{"id":8849,"date":"2019-07-22T23:57:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T06:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/?p=8849"},"modified":"2025-12-24T23:58:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T07:58:44","slug":"western-mountain-towns-unite-to-launch-pledge-for-the-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/2019\/07\/22\/western-mountain-towns-unite-to-launch-pledge-for-the-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"WESTERN MOUNTAIN TOWNS UNITE TO LAUNCH PLEDGE FOR THE WILD"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Boyd]<\/em><\/p>\n

Program has tourism partners defining a shared set of common values, language,\u00a0<\/em>and tools to support and fund responsible tourism in outdoor places<\/em><\/p>\n

July 22, 2019<\/strong>\u00a0(SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif.\/Nev.) \u2013<\/em>\u00a0With travelers around the globe buzzing about sustainable tourism and responsible recreation, five U.S. mountain towns are taking the conversation to the next level and making it easier for tourists to open their hearts and wallets in support of wild places.<\/p>\n

Tourism agencies in South Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada; Bend, Oregon; Bozeman, Montana; Steamboat Springs, Colorado; and Flagstaff, Arizona have joined forces to empower travelers to help protect the outdoor places where they recreate. Each city has taken stock of which land managers and nonprofits are working to protect wild spaces in their communities.<\/p>\n

Carol Chaplin, CEO of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, pointed out that destination marketing organizations are in a unique position to help visitors enrich their vacation experiences with stewardship. \u201cPledge for the Wild will provide opportunities to give back, whether they\u2019re checking into a hotel, renting gear at a bike shop, or sitting down at a brewery,\u201d she said. \u201cThe idea is to catch them when they\u2019re out enjoying local amenities and to get them thinking about ways to support the great outdoors they\u2019ve experienced on their vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Lake Tahoe selected the Tahoe Fund\u2019s new Environmental Venture Trust to support. Like a traditional venture capital fund, it will provide seed funding for a variety of innovative early-stage environmental projects to help solve environmental challenges facing Lake Tahoe. Their first investment is a UV Light Pilot Project that is analyzing the use of UV light to treat aquatic invasive weeds in Lake Tahoe. For more information on the project click\u00a0here<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Agencies recommend outdoor enthusiasts consider donating $1\/hour of recreation. For instance, a three-hour hike, mountain bike ride or skiing adventure would result in a $3 investment. Donations can be made directly through a cellular device by texting WILD4TAHOE to 44-321 as well as online\u00a0https:\/\/www.tahoefund.org<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tahoe Fund is thrilled to partner with Pledge Wild to make it easy for people who are enjoying Tahoe to help take care of it,\u201d said Amy Berry, CEO of the Tahoe Fund. \u201cTexting WILD4TAHOE will help us introduce innovative solutions to the challenges facing Tahoe’s wild spaces through our Environmental Venture Trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

All funds raised will stay local in that participating community. Future initiatives may entail social media campaigns, text-to-donate alerts, and signage in shops and visitor centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticipating cities are not only committing to helping visitors do no harm when recreating, we\u2019re providing ways for them to actively protect those wild places,\u201d explained Visit Bend President and CEO Kevney Dugan. \u201cInitiatives will range from breweries offering reusable coasters with Pledge for the Wild messaging, to multiple touchpoints prompting visitors to donate and support local conservation groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Pledge for the Wild, visit\u00a0www.pledgewild.com<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Contacts:<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n

Jenn Boyd, Tahoe South, 775-588-2412,\u00a0jennifer@weidingerpr.com<\/u><\/a>.<\/u>
\nTawna Fenske, Visit Bend, 541-382-8048,\u00a0tawna@visitbend.com<\/u><\/a>
\nKevney Dugan, Visit Bend, 541-382-8048,\u00a0kevney@visitbend.com<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Boyd] Program has tourism partners defining a shared set of common values, language,\u00a0and tools to support and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","darknews-slider-full":"","darknews-featured":"","darknews-medium":"","darknews-medium-square":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"News MoLo","author_link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8849"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8850,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8849\/revisions\/8850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}