Opportunities abound for ecotourism in area.

Nestled below the helicopter pad at St. Joseph's Hospital in Sudbury are 10 sea kayaks beached on the shore of Ramsay Lake. A group of alabaster-skinned Crown attorneys in town for an annual seminar at Laurentian University eagerly squeeze themselves into the torpedo-shaped hulls for an instructional program. It is their first try at kayaking and a welcome recreational diversion from hours of classroom work.

"Betcha 98 per cent of the people here in Sudbury don't even know this is going on," says Marc Dionne, a certified instructor and guide for Horizons, talking about the areas recreational potential.

Horizons is a Whitefish-based outdoors company specializing in kayaking tours. Though it is one of the least understood niches in the tourism business, ecotourism is slowly gaining headway in putting Sudbury on the map as an outdoors destination.

Unlike more exotic locales in Central America, Southeast Asia and Africa, ecotourism in Ontario has not developed to the point where outfitters can operate as a viable year-round operation, Dionne says.

It is a far cry from the days when sulphur emissions burned the vegetation off of the landscape around Sudbury. Now the regreened region is billing itself as an ecotourism mecca through fledgling organizations like Partners in Eco-Adventure Tourism (PEAT).

The umbrella group, with between 20 to 25 partners, hopes to lure vacationers from southern Ontario, Americans and other international tourists off the beaten path into exploring the pristine back country of the Sudbury region, Georgian Bay and the North Channel.

With the cancellation of the spring bear hunt and new fish catch limits expected to be coming down from the province, some traditional lodges are considering making the switch from what is termed "consumptive activities" to ecotourism, inspired by a worldwide movement toward environmentalism.

"These consumptive activities have maxed out," says Rick Sowerby, the project co-ordinator for PEAT. "Fish stocks are depleting everywhere and the actual wow experiences people are getting from these activities are dropping off."

PEAT defines ecotourism as visiting remote and relatively unaltered natural habitats through activities that causes little stress on the environment while educating travellers and directly supporting the local economy.

Many of PEAT's partners, stretching from Killarney to Manitoulin Island and north to Chapleau, offer a range of fully guided canoeing, kayaking, hiking and cycling adventure packages geared to a client's level of outdoor experience and physical condition.

Most clients are the baby-boomer types, or early retirees with extra time and money on their hands searching for a more profound holiday experience, Sowerby adds. The small tour groups of 10 to 15 people, the camaraderie and the region's natural beauty are big selling points.

Besides offering a good cardiovascular workout, or simple back-to-the-woods relaxation, many operators provide thought-provoking programs mixing in local folklore, cuisine, art and photography, says Rick Wise, who runs Horizons and was one of PEAT's original owners.

PEAT is not a fully structured organization that came together to put out a product and package tours - not yet. It works for the independent operators, allowing them to pool their advertising dollars in a marketing partnership for promotional material such as magazine inserts or attending recreational trade shows.

Besides the involvement from the guided tour operators, lodges, equipment suppliers and charter aircraft companies, PEAT has also received support from the City of Greater Sudbury and the three post-secondary institutions - Laurentian University, Cambrian College and College Boreal - who offer their creative insights and researchers into growing the industry.