NARROWSBURG, NY — National Geographic, the internationally known magazine, is planning an interactive exploration of the Delaware River Valley between Northampton County, PA and Delaware County in NY, according to a spokesman coordinating the program from the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA).

The NPCA’s participation in the program is funded through a two-year grant from the Philadelphia-based William Penn Foundation, which has delegated extensive funding to preserving Delaware River water quality.

Spokesman John Beljean introduced the program at the September 3 meeting of the Upper Delaware Council (UDC), where he also sought the UDC’s endorsement.

Beljean said the program, already introduced successfully at other park areas, will promote environmentally sustainable “geotourism,” and involves exploration of regional national, state, as well as often little known county and local park areas.

Geotourism, Beljean said, involves directing international exposure toward use and development of areas capable of handling it without damaging the resource, as well as preventing overuse of areas not capable of heavy use.

Through a National Geographic Society (NGS) website to be launched in October, the program and the magazine would cite areas, based on input from local “stakeholders,” who have nominated special places of interest.

Those nominations, essays submitted about places of interest both online and by mail, would be initially reviewed by local county-based committees that would pass on their recommendations to the magazine. The magazine, in May of 2016, would then launch a second website, this one highlighting those areas.

Businesses and areas selected by the magazine would receive window stickers showing program participation and will appear as “electric badges” on the magazine’s website. The NGS would also provide a guide of “the destination’s most authentic places in the form of a hand-held map designed by National Geographic….”

Beljean said the geotourism program provides marketing, reaching some 600 million people monthly through multiple media formats, that local businesses would never be able to support otherwise.

According to an NGS statement, geotourism visitors statistically spend more than others. A 2010 Montana study showed that in a six- to eight-day visit, geotourists spend close to twice the amount as “non-geotourism” visitors.

The planned outcome of the program would be in the creation of local geotourism stewardship councils, combining local government, private and not-for-profits “committed to uphold the principles of geotourism and are trained to guide a destination through the implementation of a geotourism strategy.”

For more, visit travel.nationalgeo graphic.com/travel/sustainable/about_geotourism.html.