Innovate BEDROCK: THE GLOBAL GEOPARK MOVEMENT’S ETHOS OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IS SOMETHING CANADA SHOULD BUILD ON. LEFT Hikers enjoy about a third of Stonehammer Geopark’s billion years worth of stories in sea-caves eroded into Carboniferous sandstone. ABOVE Paleontolgist Rich McCrea scours a fossil bonanza that includes dinosaur footprints along a creek in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. LESLIE ANTHONY PHOTOS.
tell many stories. A billion years worth, according to the tagline of Stonehammer swath of southern New Brunswick that gathers in geological
with four
presentations of aspiring geoparks from around the
even dictate the art and architecture generated. In other
network of trails, litany of outdoor activities, and a with a community and its culture, heritage and economy
community turns.
sites within them are ultimately protected under local, regional or national legislation. Stonehammer’s creation was instrumental in New Brunswick instituting
hundreds more vying for approval. Not all will receive cooperation, and innovation—i.e., geopark gold.
world’s highest tides along the Bay of Fundy and the
, a geopark leverages that heritage to promote awareness of key issues facing society. By referencing planetary dynamics, a geopark can highlight geological threats as a way to
landscapes and geomorphology dictate where humans
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resources while promoting ecological and landscape
handful of new geoparks designated at each conference. after dinosaur trackways, one of the largest clams in the industry and tourism threading it all, Stonehammer was th
for the multiple stakeholders who live there, geoparks suggest a pride-of-place model for ecotourism at the
aspiring
we don’t see the community involved, working hard,
paleontological novelties may include records of past climate change that can inform on present trends, of each site in local industrial facilities, museums, galleries, and markets. And while the former delivers on the geological wow-factor and outdoor experience,
-
Still, it was far from a shoe-in. Most current geoparks
are as paleontologically rich and geologically diverse in
stories in the works. —Leslie Anthony
almost 500 delegates gathered to compare notes on the current network and watch often impassioned
global
stonehammergeopark.com // trmf.ca/geopark.html
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