GLIN==> Press release: Byways collaboration a model for nation's byway leaders

PRESS RELEASE: March 2, 2010
Contacts:          
Great Lakes Seaway Trail: Teresa Mitchell, 315-646-1000
Lakes to Locks Passage Janet Kennedy, 518-597-9660
Jpgs available by request (specify hi/low res): see end of release
 
Great Lakes Seaway Trail, Lakes to Locks Passage Directors Share Tips in
March 5 Webinar;
French & Indian War Collaboration a Model for Nation¹s Byway Leaders
 
Sackets Harbor, NY ­ On March 5, 2010, Great Lakes Seaway Trail President &
CEO Teresa Mitchell and Lakes to Locks Passage Executive Director Janet
Kennedy will present insights on a first-ever collaboration by four New York
byways in a webinar for the nation¹s byway¹ leaders.
 
Byways Specialist Curtis Pianalto of the America¹s Byways Resource Center in
Duluth, MN, will moderate the web discussion. Pianalto says, ³Sharing this
case study via the webinar will be important for the greater byway
community. This byway partnership has created a shared platform for
showcasing byways as the unique vehicle for discovering the story of the
French and Indian War along the historic waterways of New York and
Pennsylvania.²
 
In celebration of New York State¹s French and Indian War history and the
250th anniversary of the war, four of New York State¹s byways ‹ the Great
Lakes Seaway Trail, the Lakes to Locks Passage, the Revolutionary War Trail
and Mohawk Towpath collaborated in 2006-2009 (and continue), in partnership
with I Love NY and the New York State 250th French and Indian War
Commemoration Commission, to:
·      publish a brochure for NY¹s byway-based French and Indian War
historic sites 

·      publish a full-color guidebook ­ Waterways of War: The Struggle for
Empire 1754-1763: A Traveler¹s Guide to the French and Indian War Forts and
Battlefields Along America¹s Byways in New York and Pennsylvania by Steve
Benson and Ron Toelke is receiving kudos from history and mainstream media

·      New York State Assembly Tourism Committee Chair Steven Englebright
said, ³Travel and history are great natural tourism partners. This new
guidebook to the French & Indian War is a result of the first collaboration
of New York¹s designated byways and provides travelers with a wonderful
vehicle for exploring our history and our waterfronts.

·      develop and install a series of ³outdoor storyteller² interpretive
panels at destination points significant to the war that was the prelude to
America becoming an independent nation
 
·      develop a French and Indian War theme-based website to showcase 19
historic sites in New York (17) and Pennsylvania (2)

·      jointly promote French and Indian War Commemorative Events to bus
tour groups with the American Bus Association

·      partner with Mountain Lakes PBS to present a French & Indian War
documentary titled ³Forgotten War² ­ which has been uplinked to the national
PBS network with downloadable resources for grade 7-12 educators and a
GoogleMap-based travel itinerary that draws on the Waterways of War
guidebook

·      promote living history demonstrations, including NY¹s 2010 French and
Indian War Commemorative Signature Event expected to draw 20,000 visitors to
Ogdensburg, NY, at the site of historic Fort de la Presentation. The July
2009 Commemoration Signature Event at Old Fort Niagara set a record
attendance of 15,000 visitors there.

Mitchell, who Chairs the National Scenic Byways Foundation, says, ³This New
York-Pennsylvania project showcases byways as a unique way to discover the
historic, cultural, natural, and recreational resources along America¹s
Byways. The French and Indian War theme allowed us to emphasize the
experience of traveling along byways to historic sites and living history
experiences.²
 
Kennedy says, ³The outreach created by the synergy of the four byways has
attracted a diverse mix of audiences ­ from heritage tourists and traveling
educators to the US Army Times and PBS. This type of collaboration is the
future of the byway programs and sets a standard for creating public
awareness of how byways offer an authentic American experience of the
landscapes of history, well-kept military architecture, battlefields and
waterfront staging areas.²

The American Bus Association named the four-byway tour to French and Indian
War sites among its Top 100 Events in North America for tour packagers in
2007. The tour links byways, forts and battlefields, and draws attention to
historic waterways: the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and
Lake Erie coastlines of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail in NY and PA, the Erie
Canal of NY¹s Mohawk Towpath, and the Lake Champlain, Lake George and
Champlain Canal of the Lakes to Locks Passage.
 
The NY-based partnership attracted an additional $15,000 in grant funds from
Visit Erie, which manages the Seaway Trail Pennsylvania extension of the
Great Lakes Seaway Trail.
 
Mitchell points out that the value of the project extends into 2012, saying,
³This project has created a base for developing, interpreting and promoting
the 200th War of 1812 anniversary commemoration in New York and
Pennsylvania.² 
 
The project collaboration will also be featured in a 2010 edition of the
Vistas newsletter, published by the America¹s Byways Resource Center in
cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration. # # #
 
PHOTOS available by request (specify high or low res please), send request
to publicist at karalynn at gisco.net
MLPBSBritish.jpg ­ 300 dpi - Reenactors portray British soldiers during the
French and Indian War in a public television documentary that highlights
modern-day heritage tourism opportunities found along byways in New York and
Pennsylvania. Photo: Mountain Lakes PBS
 
F&IWofWpageFortOntario.jpg ­ 300 dpi ­ Fort Ontario in Oswego has a long
history as a strategic military site on Lake Ontario. It is one of 19
heritage travel sites featured in a guidebook produced by a collaboration of
New York¹s byways. Photo: Great Lakes Seaway Trail
 
French&IndianBookMap.jpg ­ 72 dpi ­ This map shows the 19 historic cites
celebrated by the Waterways of War traveler¹s guide to French and Indian War
forts and battlefields along America¹s Byways in New York and Pennsylvania.
Photo: Great Lakes Seaway Trail
 
STF&IFrontCover6x4.jpg ­ 300 dpi ­ The new Waterways of War guidebook to 19
French and Indian War historic sites invites travelers to follow three
designated byways to forts, battlegrounds and freshwater destinations in New
York and Pennsylvania. Photo: Great Lakes Seaway Trail



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