Destination Door County Forms Sustainable Tourism Partnership with Leave No Trace
Media Contact: Jon Jarosh, Director of Communications & PR, jon@doorcounty.com or 920-818-1133
August 25, 2020 – To help preserve and protect Door County’s most beloved natural features, Destination Door County (DDC) has formed a partnership with Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. The partnership, founded on Leave No Trace’s educational principles, is designed to help minimize the impact on the county’s environment. The program will ensure that both residents and visitors are equipped with environmental sustainability information from Leave No Trace along with easy to practice skills to responsibly explore Door County’s natural world.
The partnership helped adapt Leave No Trace’s 7 principles to create the Door County Leave No Trace 7 Principles as a guide for residents and visitors to use while enjoying the outdoors. These principles are the first step in a new DDC ecotourism campaign and were introduced earlier this month.
Since 1891, DDC’s primary role has been to attract visitors to the county. In the spring of 2019, after soliciting feedback from residents, visitors, and business owners, DDC made the decision to transition from a destination marketing organization to a destination marketing and management organization. This puts DDC in a better position to evaluate sustainability initiatives from both tourism and environmental standpoints and form local partnerships to keep Door County a beautiful, historic, bucolic and vibrant place for generations to come.
DDC’s Community Advocacy Manager, Cambria Mueller, has helped put this partnership together since the beginning. “When we made the switch to destination marketing and management, the education that Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics provided to Door County was immeasurable,” said Mueller. “Creating the Door County Leave No Trace 7 Principles covers all the bases of being a good steward in Door County, for visitors and locals alike keeping the county the beautiful natural place many have come to cherish,” she said.
The announcement of the Door County Leave No Trace 7 Principles comes on the heels of the Door County Board of Supervisors unanimous vote to become a Green Tier community, a voluntary Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources program focusing on environmental stewardship issues.
As the partnership develops, DDC and Leave No Trace will collaborate on further outreach, implementation, and training on sustainable tourism practices. Door County is the first tourism destination in Wisconsin to form a partnership with Leave No Trace.
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About Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics
The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics is a Colorado-based, national 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the environment by teaching people to enjoy it responsibly. The Leave No Trace Center has delivered educational programs in the United States and internationally since 1994. Leave No Trace works to educate, build partnerships, conduct research on best practices, and empower volunteerism. The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics provides a foundation to build a nationwide outdoor ethic of critical importance — for now and for the future: www.LNT.org
About Destination Door County
Destination Door County is the official tourism marketing and management organization for Door County whose mission is to inspire travel that drives community enhancement while working to ensure all travelers feel welcome, preserving the county’s way of life and protecting the region’s natural resources. DoorCounty.com
