Friday, February 25, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A5
On the North Coast, a nudge toward sustainable tourism
By ABBEY MCDONALD
The Astorian
Jon Schmidt
A dumpster fi lled with trash from a Seaside beach cleanup.
working with state and local
organizations, including the
North Coast Tourism Man-
agement Network, to come
up with solutions to issues
such as waste removal and
traffi c.
Reid, too, said the pan-
demic brought a particularly
low point for visitor treat-
ment of parks.
“There sort of became
this understanding that we
needed to really be very clear
in communication before
they got here, as to how best
to interact with the envi-
ronment that they’re in,” he
said. “Sustainable tourism
is not a new concept, it has
certainly become more of a
buzzword.”
Reid hopes to use the net-
work’s existing audience and
marketing tools to encourage
environmental stewardship
and limit some of the nega-
tive impacts of travel, such
as traffi c.
One method is asking
visitors to take a pledge to
respect the local community.
The Oregon Coast Visitors
Association has guidelines
with its code of the coast,
which details tide pool eti-
quette, hunting and fi shing
rules and other topics.
Reid suggested further
sharing the pledge through
social media and advertising
campaigns and attaching it to
hotel confi rmations.
“Done well, (campaigns)
are not just for tourists.
They’re for locals, too,” he
said. “We start to see our
environment that we’re liv-
ing in diff erently, as well.
We start to reappreciate how
special it is and we treat it
diff erently, as well. And so
we set the tone, we set the
expectation and everybody
wins,” he said.
He also hopes to address
transportation issues asso-
ciated with tourism, such as
cars crowding communities
like Cannon Beach. At this
point, the groups are focus-
ing on messaging around
carpooling and encourag-
ing tourists to use public
transportation.
Reid said he is optimistic
about the programs and the
collaboration between stake-
holders and emphasized the
economic signifi cance of the
tourism industry.
Travelers spent $115.8
million in the Astoria-War-
renton area in 2019, and
$63.5 million in 2020, a
decrease due to COVID-19,
according to an economic
analysis by Dean Runyan
Associates.
County Commissioner
Pamela Wev said she sup-
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181 Lost & Found
DINING
on the
NORTH COAST
A pledge
David Reid, the exec-
utive director of the Asto-
ria-Warrenton Area Cham-
ber of Commerce, presented
potential sustainable tour-
ism programs to the Clatsop
County Board of Commis-
sioners earlier this month.
The chamber has been
that, and hoping that we can
create an environment that
people come to, not just to
lay in the sun, because we’re
fi nding out that a whole lot
of people really want to do
other things. And if some of
that can be in service to the
environment, then they’re
even more interested,” she
said.
Emily Akdedian, the
North Coast stewardship
coordinator for Trailkeepers
of Oregon, organizes volun-
teer team cleanups and trail
maintenance.
She said people often
travel from Portland, Salem,
Eugene and southern Wash-
ington state specifi cally to
volunteer for the program.
This year has already had
a strong showing, but Akde-
dian hopes sustainable tour-
ism initiatives will get vaca-
tioners interested, too.
“I know people are
really interested in regener-
ative travel ideas. And our
coastal trails, I think espe-
cially during the pandemic,
were hit so hard by visita-
tion,” she said. “I think that
also kind of jump-started
these conversations about,
‘OK, well, then how do we
get more folks involved in
actually taking care of the
trails, because they need it
so badly.’”
S
Joshua Heineman, the
city’s director of tourism
marketing, thinks about
trash while on beach walks
with his family. In the past
few years, takeout contain-
ers, masks and even human
waste have piled up on the
North Coast’s trails and
beaches.
“Ever since the pandemic
happened, I don’t know if
it’s a mass psychology thing,
I don’t know if it’s diff erent
people visiting that don’t
usually come out,” he said.
“It was very, very evident
there’s people out there that
just didn’t know how to look
out for other people.”
Seaside already has
monthly trash cleanups,
along with a few larg-
er-scale ones throughout the
year. Heineman wanted to
do more.
“It was just putting
together that idea that if
everybody just did a little
bit to not only pick up after
themselves, but pick up after
the people that aren’t behav-
ing, crowdsourcing that
eff ort could really go a long
way,” he said.
The idea of having visi-
tors contribute to improving
natural sites and community
spaces follows the idea of
sustainable tourism, a con-
cept that North Coast busi-
ness, government and tour-
ism management leaders
will emphasize in the com-
ing months.
This month, Seaside
launched its “Coff ee for
Clean Beaches” program.
Participants pick up bags
and gloves at the Seaside
Aquarium, then leave them
— fi lled with trash — for
pickup on the Promenade.
They can then bring a selfi e
with their handiwork to the
visitor’s bureau in exchange
for $5 worth of wooden
coins to spend at participat-
ing coff ee shops.
In its fi rst weekend, peo-
ple picked up around $25
worth of coins. Seaside has
only recently started adver-
tising the program, and
intends to market it to Port-
land with radio ads.
The city is testing out the
program for the rest of the
year.
Heineman is expect-
ing more businesses to join.
He said sustainable tourism
projects will likely grow in
popularity along the coast.
“I just think it’s kind of
a beautiful idea, and I think
that it’s one that — after all
this stress everybody’s kind
of been through — we’re
all looking for ways to to
go back to that carefree life,
but at the same time doing
things that make it better for
us and everyone else,” he
said.
ports opportunities for vis-
itors to have experiences
that connect them to the
environment.
One example is the
region’s Trailhead and Beach
Ambassadors
program,
launched in 2020, where vol-
unteers patrol popular sites
like tide pools watching for
mistreatment and off ering
their local knowledge.
“We’ve been taking a look
at other places in the county
that attract a lot of tourism to
the natural environment, to
have ambassadors there to
say, ‘OK, you’re getting on a
trail, do you have water? Do
you have a map?’ And being
able to supply them with the
information that they need,
about how far a trail is and
how long it is and how dif-
fi cult because we don’t nec-
essarily want to mark all that
stuff ,” she said.
Wev said she’s inter-
ested in expanding volun-
teer opportunities for visi-
tors, too.
“We know there are peo-
ple who would be willing to
come out for a weekend and
spend a few hours pulling up
noxious weeds, and maybe
we’ll give them something
in return,” she said, sug-
gesting hotel or restaurant
vouchers as options.
“We’re working on all
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