Ecotourism Development Plan for the Caño Martín Peña Communities

Project Sponsor: Corporación del Proyecto ENLACE del Caño Martín Peña

Team Members: Anthony Cuccovia, Kylie Hoar, Renata Kaplan, Aaron Lowy, Rashad Stepney

Project Advisors: Professor John-Michael Davis and Professor Melissa Belz

Project Files:

• Cano Final Report

Abstract:

The Caño Martín Peña communities in San Juan, Puerto Rico have plans to dredge the channel that runs through them and boost their economy through ecotourism. Our project designed an ecotourism development plan that ensures the use of the restored channel for community benefit. Through community business analyses, conversations with the community, and a gap analysis, we identified existing ecotourism assets, recommended investments, and outlined strategies to formulate what we found into a sustainable ecotourism destination. Our findings are conveyed through a map of our envisioned plan, a business management hierarchy, and guidelines for participating businesses. These deliverables highlight the potential for ecotourism to drive socioeconomic growth in the communities.

Executive Summary

Introduction

Unmanaged aquatic waste can pollute bodies of water and have lasting economic, environmental, and social impacts on surrounding societies (US EPA, 2015). In 2004, a social justice initiative called Proyecto ENLACE del Caño Martín Peña was formed to address the negative impacts that pollution has had on the eight communities surrounding Caño Martín Peña, a channel that runs through southern San Juan, Puerto Rico (Proyecto Enlace del Caño Martín Peña, 2022; Urban Waters Learning Network, 2024). Since then, the main goal of Proyecto ENLACE has been to prepare the communities for the dredging of the channel, after which walking paths will be developed along each side of the channel, public gathering spots and water access will be implemented, and wildlife conservation will be enacted. However, due to its prime location in San Juan, Caño Martín Peña ENLACE is concerned that the area could be exploited by outside corporations once it is restored. To ensure that the communities benefit from the dredging and that the local history and culture are preserved, ENLACE wants to capitalize on the opportunity for channel-based ecotourism by managing and guiding the initiative.

Project Goal, Objectives, and Methods:

Our team strived to design a channel-based ecotourism development plan that supports ENLACE’s post-dredging plans for ecotourism and facilitates economic growth in the Caño Martín Peña communities. We achieved this goal by completing the following objectives:

• Objective 1: Identify economic, environmental, social, and cultural assets present in the Caño Martín Peña communities.
• Objective 2: Determine the viability of these assets for use in an ecotourism development plan.
• Objective 3: Determine the opportunities and investments to develop a well-rounded tourist experience.
• Objective 4: Develop the ethical principles and guidelines for ecotourism businesses.
• Objective 5: Develop a plan that forms links between assets, opportunities, and investments around the channel.

We utilized a multi-method approach comprised of interviews, a focus group, and online comparative research to develop the ecotourism development plan. To introduce ourselves to the communities and their existing assets, we went on two tours with community leaders. We held a focus group with ENLACE employees to gain insight on their visions for an ecotourism development plan, and we analyzed 70 local businesses through Google Maps and Hecho en el Caño Martín Peña to identify tourism-relevant businesses in the area. To ensure that each asset we found was appropriate to market or partner with an ecotourism destination, we developed a set of criteria based on whether an asset allowed for easy channel access, and whether it benefitted the communities. We conducted a case study of 6 ecotourism development plans to determine what typical ecotourism amenities are missing in the communities, and to identify ethical principles for partnering businesses. We thematically linked assets and areas for investment in a set of visuals that emulated our recommendations for a Caño Martín Peña ecotourism hub.

Key Findings

We categorized the findings from our research into three parts: existing assets, opportunities and investments, and guidelines.

Existing Assets:

The existing assets in Caño Martín Peña fall into three categories: local businesses, community events, and location. There is one community-owned ecotourism business in Caño Martín Peña called Bici-Caño, which is a bicycle tour company that provides a way for ecotourists to learn about the communities while safely venturing outside the immediate proximity of the channel. In the communities surrounding Caño Martín Peña, there are also an abundance of locally owned restaurants, bars, and convenience stores. However, many of these businesses either lack quality reviews or do not have locations close enough to the channel, making them unattractive to tourists. From our research, we found 2 restaurants and 1 convenience store within a 3-minute walk of the channel that also had quality reviews. Caño Martín Peña has two community events (the Mercado AgroArtesanal de Barrio Obrero and the Festival del Caño) that have the potential to draw people from other communities. Finally, we found that the proximity of Caño Martín Peña to popular San Juan tourist locations is an asset. From the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel, a frequented lodging option on a popular tourism street, it
is at most a 15-minute car ride to the communities. There is also a train station near ENLACE and bus lines that run through the communities. While these options do not currently provide convenient connections from Old San Juan or Condado, they have the potential to open Caño Martín Peña to populations located in other areas and service could increase in the future.

Opportunities and Investments:

The following opportunities and investments were areas within the communities that either did not exist or required improvements. In our research of three ecotourism development plans, we determined that these features were imperative to include in a well-rounded ecotourism experience for Caño Martín Peña.

• The Welcome Center serves as the primary point of contact ensuring that visitors to the ecotourism destination are provided with the proper information about the region from ongoing events, orientation, and navigation directions. The center is the first building visitors see when arriving at the ecotourism destination acting as the gateway to Caño Martín Peña.
• Direction Signs provide directions for visitors who are unfamiliar with Caño Martín Peña by being installed at intersections. The direction signs are a part of the wayfinding system that increases visitor familiarity and fits within the branding of the ecotourism destination.
• Advertisements should reflect the environment and culture of Caño Martín Peña through the creation of illustrated maps effective promotion is developing a visual identity that resonates with the target audience, using natural colors imagery feature elements such as nature conservation and sustainability that reflect the area’s unique attributes. The illustrated map should be distributed to various consumer touchpoints outside the region.
• Community Green Space serves as an open space for visitors and residents to experience recreational activities and social interaction. The green space provides adequate space for events to be hosted such as the Mercado AgroArtesanal de Barrio Obrero and the Festival del Caño.
• Interpretive Signs connect to trails providing opportunities for passive learning for visitors. Interpretive signs at Caño Martín Peña should invite visitors to explore the communities down the channel. Each interpretive sign should contain an image of what that area looked like before or during the dredging of the channel. Next to these images, we recommend descriptions in English and Spanish of insightful history about Caño Martín Peña.
• Water Infrastructure are multipurposed areas that serve as an open recreation space for people to enjoy most of the year but can also store rainwater following heavy storms. Investing in kiosks on the water plaza would provide businesses with direct access to the channel and stimulate economic growth.
• The Ecotourism Management System lays out the chain of command for all businesses operating within ecotourism destinations. The system builds on the ecotourism management plan and is a tool to guide the development of tourism in a protected area in a way that seeks to synthesize and represent the vision of all the stakeholders whilst fulfilling the conservation objectives for the site.

Guidelines for Local Ecotourism Businesses:

We created a set of ecotourism guidelines that businesses operating in the Caño Martín Peña must follow to be considered ecotourism friendly by ENLACE. Businesses would be required to follow these guidelines to partner with the ecotourism hub. We identified seven ethical principles from our analysis of six ecotourism development plans and Proyecto ENLACE’s master infrastructure plan. We used these ethical principles to inform our decision when choosing ecotourism standards criteria. We used Global Sustainable Tourism Council industry standard as a base for our recommended criteria. In total, we selected nine criteria:
1. Legal compliance with all certifications and laws
2. Respect daily lives of locals
3. Safely dispose of waste
4. Offer tourist-friendly payment methods
5. Accessible by all people
6. Local, equal, and fair employment
7. Engages with the Caño Martín Peña as a destination
8. Directly supports the community
9. Avoid single use plastics and Styrofoam

Key Recommendations:

Our recommendations consisted of three deliverables. First is a map to display the channel with the proposed assets by the architectural firm OLIN alongside our identified assets, see Figure A. To pair with the map, we have created a narrative describing a vision for a tourist’s day in the CMP communities.

Figure A: Image of the Caño Martín Peña waterfront with marked locations for ecotourism assets.

We describe the different ways tourists can involve themselves with local businesses, tours we recommend, remain ecologically friendly, and educate themselves on the vibrant history and culture of these San Juan communities. The map is placed alongside this description to serve as a way for ENLACE to visually recognize the interactions the tourist could have.

Second, our sponsor requested a management system to maintain ecotourism in the community. We have created an outline for an additional branch at ENLACE that will maintain all aspects of the businesses involved including certifications, marketing, business development, community engagement, ecotourism standards, and sustainability maintenance. The development of ecotourism assets is a time-consuming process with steps that can be implemented before, during, and after the channels dredging. Third, we have outlined a timeline consisting of these three phases to aid in ENLACE’s decision making for implementation. This timeline contains various aspects of ecotourism development such as brand creation, progress documentation, and the development of infrastructure once the dredging is complete and assets can develop from it. From these phases, ENLACE will maintain a long-term outlook on the dredging project that will guide its success over the following years.