By Andra Janieks

For the first time in recent history, people around the globe have a rare opportunity to pause and reflect on how we can be better – for humanity, for wildlife, and for the environment. When borders reopen and airlines resume their routes, we have the opportunity to be better, more responsible travelers. 

Wildlife tourism has gained immense popularity over the last several years, with elephant experiences topping the list of many travelers’ bucket lists.  Travelers flock to places like Southeast Asia where they have the opportunity to ride an elephant or cuddle a tiger cub. However, these experiences can actually be incredibly harmful to the species overall. 

It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean all wildlife experiences are bad. In fact, when done responsibly, tourism can provide tremendous benefits, like financing conservation in protected areas, supporting local communities, and providing care for animals that cannot be released into the wild. These experiences also have a huge impact on people, instilling appreciation for the species overall and spreading awareness around the issues they face.

Traveling and supporting wildlife tourism is important, so how can you make sure you do it responsibly?

Trunks & Leaves, a nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of wild Asian elephants and their habitats, put together a guide on responsible wildlife tourism to provide the tools and resources necessary for travellers to make ethical decisions. With World Tourism Day on September 27, Trunks & Leaves was encouraging travelers and travel companies alike to commit to responsible tourism practices moving forward.

Read on for three ways to view wildlife responsibly during your next trip:

1. Keep your distance. 

When viewing wildlife, tourists should always keep a distance of at least 20 meters with a clear separation between people and animals, whether it is a barrier or a safari car. Absence of a barrier, even with animals that seem docile and safe, leave open the possibility of accidents that endanger either the person or animal. 

Similarly, never feed wild animals. Feeding wildlife, like elephants, encourages them to become dependent on human hand-outs. Often, the sweet, high-calorie things they are fed are much more preferable to their natural foliage. This can lead them to start obstructing traffic on roads to demand food from passerby, or even become crop or home raiders. 

2. Avoid hands-on experiences. 

Some ex-working elephants can’t be released into the wild and need a sanctuary and caretakers to care for them. However, these animals do not benefit from being played with and touched by humans. Animals in captivity should live a life as similar to the wild as possible, without human interference. Human contact can also transfer diseases and pathogens that have the potential to decimate wild elephant numbers. As a traveler, avoid any experiences that promote human-elephant contact, like feeding, bathing and riding. 

This is especially true when it comes to experiences with baby elephants. Young calves have the best chance of being successfully released back into the wild, but this is not possible if they become heavily socialized with humans. Supporting a facility that provides these hands-on experiences also contributes to the financial incentive for them to have a steady supply of cute calves, when can spur illegal captures or unsustainable breeding practices. 

3. Share responsibly.

Social media is powerful, and we need to be mindful of the types of things we post online. When travellers, bloggers and influencers share photos of their experiences with elephants – touching, bathing, riding, and playing with calves – they can influence millions of people around the world to seek out similar experiences. Similarly, it’s become common for tourists to edit out fences or barriers in their photos with elephants, making it appear that they are standing closer to the animal. These photos have the power to inspire others to partake in dangerous and irresponsible activities, like approaching a wild elephant on foot. As you start to plan for future travel, do your research and make sure your choices won’t harm wildlife. Take the pledge to commit to ethical, responsible tourism by only participating in experiences that ensure the safety and well-being of wildlife.

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National Parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst. — Wallace Stegner

As you may recall, the National Parks edition is a collaboration between Field Notes and the Fifty-Nine Parks print series. The new Series E, the fifth set in the series, features Denali, Cuyahoga Valley and Olympic National Parks in full-color illustrations on the covers, with 48 pages of graph paper inside. The pack retails for $12.95 at fieldnotesbrand.com and fine retailers worldwide. Five percent of retail and wholesale purchases to the National Parks Service to help preserve and expand on “America’s Best Idea.” This is especially important at a time when parks are experiencing lower visitor rates due to, well, everything.  

The covers are printed on a variety of colored 100-lb. cover stocks from the French Paper Company of Niles, Michigan, using a custom, five-color process that started with under-printing white ink. This allowed us to incorporate the color of the paper into the artwork. The illustrative styles, the printing process, and the copper staples recall the heritage, and archival promotional materials and publications, of the National Park System.

Each book features a brief history of the park on its inside back cover, a spot for the official National Park Passport Stamp on the inside front cover, and 48 pages of Finch Opaque 60#T marked with a 3/16″ graph to record your plans, routes, notes, and memories.

Along with the release of Series E of our National Parks Edition, we’ve introduced a water-transfer decal based on the the familiar signage found in America’s national parks and forests.

In addition, Field Notes has introduced a cool old-school water transfer decal based on the familiar green, white and brown national park signage. It’s perfect for sticking in the window of your car, truck or RV. Or even a pint glass if you don’t mind handwashing. It’s available for $5.95.

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The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) reversed its decision to require a stringent wildlife protection measure for Icebreaker Wind, approved in May to be the nation’s first freshwater offshore wind energy facility. This precedent-setting project poses high risks to birds and bats due to its location in Lake Erie, within a globally important migration hotspot. The decision increases these risks, but provisions remain that, if implemented correctly, could still provide protective measures for birds.   

At issue was a condition of the project’s approval that required “feathering,” or turning off, turbines at night eight months of the year. The feathering requirement, which has now been removed, was required to protect birds from collisions with turbines, unless and until post-construction studies could show that impacts to wildlife are within acceptable limits. In the months since the project was approved, supporters have mounted a campaign to pressure OPSB to remove this condition.

“We’re disappointed that this requirement was removed,” says Joel Merriman, Bird-Smart Wind Energy Campaign Director for American Bird Conservancy (ABC). “For years, the developer has fought reasonable conditions to minimize and document impacts to birds and bats, and they have made no progress on the studies, plans, and mitigation that they know will be required. It’s telling that instead of doing these things, and showing that they can and will do the right thing for wildlife, they have instead continued to fight the OPSB.”

Kimberly Kaufman, Executive Director for Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO), provides additional context: “While on the surface this decision by the OPSB appears to be a setback, we feel we can rely on the strength of the Avian and Bat Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and the Revised Stipulations to adequately protect the interests of birds and bats without imposing the default mitigation method of feathering. This presupposes a genuine faith in the administration of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to uphold the MOU and the Revised Stipulations, for which we hope we will not be disappointed.”

“Initially, the OPSB felt that bird protections were necessary,” says ABC President Mike Parr. “The birds have not suddenly learned how to avoid turbines, and the danger remains. The idea that Icebreaker will turn off turbines if they notice birds hitting them sounds as though they are trying to be conscientious, but how are they going to find tiny songbird carcasses at night in the middle of a lake? We have close to 4 million square miles of land in the United States – the project site is among the worst few acres for birds in the entire nation.”    

The site selected for this project is the Central Basin of Lake Erie, designated by the National Audubon Society as a Global Important Bird Area in recognition of the millions of birds that rely on it. This includes large concentrations of Common Loons, globally significant populations of Red-breasted Mergansers, and many other waterfowl, as well as transiting songbird flocks. Radar studies conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have recorded large numbers of migratory birdsnear Great Lakes shorelines, including the south shore of Lake Erie. Many of these birds were flying at altitudes that would be within the rotor-swept area of wind turbines. 

“The well-documented importance of Lake Erie to birds means that a high bar must be set for any offshore wind facility to prove that it can avoid an unacceptable level of impacts,” says Merriman. “Reaching this bar starts with selecting an appropriate location. The Icebreaker facility, which would set the standard for wind energy development in the Great Lakes, was instead proposed for the heart of what could be called a ‘super highway’ for migratory species. This made it a high-stakes gambit from the start, and bird conservation groups have long voiced their concerns about the project. Nobody should be surprised that this has been a contentious process, already prompting a lawsuit to push for better environmental review.”

A recent study showed that the United States and Canada have lost nearly 3 billion birds — almost 30 percent of the total population — since 1970. Collisions with man-made structures have contributed to this decline. 

“This is not the time to take chances with bird populations,” says Merriman. “We need renewable energy development to combat the effects of climate change, but it needs to be done right by avoiding high-risk areas for birds. Icebreaker Wind fails that test.”

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