It's been known as “Stinky City” because of the smells emitted by the now-closed paper mill. And when lobbyists and lawmakers in Jackson gave it any thought, they weren't any kinder.

Moss Point's economic development director, Linda Holden, remembers being told she lived in the “Armpit of Mississippi” when she went selling her developing vision for a prosperous town in the halls of the Capitol.

But Moss Point's location at the mouth of the continental United States' only large unspoiled river system, coupled with a broad array of Pascagoula River protectors and a sustaining community vision of greatness, just may allow this river community to turn its oft-criticized location into a thriving eco-economy.

TIM ISBELL
Libby Hartsfield of the Pascagoula River Basin Alliance walks along a sand bar during a trip that was part of a CIAP-funded study on ecotourism for Jackson and George Counties.

“This city has a sense of where it is,” said Holden, employed by Moss Point since 1994. “It has a wonderful feel. It has a wonderful spirit.”

That sense of place has positioned the community of 20,000 to get in on the ground floor of the burgeoning field of eco-tourism, a practice that only recently began receiving any significant attention in U.S. towns and cities.

“You don't find many economic development professionals that give a flip about eco-tourism,” Holden admits.

In the case of Moss Point, it just made sense. The model flowed out of internationally known waterfront developer L. Azeo Torre's 1994 master plan for the city, commissioned by the city after Holden came on board.

As the pair discussed siting the first phase of a plan that came to include a marina, theme park and outlet mall, as well as nature trails, fishing camps and an interpretive center, their vision began to coalesce around the richness of the river.

“He said, 'You're not going to like what I have to tell you,' ”Holden recalled. That message boiled down to: “Great project... wrong location.”

“'The waterfront is your asset,'” Holden recalled Torre saying. With that realization, the city began to take a serious look at preserving and enhancing the natural environment. At Holden's request, the city banned the construction of new cell phone towers when a 2001 report showed a detrimental effect on migratory birds. The year before, the council took similar action on new billboards.

“We don't have a model,” Holden said. “This is new ground for us.”

Dollars and 'greens'

Although eco-tourism is the fastest growing niche market in the world of tourism, the concept itself is a new one. The term wasn't even used until 1988. But the quick creation of an International Eco-Tourism Society guaranteed the label - and the practice - would receive strict guidelines and definitions. According to the society, the term means the “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people.”"

In developing countries around the world, it translates into $50 billion a year. Here in the United States, the effects are only beginning to be felt as predominantly small towns, most already economically struggling, begin to invest.

States ahead of the curve include West Virginia, Vermont, New Mexico and Hawaii, said Martha Honey, executive director of The International Eco-Tourism Society, based in Washington, D.C.

In West Virginia, the worst polluted state in the Union, the attitude is: “We've always been last in everything... Maybe we can be first in eco-tourism,” Honey said.

About 35 million visitors spend time in Mississippi each year, spending in the ballpark of $6 billion, said Darian Wilson, director of the state Department of Tourism.

“It's just huge. Ninety-three thousand people work because there's a tourism industry. It really is big business,” she said.

JOHN FITZHUGH Jay Mengle, forground and the McCoy Brothers shuttle Mississippi Audubon Society members to observe the swallow-tailed kite in June.

Though hunting and fishing don't typically qualify as “low-impact” eco-activities, it is estimated that $540 million was spent in Mississippi in 2001 by people engaging in “wildlife viewing,” said tour guide Jay Mengel.

So it is no surprise that the tourism department's 2002 annual report called for the continuation of recent efforts to better identify tourist habits and spending patterns.

For area travel agents, eco-tourism is everything from the Coast staple of deep-sea fishing charters to the relatively new ocean kayaking and growing popularity of bird-watching. After 25 years in the travel business, Betty Thorjusen, a manager at the Ocean Springs Travel Affiliates office, said requests for more remote locations began to pick up only about five years ago.

“People are curious,” said Thorjusen. “A number of these people have already traveled to the primary destinations.”

Places like Costa Rica and Belize are selling like never before. “It's different. The natural beauty is still there. It hasn't been overrun by today's world,” she said.

Even the United Nations saw the impact eco-tourism was having and designated 2002 the “International Year of Eco-Tourism,” hosting a World Eco-Tourism Summit midyear.

But when it comes to bringing some of that action to Moss Point, salesmanship rules.

“Marketing is definitely key,” said IES director Honey. “You can't underestimate the amount of marketing that needs to go into it.”

That push should begin at home, she said, since Mississippians are the “most logical” audience for the river system experience.

And the need for a broad mix of stakeholders cannot be understated, she said.

JOHN FITZHUGH Members of the Mississippi Audubon Society view swallow-tail kites in June near Wilkerson Ferry in Jackson County. County leaders believe the river can provide an economic boost to the area as long as the river remains pristine.

The eco-tourism model being developed by Holden follows decades of work by state and conservation groups to protect the Pascagoula River system. And the recently formed Pascagoula River Basin Alliance, an advocacy group whose mission is to protect the ecological health of the river, has a broad base, boasting some prominent corporate members, including Chevron and Mississippi Power Co. The Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi also has gotten involved with Holden, catering a reception for the Audubon Society, which is now in the process of locating a site to build a birding center in Moss Point.

The challenges

It took a public referendum to purchase the land for a $5 million Pelican Landing convention center, but it was an event that signaled a turning point in the city's development. Holden said the overwhelming support for the project fused elements of the community that had banded together before in fighting a number of perceived threats.

Residents got to know each other better while fighting to keep coal barges from rounding the Escatawpa River to the Pascagoula River at Moss Point, blocking an offshore oil sludge transfer station from locating downtown and successfully killing a proposal to burn medical waste at the local incinerator. But it was the annual Fall-De-Rah fall season festivities, begun in Moss Point but now mirrored in several neighboring towns, that began to solidify the town's idea of itself as a natural wonderland.

The 2002 celebration, titled “Walk on the Wild Side,” included festive displays of giant binoculars complete with straw bird-watchers, an alligator muffler family and oversized bugs.

Holden gives divine interest credit, as well. “I think that God's put us here to make sure we take care of this corner of the world.”

But it will take a sustained and determined effort to achieve a sustainable model for a tourist-based economy. As with any booming industry, the competition in the eco-tourism world is fierce.

To protect the land and water, and succeed in this competitive field, well-trained travel guides are critical. “The whole role of guides and people that can kind of interpret the experience are really important,” said Honey. “So the tourists don't feel they're being lectured to, but so they feel engaged.”

TIM ISBELL Jay Mengel rests after leading a group down the Pascagoula River in George County.

“Captain Jay,” otherwise known as Pascagoula River Basin Alliance coordinator Jay Mengel, is one of a few guides that regularly takes tourists up the river.

“The odds that you're going to overbird-watch or overtour it are slim,” Mengel said, suggesting the number of visitors will likely never rise above a threshold level. But there are concerns.

Wave runners, for instance. “It doesn't take a rocket scientist for Billy Joe to realize, 'Man, if I had a dozen of these things, I could rent 'em,'” Mengel said. “You can go down any river system in the U.S. and see how they were only smart in the short term.”

Education, a primary aim of the River Alliance, should go a long way toward protecting the river's integrity, he said.

The need, as Mengel sees it, is for area residents to understand the uniqueness of the river.

Once that happens: “They're not going to throw their beer cans overboard. They're not going to take too many fish. They won't want water pumped out of it. You won't need a watchdog organization,” he said.

One immediate advantage Moss Point has over other U.S. locations is the pristine quality of the river itself. Across the nation, Mengel says cities and states are working to restore sick and damaged rivers.

“We don't have to do that. We have to preserve it.”

Linda Holden, Moss Point economic development director

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