Visit Bend hopes ‘Pledge for the Wild’ aids favorite areas

Mountain towns across the West are working to preserve their communities’ natural resources, and Bend is one of the cities trying a new program to put more tourist dollars toward doing that.

It’s called the ” Pledge for the Wild ” and it encourages people to donate to local nonprofits to preserve the places that make them special.

Bend is joining Bozeman, Montana; Steamboat Springs, Colorado and South Lake Tahoe, California in the pledge.

Kevney Dugan with Visit Bend said Monday the impact of tourism is something that needs to be addressed, in regard to outdoor recreation.

” I think this is our opportunity to sort of step up and say, you know, we know that from an economic development perspective, things like tourism and that industry is really important to our economy, ” Dugan said. ” But are we doing enough, on the flip side, to also look at the lands that we are using and recreating on, and doing enough to look after them? ”

Dugan said hiking continues to be the No. 1 recreational activity in Central Oregon, which means trails are often overused.

That’s why he said the money generated from the ” Pledge for the Wild ” will go toward trail upkeep and sustainability.

Dugan said those who visit and use the trails, rivers, lakes and forests could donate $1 per hour that they use them to help sustain and protect those resources.

” And so we are trying to make it a very understandable program, that I think it resonates with most people what a dollar an hour would look like, ” Dugan said. ” So if you mountain bike 10 hours over a week, you would donate $10 to this program. And so we are trying to use technology as our friend, and encourage our visitors to leave that positive impact on our system. ”

Dugan said he hopeful that as Visit Bend begins to promote this program, visitors will get behind it and want to help out.

Dugan added that visitors nowadays are much more conscious about the impacts they can have on a region, and programs like this will help to reduce or deal with those impacts.

If you would like to learn more about ” Pledge for the Wild ” click here.