Opportunities abound for ecotourism in area.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Brief Article

Nestled below the helicopter pad at St. Joseph's Hospital in Sudbury are 10 sea kayaks beached on the shore of Ramsay Lake. A group of alabaster-skinned Crown attorneys in town for an annual seminar at Laurentian University eagerly squeeze themselves into the torpedo-shaped hulls for an instructional program. It is their first try at kayaking and a welcome recreational diversion from hours of classroom work.

"Betcha 98 per cent of the people here in Sudbury don't even know this is going on," says Marc Dionne, a certified instructor and guide for Horizons, talking about the areas recreational potential.

Horizons is a Whitefish-based outdoors company specializing in kayaking tours. Though it is one of the least understood niches in the tourism business, ecotourism is slowly gaining headway in putting Sudbury on the map as an outdoors destination.

Unlike more exotic locales in Central America, Southeast Asia and Africa, ecotourism in Ontario has not developed to the point where outfitters can operate as a viable year-round operation, Dionne says.

It is a far cry from the days when sulphur emissions burned the vegetation off of the landscape around Sudbury. Now the regreened region is billing itself as an ecotourism mecca through fledgling organizations like Partners in Eco-Adventure Tourism (PEAT).

The umbrella group, with between 20 to 25 partners, hopes to lure vacationers from southern Ontario, Americans and other international tourists off the beaten path into exploring the pristine back country of the Sudbury region, Georgian Bay and the North Channel.

With the cancellation of the spring bear hunt and new fish catch limits expected to be coming down from the province, some traditional lodges are considering making the switch from what is termed "consumptive activities" to ecotourism, inspired by a worldwide movement toward environmentalism.

"These consumptive activities have maxed out," says Rick Sowerby, the project co-ordinator for PEAT. "Fish stocks are depleting everywhere and the actual wow experiences people are getting from these activities are dropping off."

PEAT...