Happy Thanksgiving

It has been a while since my last entry. Busy mostly with writing up two draft interpretive plans and finishing up the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park (National Park Service) interpretive plan. JVA UK partner Cris Emberson is in Chili now for about 3 weeks working on a variety of project there, and I will be starting the new US Army Corps of Engineers project in Louisiana the week of Dec. 13th. JVA also has several new projects in proposal stage, and new projects on board for 2011. Given the economics of the times, having interpretive projects into 2011 is encouraging. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Fort Gratiot Lighthouse - New Project

Working as a subcontractor with Museumcroft, JVA has been awarded the contract to develop the Interpretive Master Plan for the St. Clair Parks and Recreation Commission Fort Gratiot Light, located at Port Huron, Michigan. The project will start in November and be completed in February, 2011. You can find out more about the lighthouse at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Gratiot_Light.

New Corps of Engineers Project

We will be starting a new project, subcontracting to MWH Americas, Inc., to develop the Interpretive Master Plan for the Corps of Engineers Atchafalaya Basin Project (Park), a 833,000 acre Basin Floodway. The Basin is one of the nation's last great river swamps. You can see the site brochure at: http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/bro/AtchafalayaBasinProject.pdf for more information on the site. We will be starting this project in the next few week.

Hi,
Just back from Costa Rica. A great experience and the rain forests were just amazing. Had some very interesting interpretive experiences as well. A few photos, including an active volcano in the center of the country, Banana beatle found in the banana fields, and an unbrella tree leaf. New projects coming .. more later.

Off to Costa Rica

Just in the office this week tying off some lose ends and preparing to leave on Friday for 10 days in Costa Rica. Looking forward to seeing the National Parks, turtle nesting areas and hunting for poison dart frogs. Hope to see a sloth too.
More later next week.

Interpreter Training for 2011

We have two new courses for presentation in 2011 at the Snowdonia National Park Training Center in Wales. June 1-3, 2011 - Marketing and Market Creation for Heritage/Interpretive Sites, Agencies and Attractions. August 30- September 2nd - Introduction to Natural and Cultural History Interpretation and Interpretive Guiding. More details will be available on our web site: http://www.heritageinterp.com. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. jv

Time to Write

Just back from the Interpretive Master Planning Course at Plas tan y Bwlch in Wales (Snowdonia National Park Training Center). Just working at home for the next two weeks finishing up interpretive plan drafts and other odds and ends. Getting ready for a trip to Costa Rica at the end of the month. We are planning for next years courses, including a new course on Interpretive Guiding, which we offered a few years ago. The photo is of those course participants during a field trip expeirence to practice tour guiding techniques at Snowdonia National Park. More later.. jv