HIGHWAY-BASED WILDLIFE TRAILS OFFER NEW RESOURCE
Meetings designed to bring trails and tourism to western Kansas
PRATT — Workshops continue in several areas of western Kansas to explain the concept of highway-based wildlife trails and to seek nominations for sites to be included. Combined with agricultural, historical, and cultural attractions, Kansas natural resources can provide additional economic opportunity for small towns in Kansas. Highway-based nature trails are one such opportunity.
Patterned after successful efforts in Texas, Oklahoma, and other states, these trails provide natural resource information for tourists and the opportunity to explore regions of the country they may never have known existed.
Several workshops are being held in western Kansas to explore opportunities for designing these trails. The meetings will provide information on existing highway-based trails in other states, how to nominate potential areas for western Kansas, and the coordination process involved. Nominations will be sought from private landowners interested in participating in the program.
This effort is a partnership led by the Western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance, the Kansas Nature-based Tourism Alliance, the Wild West Country Tourism Alliance, the Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Kansas Division of Travel and Tourism, and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP).
Anyone interested in learning how to develop local nature tourism or to nominate a site should attend these workshops. They will last about an hour and one-half and will include presentations on nature tourism opportunities and resources in Kansas, as well as plans to publish nature tourism routes, loops, and other attractions.
For more information, email Ken Brunson, KDWP wildlife diversity coordinator, at kenb@wp.state.ks.us or phone him at 620-672-0757.
The following is a list of meetings to date:
Meetings designed to bring trails and tourism to western Kansas
PRATT — Workshops continue in several areas of western Kansas to explain the concept of highway-based wildlife trails and to seek nominations for sites to be included. Combined with agricultural, historical, and cultural attractions, Kansas natural resources can provide additional economic opportunity for small towns in Kansas. Highway-based nature trails are one such opportunity.
Patterned after successful efforts in Texas, Oklahoma, and other states, these trails provide natural resource information for tourists and the opportunity to explore regions of the country they may never have known existed.
Several workshops are being held in western Kansas to explore opportunities for designing these trails. The meetings will provide information on existing highway-based trails in other states, how to nominate potential areas for western Kansas, and the coordination process involved. Nominations will be sought from private landowners interested in participating in the program.
This effort is a partnership led by the Western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance, the Kansas Nature-based Tourism Alliance, the Wild West Country Tourism Alliance, the Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Kansas Division of Travel and Tourism, and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP).
Anyone interested in learning how to develop local nature tourism or to nominate a site should attend these workshops. They will last about an hour and one-half and will include presentations on nature tourism opportunities and resources in Kansas, as well as plans to publish nature tourism routes, loops, and other attractions.
For more information, email Ken Brunson, KDWP wildlife diversity coordinator, at kenb@wp.state.ks.us or phone him at 620-672-0757.
The following is a list of meetings to date:
 | Feb. 8, 9 a.m., Pratt - Wildlife and Parks Operations Office, 512 SE 25th Ave. (1 mi. E and 1/2 mi. S of Pratt), Basement Conference Room; |
| Feb. 8, 2 p.m., Great Bend - Great Bend Front Door, 1615 10th. St.; |
| Feb. 9, 9 a.m., Stockton - Rooks County Health Office, 2nd floor meeting room, 426 Main (enter through the rear door on the north side of the building); |
| Feb. 9, 2 p.m., Hoxie - Bowen Scout House, one block east of Main, 11th and Sheridan; and |
| March 2, 1 p.m., Scott City - El Quartelejo Museum, West 96 Highway. |
