They’re not going to lecture at the Otter Rock Interpretive Center — they’re going to listen. With their first year of funding, Dennis White, leader of the Friends of Otter Rock (FOR), reported to the Depoe Bay City Council that the group that oversees the sensitive and popular wildlife area hired a program coordinator who flipped the script for wildlife visitation, setting up four different interpretive programs to engage tourists and local residents with updated outreach methods. He said the first-year efforts have set the stage to engage support for the state’s wild zones, luring visitors to spend their time and money along the Oregon coast.
“What we’re focusing on is called ‘interpretive programming,’” said Dennis White, of Friends of Otter Rock. “It’s not so much education and lecturing, but encountering visitors to try and figure out why they’re there, and to connect that reason with what they can see in the local area, so if they are looking for whales, match them with a local story about whales.”
The intent is to develop and train knowledgeable volunteers who can learn and love the rocky wildlife preserve. These guides will act as advocates and stewards of the habitat, and reach out to include all visitors in the action on the rocks near the sea. For instance, the “What did you see?” whiteboard project asks visitors to jot notes about what they saw, observed, or wanted to know about the refuge. The posts draw similar input from other people, sharing questions, answers and observations on the whiteboard tended by paid local teen interns. White marveled at the enthusiasm of the interns and the speed of their learning skills.
White thanked the council for the letter itwrote to support a bid to protect Cape Foulweather, south of Depoe Bay, one of six rocky coastline habitats the state of Oregon seeks to safeguard. The cape is home to a submerged bed of kelp, vital for marine habitat and a source of life for local fish and fisheries. White said the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife extensively studied the area and has handed their results to Oregon State University and to state agencies for referral to the Oregon Department of Land Use Conservation and Development.
“Visitors matter,” said White, explaining the economic impact of wildlife-inspired tourism. He noted that about one-fourth of the visitors to Otter Rock were local residents, but that three-quarters — or approximately a million people — traveled a distance to see the sights. He said the visits were economically important to the area, and that successful visits will prompt travelers to endorse the journey, becoming advocates. White also said training local volunteers and interns will promote understanding of the wildlife that inhabits the sensitive area and the processes of the ecosystem of Oregon’s coastal zones.
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