Clam Farming, Folk Foods, Environmental Education and Tourism Help Regional Economies

Regional development organizations are engaged in many less traditional efforts, including work with foundations, cultural programs, environmental education and recycling and tourism development.

Leveraging to Win Private Money

In 1996-1997, there was a controversy brewing in north central Florida as there was a new constitutional amendment banning gill net fishing in coastal waters. This amendment put many fishermen out of work; 100-250 families were affected in the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council (RPC) region. Even more were affected in a neighboring region.

The clam nursery produces 20 million seeds per year, which are transplanted to farming plots in the Gulf of Mexico where they grow to maturity.

The Ford Foundation has given North Central Florida RPC, an EDA funded district, three two-year grants to organize this group of fishermen and find alternative businesses for them. After a few false starts (focusing on tourism), the council began concentrating on helping individual families as well as the group to change from gill net fishing to clam farming. The project now includes over 100 clam farmers who have built a clam nursery that produces 20 million clam seedlings each year, with a 75 to 80 percent success rate. Currently, the farmers are attempting to expand this operation, by planning to build a processing plant (which would work for clams as well as other shellfish) within the next year.

Cultural Programs: Economic Strategy

The Economic Development Council of Northern Vermont (EDCNV), an EDA funded district, received $15,000 to support a project to research development opportunities for traditional food recipes and practices in the region. EDCNV has undertaken a feasibility study surveying folk foods and traditional recipes in northern Vermont and identifying technical assistance needs and potential marketing strategies for developing such foods for the emerging specialty food market.

Currently, in the first stage of the project, they have created a brand, Vermont Folk Foods, that can be customized for the producer. One producer of maple vinegar is already participating. EDCNV is recruiting more producers by attending farm shows and speaking with extension officials, community action agencies and the Abenaki Tribe. The council is looking for Vermont products with true Vermont heritage. Those recruited will have use of the Vermont Food Venture Center (VFVC), the only public commercial kitchen in the US certified by the US Department of Agriculture. The Food Venture Center offers three fully equipped components: a kitchen, bakery and processing room. Assistance is provided for research and development of new products; financing the needs of specialty food companies; and business planning, labeling, marketing and distribution.

Currently, the maple vinegar is on the market in the St. Johnsbury area of Vermont. Two other products by the same producer are scheduled for summer production. EDCNV’s goal is to locate and market items from ten producers. By having a common label stock, they are overcoming the obstacle of getting labels printed, which can be expensive.

Environmental Education

LaVonne McDonald teaches vermi-composting

The Central Arkansas Planning and Development District (PDD), an EDA funded district, has an extensive environmental education program, teaching children and adults about the benefits of recycling and composting, as well as the evils of illegal dumping and household hazardous waste. With funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and US Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service, Leigh Ann Covington, Program Manager, and another paid educator along with volunteers build and deliver educational modules and programs. These programs cover issues as diverse as paper recycling, illegal dumping, worm or vermi-composting and household hazardous waste. According to Covington, “This program is a necessary part of our solid waste program; it’s not a good idea to bring recycling to a community without the proper education. The most effective way to promote recycling and composting is through education.”

Covington and others provide educational programs to all of the schools in their four-county region, civic groups, Lions clubs, Rotary clubs, 4H groups, cooperative extension and many other civic organizations. Their program also provides student teacher training, or “train the trainer” sessions.

The goal of this education is to promote recycling and composting in the region. The more rural areas of the region have drop-off recycling programs, rather than the curbside programs of the larger cities.

Tourism

The Cycling the Southern Alleghenies (CSA) guidebook is part of an effort by the Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission (PDC), an EDA funded district in southern Pennsylvania, to boost the region’s economy by attracting bicycle tourists.

The Southern Alleghenies Regional Tourism Confederation, a group dedicated to developing and delivering an integrated tourism program, appointed a special committee to develop a bicycle touring project. The Southern Alleghenies PDC, joined by cycling enthusiasts, representatives from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Convention and Visitors Bureaus in the six-county region, have worked for over a year to create CSA, defining the project goals, identifying possible routes, targeting the potential audience, and seeking funds for design and implementation phases.

The guidebook includes routes for every ability level, traveling through forests and farmland in the Allegheny Mountains. The 17 self-guided tours can be biked in a day or combined for a multiple-day bicycling vacation. All of the information needed to plan a cycling vacation, including maps, cue sheets, information about lodging facilities, attractions, eating establishments, shopping, bicycle stores and supported tour services, can be found on the comprehensive website at www.cyclesa.com.

By Melissa Levy, Digest Managing Editor

Contact: Charles Justice, Executive Director of North Central Florida RPC, at (352) 955-2200, by email at justice@ncfrpc.org or at www.ncfrpc.org; Brian Norder, Project Director of the VFVC at (802) 849-2000 or by email at vfvc@together.net; Leigh Ann Covington, Program Manager of Central Arkansas PDD, at (501) 676-2721; and Edward M. Silvetti, Executive Director of Southern Alleghenies PDC, at (814) 949-6522 by email at prosser@sapdc.org or on the web at www.sapdc.org

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