Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, May 5, 2004
I.V. tourism afoot
Advocate aims for more exposure
By SHANE WELSH
Staff Writer
“Tourism is here, and
it’s growing. It’s time we
started recognizing it,”
according to Roger Brandt,
an Illinois Valley tourism
advocate.
Br a nd t add r ess e d
board members during an
Oregon Tourism Commis-
sion (OTC) meeting.
Brandt, who has
worked for the Josephine
County Parks Dept. for
more than 17 years, has
been looking into existing
research to find the most
beneficial tourist attrac-
tions in Illinois Valley.
He addressed OTC to
help members understand
the importance of main-
taining and advertising
natural attractions along
Redwood Hwy.; such as
Oregon Caves National
Monument and T.J. How-
ell Botanical Drive.
“I, along with a num-
ber of other tourism propo-
nents in the valley, have
been wanting to help pro-
mote our area’s tourism
economy in order to get
the thousands of tourists
who already pass through
here to put on the brakes
and visit some of our local
attractions,” said Brandt.
“This came about from
a statewide goal for a col-
laborative initiative to pro-
mote tourism. The idea is
to stop tourists in our area
long enough for them to
spend about $20,” he said.
According to Brandt,
the monetary estimate was
derived from a study con-
ducted by OTC. It shows
that for every hour a tourist
spends in an area, approxi-
mately $5 is spent at an
average of approximately
$20 per tourist.
“We want the commis-
sion to understand that
what we have here is an
opportunity for a collabo-
rative market,” he said.
Brandt raised concern
regarding an environ-
mental impact statement
released by the U.S. Forest
Service that focused on
areas affected by the Bis-
cuit Fire, including the T.J.
Howell Botanical Drive.
Cecile Shohet, botanist
for the forest service at the
I.V. Ranger Station, led a
group recently to discuss
the effect of off-road and
recreational vehicles on the
botanical drive and how
the area could be preserved
as a natural educational
resource.
“The people who at-
tended were concerned
about the future of the Illi-
nois Valley as a tourist
destination. People felt that
future economic successes
in the Illinois Valley could
be derived from tourism,
and creating a tourist mar-
ket, which we don’t really
have right now,” said
Shohet.
According to Brandt,
“There are more natural
resources on this road than
most people in Oregon
realize. My intention was
to call OTC attention to the
Illinois Valley,” he said.
“It seems to be one of the
last areas on anybody’s
mind in the state.
“I wanted to get them
(OTC) to embrace this area
and understand that Hwy.
199 is one of the most im-
portant travel routes for
tourism in Oregon.
“I wanted to make
them (OTC) aware that
there are things (on the
botanical drive) right now
that if they wanted to,
could be preserved for
tourism, which could make
a meaningful ‘story’ for a
target audience that we
know exists,” he said.
Brandt feels efforts to
identify valuable attrac-
tions in the Illinois Valley
would increase tourism
and boost Cave Junction
economy.
“Every area has a
story,” explained Brandt,
and “stories make money,
and the T.J. Howell Bo-
tanical Drive has a story
that no one else has.”
Page 13
HOT DOG! - Kerby Belt
Masonic Lodge members
provided and served free
hot dogs on Saturday,
May 1 to players and oth-
ers on opening day of
Illinois
Valley
Little
League. The Masons
have provided the frank-
furters for Little League’s
opening day ceremonies
for several years as part
of their community ser-
vice. The wieners were
much appreciated, espe-
cially by the players.
(Related photos
on page 24)