sewage pumped into the bay. 

Other ways to help cut down sewage are rebuilding the wildlife that has been affected by

current pollution. 

The other pollution source that is affecting the watershed is non-point pollution. This

pollution is coming from the run-off from businesses, construction sites and neighborhoods.

 The other place that it is coming from is the farms. This pollution is the hardest to stop.

This would hurt us the most because it would be so hard to clean up and cost so much. 

This Clean-up solution would cost a good bit of money. One way that we would get this

money to help with the cost would be to raise rates on activities. We would do this so we

can raise the taxes to help fund these clean-ups. We would also need to add aquatic

animals to the environment.

One way that we could help with the pollution from the farms would be to use a cover crop.

 The cover crop is there to help with the run-off from the fields. This will also help soak up

 the fertilizer and the nutrients from getting to the local streams or the bay which is the

direct source. We could also use Riparian Buffers which is tall grasses or trees that we

would plant along side the streams or river to soak up the run-off. \\

The direct benefits of helping to clean up the bay would be astonishing.  It would attract

people back to the bay which would ultimately increase the revenue of the local tourism

industry.

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    From:   Oyster shucker - Other - NHHS                                                             Ask

                                                                                                                        3/30/2011

       I completly agree! there are so many solutions people just need to step up and get

       involved.

    From:   busy bee business - Other - NHHS                                                         Ask

                                                                                                                        4/1/2011

       1.I agree with your statement that the Bay is very valuable thing in our environment. 

       And that it would cost lots of money to help clean it up. But the thing is how much

       would we lose if we lost the Bay? What can we do to help keep it a valuable part in our

        Bay? The Bay is being destroyed by the toxics and pollution being thrown in.

Recreation & Tourism

Sunshine Campground                                                                                     James Wood HS

                                                                                                                                3/29/2011

Our group, the Sunshine Campground is important to the Chesapeake Bay watershed POV:

because we provide activities to entertain and attract people. Some of the activities we

provide include camping, canoeing, paddle boats, fishing, and beautiful sight seeing spots.

The non point source and point source pollution affect our campground because it causes

us to lose business. It will cause the view of the bay to be much less attractive and that will

 cause us to lose customers.

We want people to enjoy the sights of the ecosystem as much as we do. In order to obtain

cleanliness we have put in place a best management practice. Recently grass buffers and

extra trees have been added around the bay to control sediment running into the water.

We achieve this by taxing the tickets that are sold to participate at this recreational site.

The tax money goes strictly to the benefits of the bay.

To reduce pollution, the types of motor boats allowed in the bay will be regulated and

absolutely no waste is permitted to be dumped anywhere that could affect the water.

Since we have gotten grass buffers and added trees the water in the Chesapeake Bay has

been cleaner. We have gained our customers back and the amount of people who visit to

enjoy our outdoor adventures has increased dramatically. If nothing had been done to

improve conditions, we could have lost our jobs as well as the rest of the employees who

work hard to keep the grounds here nice and we wouldn't have money to support ourselves.

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    From:   A Van & 6 Kids - Other - LHS                                                               Ask

                                                                                                                        3/31/2011

       We our concered with the fact that you are content with the status of the bay in your

       area.  A couple buffers and your done?  Just because your campground looks a little

       better doesn't mean the bay is all fixed and jenk.  What about giving educational

       programs to make campers more aware of the condition the bay is in?  Sorry to ruin

       your sunshiney day but, there is still problems in the Chesapeake.

Recreation & Tourism

Pancake Flipper                                                                                                 Musselman HS

                                                                                                                                  4/4/2011

I chose "Recreation & Tourism" as my stakeholder position, so I presume this means I

would be a small business owner. My next course of action plus next question is; the point

of this activity is to see how a person in this position would react towards cleaning the

water quality through the watershed? Anyways moving along to the main role I'm supposed

to be maintaining. As a small business owner, such as someone who rents boats to others or

 maybe someone who goes white water rafting down a river, cleaning the water I think

would be beneficial. Pollution which causes unclean water could ruin the boats or rafts used

 in my business, so cleaning the water would help my business continue to be stable possibly

 go up as well. If I have cleaner better equipment which hasn't distorted over time, that

would mean better boats and I wouldn't have to buy many new boats every year due to

deformity. Also cleaning the water would mean if one of my customers fell out of there

boat and into the water, they wouldn't be drowning or gulping in polluted water. Cleaning

the water would mean if they fell out of the boat then they wouldn't be surround by

uncleanly water, but they would be surrounded by clean healthy water. Another point is

that as they jump in their boat and go down river, the clean water would also result in

better more beautiful scenery. The more enhanced better looking scenery could also

increase the amount of customers I have. My opinion of cleaning the water is simple; as

long as I don't go out of business, then yes by all means clean the water as much as your

heart's desire.

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    From:   MODERATOR - other - PHWS                                                                 Ask

                                                                                                                        4/18/2011

       How specifically do propose that the water be cleaned?

Recreation & Tourism

WV Rafters                                                                                                       Musselman HS

                                                                                                                                  4/6/2011

The people who come to white water raft in Harpers Ferry West Virginia should be in nice

rivers. People aren't going to come to dirty places. We need the community members to

come and help keep things clean. We will start a community help group, NGO, and we will all

 get together twice a week to keep things looking fantastic. There will be posters put up all

over the community, and even radio commercials. There will be a meeting date, and we will

then come up with a list of items needed to keep things clean. Once we have the list we can

sell cookies to raise the money, and of course look around our houses to see what we

already have. We will let all local business, and newspapers that we will be cleaning on a

certain date. We may then be able to get publicity, and once that happens we can grow as a

 cleaning organization. We will get donations to keep the group on top of the items needed.

This is will be a lot cheaper than having to sometimes hire people to keep the river looking

nice. We can influence others to come and white water raft if we keep things clean within

the community.

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    From:   MODERATOR - other - PHWS                                                                 Ask

                                                                                                                        4/18/2011

       The majority of the pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are not bottles or trash

        that can be easily “cleaned” or “picked up” out of the water.  The majority of

       pollution is in the form of nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus), sediment, and

       chemicals.  How do you propose to keep our rivers “clean” of this type of pollution?

       What BMPs would you propose?

Recreation & Tourism

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