Rooted in the Future

On a bustling summer afternoon, river users walk up to Fred Guimond and Carol Kasper with questions about floating the river, how long it will take, and where they should grab a bite to eat after.

As Guimond and Kasper field questions about floating logistics and favorite restaurants, they also provide information on safety and conditions and encourage responsible behavior.

“I think it makes people much more aware,” said Kasper.

Kasper and Guimond are volunteers with Cascade Medical Foundation, one of several nonprofits that participate in the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce’s Recreation Ambassador Program. Every weekend throughout the summer, 12 volunteers spread out across the area’s busiest trailheads and river access points – from the Enchantments to the Icicle and Wenatchee rivers – where they answer visitor questions, collect user data, and pick up trash. In return, these nonprofits can earn up to $2,000 for their service.

“We want people to come and enjoy Mother Earth and the beauty on the trails and the lakes and the rivers around it, but we also need to make sure that it is managed in such a way that it doesn't overburden the resource or the city,” said Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Troy Campbell.

In 2024 alone, Recreation Ambassadors contacted more than 14,000 people and collected more than 130 bags of trash throughout the 10-weekend program. Expanding this year through the Chelan County lodging tax fund, the program became even more critical as U.S. Forest Service staffing cuts left fewer people to oversee the heavily used backcountry. 

Beyond its immediate impact, the Recreation Ambassador Program illustrates a larger principle: stewardship sustains not just the land, but the economy it supports.

TREAD, a collaborative outdoor recreation nonprofit, recently launched a campaign called One for the Outdoors, a program connecting donations and volunteers with key outdoor recreation needs in the region. The initiative works in two parts; first, working as a centralized volunteer hub for public lands projects, and second as managing a voluntary give-back program. 

The One for the Outdoors Voluntary Give-Back Program lets customers at participating businesses contribute to sustaining outdoor recreation in the region, with funds distributed through competitive grants overseen by TREAD.

“It's a way for us to capture corporate and local businesses who want to have an avenue to participate…They know that as an ecosystem, we all are in this together, and they want to participate in some way, and this is a way that a business can participate,” said Executive Director Mat Lyons. 

The organization piloted the give-back program with Mission Ridge Ski Resort this last winter season. The pilot simply asked if a customer wanted to add $1 to their transaction to support sustainable outdoor recreation on the point-of-sale system.

“We were able to raise a little over $2,000 this season just from having a button for people to push,” said Lyons. 

Now, the organization has more marketing and options for business participation, and has already signed on multiple chambers, Sleeping Lady Resort, and Blue Spirits Distilling, to name a few.

Yet, land and resource management is not unique to tourism and outdoor recreation. Agriculture – which also balances resource management with profit – also plays a major role in the local economy. According to Chelan-Douglas Trends, the two counties combined exported over $430 million in agricultural products in 2023.

For the last 30 years, small organic farm Chelan Ranch has struck this balance, building a business with sustainable practices that prioritize water conservation and soil health.

“There were several aspects of [going organic] that made sense. We felt it was better for the workers. We felt it was better for the environment, specifically the soil. We thought it was better for us, because I used to do a lot of the spraying,” said owner Bill Clark.

As rising operational costs and fluctuating revenues have made farming more challenging over the years, Chelan Ranch has incorporated agritourism – from weddings to farm stays – as an additional revenue stream while maintaining the integrity of the land. For Clark, preserving agrarian land is integral to protecting the character and sustainability of the region.

“It's really important. I mean, that's one of the things we love about Chelan,” he said.

As businesses and organizations are discovering how land stewardship is imperative to community livability and economic strategy, that principle is being applied to broader regional planning for Chelan-Douglas Regional Port Authority (CDRPA). 

“We're always trying to balance development with what will preserve what makes our region so special, and a lot of that is the open land and outdoor recreation opportunities,” said Stacie de Mestre, CDRPA Director of Economic Development and Capital Projects.

With limited resources and available land, de Mestre says the CDRPA not only has to consider the amount of jobs a large business will produce, but also its impact on resources. As a result, CDRPA has started looking into industrial symbiosis, which involves repurposing waste streams for a circular economy. For instance, CDRPA is developing a facility to capture the water discharged from data centers and finding another use. It’s also sending a group to Denmark, a global leader in industrial symbiosis, to inspire more opportunities.

“Taking a waste stream that oftentimes you have to pay to dispose of…and turning it into something that people would usually have to pay to acquire – it helps businesses solve problems. It helps them run leaner, and it just helps them push their environmental stewardship practices forward and initiatives forward,” said de Mestre.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media