These partnerships are "especially important this tough year," said Ortega.

Donna Harris, chairperson of the council, said she felt the partnerships extended beyond tourism efforts of council members into other areas. An example is the Copper Kings baseball team, which will play in Douglas and Bisbee, but should draw fans from all over the county.

Representatives of Douglas, Bisbee, Tombstone, Sierra Vista, Willcox, Benson, Cochise County, and the Southeast Arizona Governments Organization (SEAGO) are among the members of the council. They partially fund the council, which also receives state money and grants.

On Tuesday, council members discussed bill boards that will promote Cochise County tourism. The bill boards depict locations in Douglas, Bisbee and Tombstone and also push hiking and birding. The bill boards should be up within weeks and rotate for the next two years among 13 Tucson locations. The advertising campaign was created by Michael Bolchalk Marketing in Tucson.

How much tourism activity birding pulls into Cochise County was apparent in magazine articles Harris displayed to council members.

The October issue of Birder's World names southeast Arizona, and in particular the Chiricahua Mountains, as the Number One birding location in the United States. This is especially impressive since the selection was made by readers' votes.

Other national magazines which predominately and recently featured Cochise County birding and tourism include Travel & Leisure, Arizona Highways and USA Today. So does the current Elderhostel catalog, which is mailed to one million people.

The natural attractions of Ramsey Canyon are featured in a television program broadcast as part of National Geographic programming.

Another piece of good news involving birding is, during the coming year, the Arizona Game & Fish Department will fund four birding festivals. Two are in Cochise County, Wings Over Willcox and Southwest Wings in Sierra Vista.

More information about the festivals, birding or other aspects of Cochise County tourism is available at www.explorecochise.com.