Eco-Tourism on the Tillamook Coast
On the Saturday morning of Fall Break, I and a group of 6 Linfield students set off for Manzanita, Oregon. Our objective: to have fun and do some good in the community. This all started almost a year prior, when I received an email from Dan Haag of the Tillamook Coast Visitors Association. Dan asked if Linfield would be willing to send a group of students to the Coast to do some service work. In return, they would provide us with some one-of-a-kind educational and recreational opportunities, as well as some tasty dining experiences! I was immediately on board. This is just the sort of thing the Office of Service Leadership exists for – to do good in the community while also exposing students to new experiences, giving them an opportunity to learn and grow through service.
After speaking with my student service leaders and Jeff Mackay, the VP for Student Affairs, we decided that Fall Break would be the perfect time to make the trip. Some students are unable to return home, and the extra days off afforded us more time to spend on the Coast. Similar to the Alternative Spring Break trips of the past, this would be a kind of Alternative Fall Break.
When we arrived in Manzanita, we met up with Dan at a local coffee shop that was, to use one of the student’s words, “very vibey.” A line of outdoorsy looking folks in puffy jackets and hiking boots stretched out the front door. After getting our drinks, Dan explained that prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Visitors Association worked to bring people out to the Coast, but during the pandemic they began to have the opposite problem: too many people. The influx of visitors, which continues to be a challenge, did a number on the local environment. The Visitors Association decided to pivot and change their messaging. Now they are encouraging visitors to engage in eco-tourism, the practice of giving back to the communities and environments you visit while on vacation. Have fun, relax, and enjoy the local offerings, but also spend a day or two partnering with local organizations to make sure the destination remains healthy and vibrant for years to come.
For the first two days, the students and I spent the majority of our time recaging trees with the Lower Nehalem Community Trust (LNCT). The trees had previously been outfitted with wire “cages” to prevent beaver from killing them, but they had grown out of their cages. It was our job to remove the now-too-small cages and replace them with larger wire cages that would give them room to grow. The work was hard, but the students got after it. As is the case with Linfield student volunteers, the Trust was shocked by how much we got done. In the end, we recaged 31 Red Alder, 2 Western Hemlock, 4 Western Red Cedar, 10 Small Spruce, 1 Pacific Crabapple, and 1 Black Cottonwood!
At the end of the first day we joined the LNCT staff and volunteers in pressing apple cider. Starting with full apples, we cleaned them, cut them, ground them, and finally pressed them. That night we were treated to a talk by local outdoor writer Adam Sawyer, who makes his home on the Tillamook Coast and has travelled all over the state of Oregon. We finished off the night toasting marshmallows for s’mores outside the Manzanita Schoolhouse, a renovated schoolhouse turned retreat house where we stayed while in Manzanita.
Sunday night, after day two of recaging trees, the students had some free time to visit the beach and explore Manzanita. I went back to the schoolhouse and took a nap! That evening we met Dan for an incredible dinner at Offshore Grill. Everyone ordered something different from the menu, and it was all delicious!
Our last day, Monday, was a “fun” day. We packed up our things and said goodbye to the Manzanita Schoolhouse, then headed down the road to the Tillamook Creamery, where we were treated to a tour and cheese-tasting. Afterward, we ate lunch at the Creamery and, of course, got ice cream! Then we said goodbye to Dan and thanked him for everything. Our last stop was the Rockaway Big Tree Trailhead, where we took a short, one-mile hike to see the massive Western Red Cedar at the end.
Our trip was coming to a close. We piled back into the van and headed for campus. We got back around 4 pm on Monday, giving the students one more day of Fall Break to catch up on sleep (or homework!) before classes resumed. Our time was a beautiful mix of work and fun, sweating and relaxing, learning and laughing. We experienced the Tillamook Coast in a way we never would have if Dan and the Tillamook Coast Visitor’s Association hadn’t hosted us. And, at the same time, hopefully, we left it better than we found it.