(Smith Rock is one of Central Oregon’s popular recreation destination areas | Photo Courtesy of Visit Bend)
In Central Oregon — as with many other destination adventure areas — the environment is literally getting loved to death. The trails, rivers, lakes, rock formations and other natural wonders that draw visitors from around the world can suffer from overuse or carelessness. To counter this situation, cities and towns are increasingly asking tourists and locals alike to be more mindful about their actions when recreating in these beautiful places, and to look for ways to give back.
Pledge for the Wild is dedicated to just that: it’s a collection of mountain towns and outdoor communities banding together to help visitors and locals preserve and give back to the wild places where they play. To date, 13 towns are part of the collective — Bend being one of them — with more coming on board soon. The program was the brainchild of Kevney Dugan, CEO of Visit Bend, an economic development organization. PFTW has a two-fold purpose: to help users of wild places be aware of the impact they have; and to provide them with a simple way to donate to a local nonprofit in the area in which they are recreating.
“Visitors to a community are typically the one user group not given a clear path to giving back to the natural assets that drive travel to the destination in the first place,” explained Dugan. “This hit home for me when I would travel and have a great ride or run on a trail, but not know who to say ‘thank you’ to. Pledge for the Wild creates that simple path.” The inspiration behind Pledge for the Wild, Dugan said, was 1% for the Planet, an organization begun in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia and Craig Mathews, founder of Blue Ribbon Flies. Realizing their responsibility to protect our planet, they decided to give one percent of their sales back to the environment, and created 1% for the Planet, which is now a global movement with 2,000 members in more than 45 countries that to date have donated more than $250 million to environmental nonprofits.
“The outdoor product industry has done this for a long time through 1% for the Planet, but travel and tourism didn’t have this type of avenue, and I think there are more people like me who would like to be told what a destination recreation community needs and how to give back to it,” said Dugan. After he brainstormed about the idea with Nate Wyeth, VP of communications of Visit Bend, Pledge for the Wild was born here in Bend. In order to build momentum for the program, Dugan brought in Jason Bagby, creator and executive director of Cascadia Adventure Film Festival, to oversee Pledge for the Wild, and then Adam McKibben as marketing director.
“Whether someone’s traveling through an area or recreating daily at a local adventure spot, we’re connecting these outdoor enthusiasts with the conservation groups and nonprofits tasked with caring for these wild areas,” said Bagby. “By empowering guests to help protect special places, we’re ensuring the places stay special for generations to come.”
The destination marketing organizations partnering with Pledge for the Wild in each town have designated one nonprofit that will receive the donations in their town for the year, and have the option of switching it each year if desired, Bagby explained. In Bend, the Deschutes Trails Coalition will receive the funds procured from visitors to Central Oregon.
“Deschutes Trails Coalition was chosen as it is a multiple stakeholder group with over 30 user groups represented,” said Dugan. “We were hesitant to support just one user group, which could have implied that we had favoritism for one group over another. By encouraging our visitors to donate to the Deschutes Trails Coalition, it ensures that the dollars are being invested into an organization that then makes the difficult decision about which project or user group is most in need to create a sustainable trail system for the region.”
The overall goal, Bagby said, is to keep the donation process as simple as possible. The decision was made to limit donation recipients to one nonprofit in each town because they didn’t want several of them having to compete with each other to receive the funds, he said. “Ideally, the selected nonprofit will have a broad grasp of the recreation in the community, not just one specific type.”
There are two ways to donate to the designated local nonprofits: Donations can be made through the Pledge for the Wild website at pledgewild.com/donate, or through text-to-donate. Each nonprofit has a unique code to text to the number 44321. In Bend, the code is WILD4BEND. The suggest donation is $1 for every hour spent engaging in the outdoor activity of choice in the town that is being visited.
“Pledge for the Wild is proactively sharing outdoor principles and responsible tourism tips while creating a direct channel to give back locally,” said Bagby. “Each donation is sent directly to the community nonprofit partner of choice. Bend donations stay in Bend, and donations made in other towns stay in those towns.” He added, “Whether you’re traveling through or frequenting your favorite local adventure spots, we encourage you to take pause and consider who supports and cares for these wild places day-to-day. Each founding community is the home of dozens, if not hundreds, of nonprofits, conservation groups and land managers to maintain and preserve these wild places so they can be enjoyed on your next visit, next year and in the next decade and beyond.”
Bagby said outdoor recreation enthusiasts are becoming more aware of their impact on the environment and are hungry for ways to protect and preserve these places. “People want to give back. Visitation is really untapped.” As an example, on the Visit Bend website, Leave No Trace principles are promoted, and visitors are invited to “leave Bend a little better than you found it” by taking the “Bend Pledge.” The Bend Pledge is a code of conduct created by Visit Bend for everyone who spends time in Central Oregon. To help motivate people to take the pledge, Bend vacations are given away twice a year to randomly selected pledge participants. The pledge is as follows:
- I vow to be a respectful guest in Bend’s indoor and outdoor spaces.
- I’ll make my own memories, but not my own trails.
- I will be responsible with fire during dry summer months and with ice on slick winter roads.
- I won’t risk life or limb (human or sapling) for more likes.
- I’ll be friendly and courteous, because that’s the Bend way.
- If I can’t find a parking spot, I will not invent my own.
- When playing outside, I’ll prepare for shifts in weather and random episodes of magic.
- I’ll pack in reusable containers and pack out all my trash.
- I will use my turn signal often and my car horn seldom.
- I promise to leave Bend better than I found it.
Pledge for the Wild is also working to bring in business partners that offer financial support by donating directly to the program, or to the designated nonprofit in a participating town. “This provides those brands the opportunity to be associated with Pledge for the Wild,” said Bagby. So far, Pledge for the Wild is proving to be quite successful: In Bend, $15,000 has been raised, and the program hasn’t even officially launched yet.
Although Pledge for the Wild has been in the works for a while, it will officially launch between April 15 and Memorial Day, May 25 — just as destination recreational areas begin their peak tourism seasons. The goal for the launch, Bagby said, is to get all the partner destination marketing organizations up and running and promoting PFTW through their social media channels and through local PR channels by that time. “We have specific business partnerships happening with race organizations like the Bend Marathon, Pacific Crest Endurance Sports Festival and others,” he said. “Bend Radio Group has been generously promoting PFTW, and we’re currently speaking with Wanderlust Tours to help us drive awareness locally, as they are one of the more highly respected tour companies in town.” Bagby said the PFTW team is also in the beginning stages of partnership discussions with several local hotels. “We have quite a few balls in the air at the moment,” he said with a laugh.
By launch date, Bagby said they expect 15 mountain towns to be on board. So far, confirmed towns include Bend, Ashville, North Carolina, Aspen, Colorado, Bozeman, Montana, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, Durango, Colorado, Flagstaff, Arizona, Juneau, Alaska, Mt. Shasta, California, Ogden, Utah, South Lake Tahoe, California, Steamboat Springs, Colorado and Sun Valley, Idaho.
Additional mountain towns are invited to join Pledge for the Wild, and Bagby said the movement may eventually be broadened to include other types of recreation areas. “We’ve had lots of interest from desert and coastal communities too. After we have successfully launched and raised money in the mountain towns, we may consider expanding to these other areas too.” Anyone interested in partnering with Pledge for the Wild can email partners@pledgewild.com.
“We are honored to be part of this movement, and believe it can become equivalent to what 1% for the Planet has become for the outdoor product space,” said Dugan. “This evolution needs to happen in travel and tourism, especially in destinations that depend on their natural assets and wild places as the primary resource for the purpose of visitation.”
