After a task force outlined tourism options for southern Piscataquis County in a report Monday, the executive director of the Southern Piscataquis County Chamber of Commerce recalled the frustration a few years ago when a national dog competition was held in Milo.

The region could have capitalized on the visitors, he said, if some tourism packages had been available locally. Instead, most of the competitors left the area after the event without even exploring the natural resources the rest of the region offers.

"I get requests all the time from people who stop in the Chamber and ask what is available," ranging from mountain biking to wildlife adventure package plans, Lyford said Tuesday.

For years, Lyford has watched as potential tourism dollars have left the area. For those who stop at his Chamber's information center inquiring about nonexistent packaged historical, cultural and nature-based opportunities, Lyford focuses them on opportunities the visitors could find on their own, from hiking to moose safaris.

Those requests prompted Lyford's participation on a countywide tourism task force authorized last year by Piscataquis County commissioners. It was designed to help the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council develop a tourism plan using existing research and studies.

The eight recommendations were released during the council's annual meeting Monday. They are:

• A standing tourism development task force to guide tourism development in the county.
• Money to adequately support the tourism effort.
• A rapid assessment of the issues and opportunities facing tourism-based businesses in the county.
• Clarification of those marketable soft adventure tourism products that can be expanded.
• Development of a thematic itinerary and guide map for Piscataquis County and the Maine Highlands region.
• Highway directional signs that support the thematic itinerary.
• Linking the task force with the appropriate marketing entities, such as Chambers of Commerce, the Maine Highlands Corp. and the state Office of Tourism.

Commissioner Tom Lizotte said Monday that he was "very impressed" with the work of the task force. The commissioners have included $15,000 in the county budget for a part-time development specialist to help carry out the task force's recommendations to improve niche tourism product opportunities and visitor experiences.

"From a visitor's perspective, we've got all of these wonderful resources but nothing to connect it," Donna Fichtner told the gathering Monday. She said itineraries are like products on a shelf that can be given to visitors when they arrive to keep them busy for a day or two.

"All there is is just these wonderful untapped natural resources that have never been pulled together into a neat product that the visitor can access easily," she said.

"The shortest distance between two points is a good time," Fichtner said. "So what we're doing in the itineraries is trying to create that good time for them in this environment that we're so comfortable with."

It's about making the journey interesting so the tourists can learn about the county and at the same time be excited, Fichtner said.

Task force member Roger Merchant, who said the county approach to improve tourism is distinctive in Maine, noted that the eight recommendations were "just the tip of the iceberg" of further recommendations to come to improve the tourism economy.

Merchant, Fichtner and Lyford were joined on the task force by Robert Hamer, Sophie Wilson, Jack Clukey, John Simko, Patrick Myers and Mike Henderson.