As East Coast states, towns, and municipalities compete for tourism dollars, one thing has become abundantly clear: tourists are looking for authentic experiences that separate their excursions from the doldrums of everyday life.

Nevertheless, these kinds of experiences have been tougher to find for the car traveler along the East Coast as cookie-cutter subdivisions, hotel conglomerates, and restaurant chains have bludgeoned the natural and cultural diversity that once existed in the East. Those places that have retained their natural and historic character are shaping up to be the true gems of the tourist trade.

Enter the Lower Shore. Already, the quaint town of Chincoteague rakes in $10 million from nature tourism a year. To our north, birding in Cape May New Jersey nets $30 million a year. In between is one of the last substantial undeveloped tracts near the Atlantic that still retains much of its natural and cultural diversity.

So far, Delmarva has risen to the challenge of protecting its small towns, farming, and forestry and with them, its long-term economic prospects. To help take advantage of the assets we still have, DLITE and its coalition of the Worcester, Somerset, Wicomico and Sussex tourism departments, the National Park Service, Salisbury Zoo, the Nature Conservancy, Coastal Bays Program, Rural Development, and business owners from the shore have devised a plan to augment nature tourism.

With federal funding from Senators Mikulski and Sarbanes, DLITE will be helping to create the infrastructure needed to have meaningful ecotourism. Already, DLITE is training lodging and ecotour providers to insure their activities are not harmful to natural resources. In exchange, DLITE will connect them with the sightseers, canoers campers, bikers, and bird watchers they seek.

With the Coastal Bays Program, Worcester County and the Salisbury Zoo spearheading much of the work, DLITE will embark on several keystone projects this year-- A Cape to Cape Birding Trail, which develops and markets a birding route from Cape May, NJ to Cape Charles, VA and a Delmarva Biking Trail replete with maps, trail marking, and stops at places of historic and ecological significance.

Using the existing coastal bays and Pocomoke kayak trails as a ground, the group is developing a Delmarva-wide canoe trail with signs, maps and directions to guide visitors. DLITE will continue to organize the Delmarva Birding Weekend every year and co-fund the conservation doorhangers which more than 90 Lower Shore hotels use to help visitors conserve water and lighten their load on the environment.

In the coming years, DLITE will offer hotel training seminars to teach hotel and motel owners and managers the latest in water and energy conservation and in nature-friendly grounds keeping. DLITE will also help preserve the things that bring tourists by aiding efforts to protect wildlife and natural land.