Wherever they occur, mountain ranges loom large in both ecological and cultural landscapes. This is as true for North America as anywhere else. But, for all our celebration of “purple mountain majesties,” we have been slow to put mountain issues on the agenda.
In December 2002, we took a small step forward by establishing a North American regional node for Mountain Forum—the international mountain network dedicated to information sharing, mutual support, and advocacy. It has been a year since work began on the North America Mountain Forum, and a number of things have happened since then.
In August 2002, a full-time staff member was hired to work out of the offices of Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta, Canada. In October, Amy Krause was trained by Mountain Forum staff in Virginia and West Virginia. While there, she was briefed on the organization, provided with technical training, and met a few of her Mountain Forum colleagues.
In December 2002, the North American Mountain Forum was launched. E-mail and press releases provided information to over 4000 individuals and resulted in media coverage, many kind words of encouragement, and a jump in North American membership.
Being located in a dedicated host organization gives each Mountain Forum node access to a unique set of opportunities each year. In January 2003, we made Mountain Culture's upcoming Sustainable Mountain Communities Conference into a platform for the North American Mountain Forum's first themed E-discussion. The Sustainable Mountain Communities' E-discussion focused on environmental sustainability in mountain communities affected by tourism and amenity migration.
Public interest was overwhelming. Participation on the North American discussion list rose by 80% in 6 weeks, eliciting comments from city planners and residents in British Columbia, Alberta, Oregon, Colorado, California, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Missouri, Washington, DC, and Mexico. Several of their ideas were slated for discussion at the face-to-face conference in June.
In March, we moved from community sustainability to international capacity building by assisting a global E-consultation involving all Mountain Forum nodes. This second online discussion assisted members of the new International Partnership for the Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions in sharing their views on what the International Partnership should offer its members and how it should be structured and monitored. The E-consultation involved 48 of the 62 registered Partnership members, including intergovernmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and national governments—an outstanding level of engagement considering the organizations involved and the minimal lead time.
This May, North American Mountain Forum representatives will attend annual Mountain Forum meetings in Chambery, France. In June, we will host the face-to-face Sustainable Mountain Communities Conference. In July 2003, a third E-discussion on “Mountains as Water Towers” will recognize the International Year of Freshwater. As before, “Mountains as Water Towers” will feed into a future face-to-face event, the November 2003 Banff Mountain Summit.
Themed E-discussions are powerful ways of engaging new and old participants in substantive discussion. Using this momentum, we plan to query subscribers this fall about what issues are most pressing in their mountain regions and what services they feel should be offered through the North American Mountain Forum. The results of these surveys will help us develop a North American mountain agenda and a clearer idea of how we can help our members bring this agenda to public forums in their home ranges.
Mountain Forum and Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre have very different, yet complementary, strengths and traditions. From what we have been able to accomplish this year, we hope to make use of this synergy to find new ways to contribute to the North American mountain agenda in years to come.
