From the Oct 10, 2002 issue of The Star

Birding Festival Takes Full Flight
by Tim Croft Marie 

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Steele-Romanelli and her cohorts at the St. Joe Wildlife Sanctuary hatched an idea two years ago for a festival celebrating birding.

That idea has now taken full flight.

The 2nd Annual Florida Panhandle Birding and Wildflower Festival runs next Thursday through Sunday, with programs taking place from Leon to Bay counties.

Last year's event was confined to Bay, Franklin and Gulf counties.

The concept behind the festival is simple and appropriate for an area that is considered the last stretch of Old Florida remaining.

"What can we do to educate the public on how they can impact wildlife and what not to do so that they can live in harmony with nature?" Romanelli said,.concerning the genesis of the festival.

"It's a good educational project. There is so much natural resources here that people don't know about."

And so the festival offers more than 100 different events and opportunities for visitors to observe and embrace nature.

From opportunities to see some of the 470 verified species of birds in the state to tours of state parks, the buffer preserve and kayak tours, as well as lectures from a variety of nature specialists and scientists, visitors have a veritable smorgasbord of nature activities from which to choose.

Birding is just the main piece. There will also be presentations and tours focusing on native plants, archaeology and stars, with a portable planetarium brought over from Bay County.

"There are all kinds of things going on," Romanelli said. "People don't have to be hard-core birder, that's the fun of it."

In addition to the education component, the festival also serves as the major annual fundraiser for the St. Joseph Wildlife Sanctuary.

And in this case what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

"It's good for the community," Romanelli said. "The economics of birding are staggering."

As evidence, consider an analysis of last year's inaugural festival by Dr. Tim Lynch of Florida State University's Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis.

Lynch notes that wildlife viewing is worth $2 billion and 52,140 jobs in Florida alone.

The economic impact, direct and indirect, including taxes generated, from last year's birding festival was roughly $200,000.

Lynch further notes that just 20 percent of the festival's attendees were locals. Forty-eight percent came from elsewhere in Florida and 32 percent were from out of state.

While some participants came from as far away as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, most out-of-state attendees came from the Deep South.

Strikingly, Lynch's analysis showed that 80 percent of those attending from outside the area would not have visited the area at this time of year without the festival.

Lynch also demonstrated that members of the American Birding Association, who come to such events in droves, are generally older, have more education and earn more in annual income than the average Floridian.

"This represents the most valuable kind of tourist visitor that Gulf, Bay and Franklin counties should want to attract especially in the fall off-season time frames," Lynch wrote in his report.

And when tallying up the economic impact of the festival, Lynch wrote, "Clearly the festival serves as a major stimulus to the local economy and as it grows so will the economic pulse from greater numbers of visitors, both during the festival and across the year as they continue to return for other events to learn the wonders of Gulf, Bay and Franklin counties."

Near the closing of his report Lynch remarked on the fundamental attraction of the festival and the region.

"Although the primary message of this report is economic in nature, the reader should also realize that there's a message about the tie between environmental ethics and good business," Lynch wrote. "The key to eco-tourism's sustainable economic development is access to the abundant high quality pristine environment, open space and abundant wildlife of Gulf and Franklin counties. Without those things, the tourists will not come, nor will (the) dollars that they bring that is a benefit to the community."

Registration for the festival will begin 3-7 p.m. Wednesday and continue Thursday morning at the Centennial Building.

There visitors can pick up maps, the list of events and their tickets which will allow access to as many as 64 events.

Registration is $25 for adults and $12 for children.