Economic & Community Development

Nature-Based and Cultural-Heritage
Tourism in Piscataquis County

In partnership with an ad hoc group of town managers and community and economic developers in Piscataquis County, University of Maine researchers from the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, the Department of Resource Economics and Policy, and UMaine Cooperative Extension will use a USDA Rural Business Opportunity Grant to assist economic development planning in Piscataquis County.

Recent development efforts in Piscataquis County have focused on establishing a new manufacturing base in value-added wood products, and promoting sustainable micro-enterprise development, especially in nature-based and cultural-heritage tourism. This latter type of development has potential benefits and costs. As visitation increases and local businesses tailor their services to tourists, a community's rural character and physical environment may alter. Piscataquis communities still have time to plan, in a proactive manner, tourism-based strategies that will generate sustainable economic growth.

This project will help the residents of Piscataquis County clarify and articulate their development vision through the use of business and resident surveys, scenario building, land-use mapping, and community forums. Information generated by this four-pronged economic development planning process will provide the basis for specific strategies that help the county realize its vision of long-term, sustainable micro-enterprise development, specifically in the area of nature-based and cultural-heritage tourism.

Objectives

• To identify and assess business and resident attitudes toward nature-based and cultural-heritage tourism development. 

• To generate business growth and tourism development scenarios that illustrate the possible outcomes of various strategies. 

• To elicit and synthesize community response to the growth scenarios. 

• To outline specific strategies that will assist communities and businesses in reaching their development vision. 

• To help the region come to consensus regarding a development vision.

Principle Investigator:

Jonathan Rubin - Research Associate, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and Associate Professor, Department of Resource Economics & Policy, University of Maine, Orono, Maine

Co-Investigators:

Todd Gabe - Assistant Professor, Department of Resource Economics & Policy, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
Kathryn Hunt - Research Associate, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
Kathleen Bell - Assistant Professor, Department of Resource Economics & Policy, University of Maine, Orono, Maine
Roger Merchant - Outreach Partner, Extension Educator, University of Maine Cooperative Extension