“People inherently want to protect things that they care about.”  — Jared Garfield

People are going to explore, and it matters how they do it. That’s why Wanderlust Tours helps visitors to better appreciate and respect the environment surrounding Bend, Oregon by showing them their connection to the lands and waters everyone relies on. 

Recognizing both the need and the opportunity to make tourism a force for good, Wanderlust Tours uses its services as a platform to create what co-owner Jared Garfield calls “bonding” moments with nature. By educating visitors about the natural and cultural history as well as how to be in the outdoors, they encourage people to care about the area. This compels them to enhance, protect, and preserve it, too.

“I think that’s where our role as guides are pretty critical, in that someone has essentially just handed you a microphone and said, ‘Educate me. You tell me what is the appropriate thing to do,’” says Jared.

Jared believes people inherently want to be good, they just need to know how to do that in new and unfamiliar places. In Bend, that means understanding things like proper trail use, interacting with wildlife, impact on vegetation, and boat ramp etiquette. He points out that if you have a dozen people “that walk in a straight line off a trail, you will find, then, there’s a discernible trail. But then you could bring 500 people through the already established trail, and you would never know that 500 people were just there.” Wanderlust Tours not only provides these guidelines to visitors, but they also offer them ways to help make a positive impact through things like donations or volunteer experiences. Being upfront about good manners in the context of Bend’s values also starts dialogues on important local and global issues, like forest fires and climate change. 

By working to integrate tourists into the community in a meaningful way, Wanderlust Tours is leveraging the industry to take care of Bend’s raison d’être. 

You’ll also learn:

• How Wanderlust Tours provides visitor education that encourages responsible outdoor travel. 
• How the business partners with NGOs and integrates tourists into projects that support the community.
• The impact of tour companies on preserving nature.
• The responsibility of visitors and businesses to encourage responsible travel through social media.
• Tips for other tour companies who share the mission of caring for nature.

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Show notes

Deschutes National Forest — A national forest in Central Oregon encompassing nearly 1.6 million acres (6,500 km2) along the east side of the Cascade Mountain Range. 

Oregon Adaptive Sports — An organization that creates access to high-quality outdoor recreation experiences to individuals with disabilities.

Oregon High Desert Grotto — A local caving club from Central Oregon dedicated to the study, preservation and enjoyment of caves.

Smith Rock State Park — A state park near Bend, Oregon known for rock climbing. 

Upper Deschutes Watershed Council — A non-profit organization that works to protect and restore the two-million-acre upper Deschutes River watershed.

Visit Bend —  The destination management and marketing organization for Bend, Oregon.

Wanderlust Tours — A tour operator offering naturalist-guided tours and trips throughout the year in the communities of Bend, Sunriver, and Sisters in Oregon.

Episode transcript

Jared Garfield: People inherently want to protect things that they care about. So, by bringing people to Bend, by educating them, whether it is, hey, these are city initiatives that you could do to help out, or, you know, just talking to them about how they recreate, things like that I feel like can be very impactful.

David Archer: Hello, and welcome back to Travel Beyond, where we partner with leading destinations to bring you inspiring solutions to the greatest challenges facing communities and the planet. I’m David Archer from Destination Think, recording from Daajing Giids, British Columbia, a village in Haida Gwaii, the territory of the Haida Nation.

Sara Raymond de Booy: And I’m Sarah Raymond de Booy, Associate Creative Director at Destination Think. I’m recording from Seattle, Washington, which is also the home of the Muckleshoot, Duwamish, Suquamish, Stillaguamish people. On this show, we look at the role of travel and highlight destinations that are global leaders. We talk to the change makers who are addressing regenerative travel through action in their communities, often from the bottom up.

David Archer: And we’re actively looking for the best examples of efforts to regenerate economies, communities, and ecosystems. So please reach out if you have a story to share with us. You can find Destination Think on LinkedIn, or you can email me at david at destinationthink.com. This is going to be our last episode in this season from Bend, Oregon.

Over the last five episodes, we’ve heard from several people leading sustainability and tourism efforts, and those episodes are filled with good examples to inspire you. So scroll back in your feed to check those out if you haven’t already. Here at Destination Think, we think a lot about the power of travel to spark positive change and about transformational experiences that really make traveling unique and worth doing, and for us, this isn’t just theoretical.

I think we’ve each had that experience ourselves to some degree. For example, I got to go down to Gwaii Haanas, which is the national park here in Haida Gwaii on a locals only two day boat expedition with Moresby Explorers, one of the local tour operators here, we saw Haida village sites, we sat in a volcanic hot springs and heard some very loud sea lions.

And some of those things will stick with me for a long time. And the memories there. And in fact, I wouldn’t even live here in Haida Gwaii at all, probably, if it wasn’t for a vacation that I took a number of years ago. Sarah, what’s an example of a meaningful travel experience you’ve had? 

Sara Raymond de Booy: I’d say one that sticks out is a trip that I recently got back from, um, from the Northern Marianas, specifically Saipan and Tinian.

Those are U. S. territories, and I was there for World War II and the Pacific tour. Um, but I know this isn’t a World War II podcast, so I’ll try to fast forward through that a little bit. Um, but one of our guides was an older man called Don. And coincidentally, I think he’s originally from Redmond, Oregon, which is where you fly into if you’re flying into Bend.

And he’s been living in Tinian for decades and has a really interesting story about how he fell into being a historian there. But long story short, his work has really helped to preserve some of the sites on the island, which would have otherwise just been taken over by nature. And on this visit to the island, it was a pretty big deal for everybody who lived there.

There was even a barbecue put on for our group where the mayor spoke at. So seeing the passion of the people like Don and some of the other guides we had as well, who were working really hard to make sure that their family’s stories and what happened there aren’t forgotten is, is really inspirational.

Their eagerness of really getting that story out made me think about the impact and power of travel on a place in a, in a much different way than we might encounter in other destinations that are a lot easier to get to. 

David Archer: Yeah, that sounds amazing. It’s great how like really good tour operators can help you see the world differently.

That’s something that I definitely experienced here. Our trip was with some, uh, it was an all locals trip. Speaking of the local benefits we were talking about in the last episode, this is a prime example of that. So we had our guides and also uh, some people with knowledge of the village sites, um, from their own cultural experiences.

So travel’s a powerful thing. What else can I say? 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Yeah, definitely makes you shift your, your perspective on the area, even if it’s an area you already live in, you know, just seeing the passion that comes from the guides. 

David Archer: Yeah, exactly. And Wanderlust Tours, is helping people to better appreciate and respect the environment surrounding Bend and that’s who we’ll hear from today from co-owner Jared Garfield.

One great thing about this conversation is that Jared describes ways that he and his fellow guides teach people how to be outdoors and related to hiking, he points out that if you have a dozen people that walk in a straight line off a trail, you will then find that there’s a discernible trail. But then you could bring 500 people through the already established trail, and you would never know that 500 people were just there. I found that pretty interesting. It basically means that hikers who are more trail smart, or who stick to the path, I guess, can reduce wear and tear, and um, that that knowledge can also potentially increase the carrying capacity of certain places, to think about it from a destination perspective.

So, Sarah, this interview made me think of tour operators a little differently, and how they might divert solo hikers and other outdoorsy people into doing more mindful excursions. What do you think? 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Yeah, I think one of my main takeaways from this is how guides and companies like this can play a role in giving people the skills to use on future trips to other destinations and kind of turn them into advocates who can educate their friends on treading lightly.

Like for an example, there’s so many snorkel trips that you go on where they tell you not to stand on the reef, um, that now I’m basically the voluntary reef police, anytime I go somewhere without a trip and see people going rogue and standing up in reef areas, you know, when they’re closer to shore. I’m the one who swims a long way to tell you not to do that to, uh, you know, with varying success rates, but still that wouldn’t happen if, um, I hadn’t been on snorkeling tours and guides that kind of made an impact to explain why, you know, and yeah, I do.

And it does really I kind of get on a soapbox every time, because if you’re not a strong swimmer and you want to go snorkeling, please bring a floaty. Don’t take a breather standing up unless it’s an emergency because you’re crushing things. Um, so yes, the tour operators do play a big role. 

David Archer: That’s a really good point.

You’ve got to, you’ve got to learn this when you go snorkeling. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Yes. Just, just please bring a floaty. Um, so yes, tour operators definitely play a big role in educating people, not just for that particular tour, but how to behave after your tour when you practice the new skill. You know, especially when you can help to advocate for the environment later on, hopefully. I’m sure I’m pretty annoying to those people. But anyhow, back to hiking and Oregon. 

David Archer: They’ll be grateful to you later, I’m sure. Yes. Or if not, maybe they’ll be reminded when they go on a guided tour sometime. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Yeah, they’ll be like, oh, that’s what that lady was angrily swimming over to me about.

David Archer: Exactly. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Oops. 

David Archer: You’re doing good work out there. Well, yeah, back to hiking. So another great thing about Wanderlust Tours and their sustainability solutions is that they are also filling the gap that we talked about last episode between visitors and NGOs. Jared says that nonprofits sometimes request tour groups, and he works with them on reduced rates when he’s able to, you know, this is an example of something that reflects the strong mentality of partnerships between organizations across Bend that we’ve seen this season from Visit Bend to the University to Central Oregon Land Watch, Warm Springs Reservation, and various tourism businesses.

It really seems like tourism is a team sport here, right? 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Definitely. And beyond that, I know there was also a, uh, a student who was kind of interning with Wanderlust Tours while we were there, um, writing about sustainable travel and, um, trying to learn about some of the things that they do. So, um, it definitely goes beyond, this was a student from Europe.

Um, so it definitely goes beyond just the Oregon area of people that they’re, you know, trying to bring into the fold. So that’s why I really like the season. There’s a lot of practical tactics that seem simple that are working together to build something really impressive. 

David Archer: Yeah. And you can see the impacts spread. So with that, let’s go and see what Jared from Wanderlust Tours has to say.

Jared Garfield: My name is Jared Garfield. I’m one of the co-owners of Wanderlust Tours as well as the operations manager. So I kind of oversee all the logistical and, and guide training side of things. 

Josie Van Der Velden: How long have you lived in Bend? 

Jared Garfield: Yeah, gosh, uh, so I moved out to Bend in 2013. So, uh, just over a decade now. 

Josie Van Der Velden: That’s a long enough time to feel like a local.

Have you, have you found that, like, Bend has changed you? 

Jared Garfield: I, I don’t think so. I don’t know that Bend has necessarily changed me very much, because I feel like I moved here for the things that Bend stands for, and that we find in Bend, you know, it just, we used to travel to other places around the Pacific Northwest quite a bit.

And, every time we came home, we’re like, man, that was a really fun trip. Like we had a ton of fun on the coast or in the city or what have you, but we’re excited to go home. We’re excited to be in Bend and I’ve never lived in another place where I’ve had that excitement to just return home. You know, I, when I was in college, I was a rock climbing guide.

And I wanted to move out west to climb bigger and better things. So having Smith Rock in your backyard is pretty cool. And so I just decided, like, Smith Rock and Bend, like, that’s the place for me. And so I moved out here and, uh, Bend wildly exceeded all of my expectations. 

Josie Van Der Velden: What is it about Bend that makes it so different?

Jared Garfield: When I first moved out here, it was the incredible access to outdoor recreation that really kind of drew me to town, but also people are absurdly nice. You know, I am convinced that if you can figure out a place to live and a job in Bend, that nobody wakes up in the morning and says, ugh, I’m stuck in Bend another day.

Right? Like, people are just happy to be here. Um, and so, you know, for me, that’s a really important thing. I don’t know that I would want to live in a place where I couldn’t smile or say hi to someone walking down the street. That’s just not who I am. You know, Bend for me is four times the size of anywhere else I’ve ever lived.

But I do feel like it has this tight knit community feel or this like small town feel, even though it’s much bigger than anywhere else I’ve ever lived. And so for me, those kind of community values are really important. 

Josie Van Der Velden: So you mentioned kind of community is one of the values. How else would you describe Bend’s values?

Jared Garfield: Yeah, I think that people tend to move here because they are interested in things of an outdoor nature. Um, we have a pretty amazing culture and art scene here, which is something that I’ve never really experienced in, you know, other places that I’ve lived. I also find that, you know, there is a certain, you know, lifestyle that comes with living in Bend and things move at a little bit slower pace a lot of the time.

Um, you know, I feel like we like to work hard, but play hard. And, and then, you know, when you’re not forced to work hard, like life just moves a little slower and it’s, it’s really nice. And, you know, also the understanding that the first snowstorm that I experienced in Bend, uh, I had a buddy call me up and say, hey, do you want to go grab a beer downtown?

I said, great. You know, I slapped on my gaiters and I walked a mile into town in knee deep snow and there were two dozen other people that were snowshoeing or cross country skiing in the middle of the road. And I thought, gosh, this is like a pretty amazing thing. And then you get to downtown and half the businesses had signs in the window that said, hey, we’re closed today, went to the mountain, be back tomorrow.

And so I was like, man, this is like, this is a pretty cool vibe, you know? 

Josie Van Der Velden: Yeah, I love that. My mom lives in a small town where the cross country skis come out in the, in the center of town when it snows a lot. It’s a good vibe. Um, so you kind of described the people of Bend a little bit, you know, they, they work hard, they play hard, they, you know, have no problem stepping away from work in order to get out into the mountains.

What would you say makes someone a Bendite? 

Jared Garfield: Yeah, that’s a great question. Um, I think, you know, it’s important to have kind of this willingness to you know, get out there and participate in these things and be part of the community, but also understanding that, you know, life may be a little bit different here than, you know, where you came from before.

And so the willingness and acceptance to be excited about how things work in Bend and the change of pace or you know flow of life events or things like that and you know, I think that for a lot of people we move here we come here for you know those lifestyle adjustments for that change of pace and so you might find that sure this thing took a little longer to accomplish because maybe we don’t have all the amenities that a big city did or you know folks that, you know, you were relying on don’t have the same number of employees or things like that.

So, you know, maybe things move a little bit slower. But, you know, the willingness to just kind of accept that and be excited that, like, a lot of people come here for the same reasons that you also want to live here. And so, you know, people who live in Bend are oftentimes really looking for the same thing.

Um, we enjoy, you know, generally the same, you know, lifestyles and, and things like that. And it doesn’t matter if you moved here to go mountain biking or skiing or rock climbing or what have you, you know, at the end of the day, like we all move for that access to something that enhances our life, right?

There’s so much value to be had living and working and, you know, just being in and around Bend. 

Josie Van Der Velden: How does tourism benefit from that kind of collective value of community and taking care of each other and the connection to the environment and the natural world? 

Jared Garfield: I feel like in a lot of cases, you know, particularly for locals, you know, tourism can kind of be used as the boogeyman for, oh, we’ve got traffic or we’ve got, you know, this, this or that.

But, you know, in a lot of cases we recognize like, hey, again, people want to visit Bend for the same reasons that we choose to live here, right? And so this desire to travel, this desire to visit Bend, of course, is not going anywhere anytime soon. You know, kind of flipping that problem, for lack of a better word, on its head, how do we harness that power for good?

I think, you know, for us as a company, our job is to vibrantly share the natural and cultural history of this area. In doing so, you know, we of course begin to create these memories, these bonding moments with, you know, whether it’s the National Forest, whether it’s the town that we’re in, these long lasting memories that then people attach to, you know, these great feelings.

And so, you get these folks that have been coming to Bend for quite some time and maybe even, you know, generations have been coming to Bend and, you know, they remember, hey, back in the day, this wasn’t even a paved road, you know, but we find that we create these bonds and these attachments and, you know, people, you know, are then remembering this place fondly and with that comes the desire to enhance, to protect, to preserve, you know, this area that we’re going to, you know, from our standpoint as, as naturalist guides, you know, we spend a lot of time, uh, in the national forest.

And so the ability to create these bonds with nature and, you know, hopefully that kind of transcends just from the Deschutes National Forest, but all levels of public space or forest in general, this idea that we can enhance this preservation, you know, even worldwide. And so it doesn’t really matter if it’s on, you know, you know, your local city level, and it’s like, hey, maybe I’m gonna donate some money to this cause to help with, you know, one thing or another, you know, I was just reading the other day that someone just donated 40 million to Yellowstone to help with affordable housing for the park employees there, that kind of stuff.

And so not that everyone is going to go out and donate 40 million dollars or, you know, that kind of thing. But like, if you recognize like, hey, this is a way that we can harness that. Tourism machine for good. You know, we, uh, of course get, you know, taxes paid by the, um, lodging properties and things like that, that we’re then able to kind of reinvest into the city and, you know, I’m on the Visit Bend sustainability, uh, board.

And so, you know, we take some of those, uh, tourism dollars and we recognize, you know, as people apply for money that like, hey, this is a project that will enhance, you know, the life of locals as well as visitors and kind of draw more people into Bend. And so kind of continuing this cycle while keeping in mind that we moved to Bend for a reason, right?

We want to maintain that culture and that integrity that we have here in our town. We don’t want sprawling growth everywhere. We want to be mindful about these things. And so as we’re doing new construction projects or things like that, like thinking about like, how does this help our community? What are going to be the potential pain points?

How do we mitigate things like that? You know, I, I think there’s a lot of good if we just give thought to how we want to go about it. 

Josie Van Der Velden: Yeah, it’s so important to be thoughtful and not just go, go, go and then suddenly look back and be like, what have we done? 

Jared Garfield: Yeah. 

Josie Van Der Velden: You mentioned that the community, that there is this kind of boogeyman mentality with tourism.

I think that’s not unique to Bend. That’s something that a lot of smaller places experience. You know, when you’re being honest with yourself, like what concerns you about tourism in this, in this place? 

Jared Garfield: I would like to believe that everybody as they go to travel would act the same way as they do when they are in their hometown.

Or, in some cases, maybe you should act a little better than you do in your hometown, you know? Um, but I think there sometimes is this mentality of like, hey, this isn’t my town, it’s not my problem. I’ve come here, I’ve paid for this experience, I’m gonna do what I want. And certainly I think you can find examples of that, but again I think that’s sort of like a more vocal minority sort of situation, where yeah you can find examples, but then you’re looking at what, 1 percent of people that come to visit are going to behave inappropriately.

And then, you know, you look at most people that you would never know that they came and went. You know, they’re not leaving anything behind. And so, you know, it’s interesting too when we talk about, like, you know, partnering with some of our DMOs and, you know, Visit Bend and, you know, those Leave No Trace partnerships or the, you know, Travel Like a Local, um, or Visit Like a Local kind of thing.

And so, you know, when we start to look at that stuff, I think most people out there are certainly open to saying, hey, as a local, if you could do this thing, this would make our lives significantly easier. People are open and receptive, I feel like, in a lot of cases to that feedback, but it’s how do you Interact with them.

Like, how do you get to contact these folks and say, Hey, if you could do X, Y, Z, that would be just perfect. You know, it’s, it’s interesting. I came from a background of teaching Leave No Trace in Acadia National Park when I was back East and, you know, it was that same sort of mentality of when people go out hiking, of course they don’t Google, how do I go hiking, right?

You just, you go and you walk out your door cause it’s easy to do. And, but if you can understand a little bit about like, oh, well, actually, I should stay on these durable surfaces, or, oh, if I chuck my banana peel, it doesn’t just degrade overnight. Things like that, where it’s, what they’re doing isn’t inherently malicious in the sense that they’re not viewing it as a problem, but they don’t necessarily understand that and so that’s where I feel like, you know, this communication, this educational aspect of it I think is really important because I do believe that people inherently want to be good people, right? Like most people don’t wake up saying, hey, I want to be this terrible person today, right?

If we’re able to like reach out and talk to those people about, hey, you know, these are small things that you could do to really enhance this area, not only for folks that live here, but like you want to come back here, right? Like you’ve recognized that this is a wonderful area. And I feel like when you are able to build that place attachment kind of like what we talked about before, right?

Like people inherently want to protect things that they care about. So by bringing people to Bend by educating them, whether it is, um, through, hey, these are city initiatives that you could do to help out, or, you know, just talking to them about how they recreate things like that. I feel like it can be very impactful and that’s where we just have to find those avenues of like, hey, how do we contact people?

How do we talk to them about this? And you know, how do we get the word out? 

Josie Van Der Velden: Yeah, how do you get, make sure that the right messages and the right input, you know, kind of coming all into the ecosystem. It’s interesting, campaigns like visit like a local, you almost get this opportunity to establish like, what you want the values of a place to be you’re like come to this place and act like a local and by the way as a locals we do this this and this and it’s kind of this optimism of like we like bringing out the best of what the local identity is. Do you think that in that way tourism can help to change the values or the personality of a place for the better? 

Jared Garfield: Yeah people inherently want to do the right thing. They want to do what they can to help these places, but at a certain level, even for locals, people who move here, right, like, you are kind of doing the same thing that you did before, but maybe you have easier access to it, or, you know, it’s a much larger hill that you get to climb, or things like that.

And so, you know, when we look at, you know, almost like assimilation into the Bend community, right? Like you’re kind of learning as you go of, oh, when I mountain bike, this is the trail etiquette or, you know, when I go out boating, this is how I should, you know, pull up on shore or things like that. But ultimately do you come and you research like, hey, where are the most appropriate trails to do this?

Or how do I do that? And so I think these initiatives, you know, while they may be largely aimed at visitors can also help, you know, like if you have signage at a trail you know, that can also help locals to understand like, hey, this is actually the way that we’ve been doing things here. And this is where I should go to do that.

Or, you know, like a great example of that would be when you go hike on the river trail and you’re like, hey, this is where the bikes go. This is where the hikers go. Little things like that. I mean, you know, if you just moved. To this area, and you don’t necessarily understand that stuff, it can help to, I think, alleviate a lot of that, you know, just silly tension that doesn’t necessarily need to be there in the first place.

But it, in my mind, it just really all gets back to, you know, how do you communicate and how you interact with people? And that’s where I feel like we want to be helpful, right? Like, we want to be friendly. And so, yeah, how do you just go about reaching out to people to make sure that, you know, we’re all on the same page?

Josie Van Der Velden: What do you think is tourism’s kind of greatest potential for that positive change? 

Jared Garfield: So there’s kind of a few different avenues that I would kind of go with that. I think really at the base of our mission as a company, we want to help people fall in love with the outdoors and, you know, make this an accessible thing that maybe people weren’t comfortable going out and caving on their own or snowshoeing on their own and, you know, provide access to these areas in a way that anyone off the street can come and enjoy, you know, one of our Wanderlust Tours.

With that, you know, of course we have that educational component as well. You know, we feel that it’s very easy to bring you to these areas and say, oh my gosh, isn’t this beautiful. But if you can understand a little bit about what makes it so special, what makes it unique, that really allows you to create a much deeper connection with it.

And so my hope is that not only do you then care about the town that I live in in the surrounding area, but you also then go back to your home. And you care maybe a little bit more about the natural space that you have. And maybe you place a little more value, particularly if you’re in a city. You know, maybe you place a little more value on those natural spaces, on those parks, on those things that like, maybe you didn’t really think about that before.

Um, but now you have this little bit different perspective, um, because of the time that you spent here in Oregon. And so I feel like that’s a really, really powerful tool to be able to harness, to just get people thinking about things a little bit differently, you know. And then, of course, you know, we talk about, like, the monetary aspect of it.

A lot of us here in Bend are employed in the tourism community. And so, you know, we find that. People bring their money to Bend, they spend it and you know, that’s another avenue, you know, that we’re able to kind of harvest for, you know, the betterment of, you know, our community here. You know, we have the option when you go to checkout for one of our tours that, you know, you can donate money to our scholarship fund where, you know, we’ll recognize that, hey, these are folks that maybe, um, wouldn’t have the ability to otherwise come on a tour.

So we’re going to subsidize, you know, a portion of that. Um, we also partner with other organizations like Oregon Adaptive Sports, um, with Snow Days, with Think Wild. Um, we have all these different organizations in town that we recognize do really good work for things that we care about. And so, you know, we find that, um, you also have the option to donate to these causes and then we kind of match those donations.

And so we have that kind of monetary aspect of it as well. And then of course we have like human power, right? So we partnered, um, with the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council to do a replanting effort along the Deschutes River where we planted a little over 500 plants. We partner, um, with the Oregon High Desert Grotto to do, uh, cave cleanups and graffiti removal and things like that, and so that’s where we’re able to kind of harness the power of, of both visitors and locals to say, hey, we’re going to go do this initiative that’s going to improve the area that we live in and that we play in.

And if anyone would like to join us, we would love to have you. And so, you know, I think that’s really interesting. And especially the, the, the past few years, we’ve actually found groups that are reaching out that are saying, hey, we want to come to Bend and we want to do a voluntourism effort. And so we can then reach out to these partners and, you know, whether it’s doing, you know, a replanting effort, whether it’s going to help, you know, a small farm harvests, you know, whatever vegetables or berries or things like that that they’ve got going on.

We find these ways to integrate tourists into the community in a really meaningful way. And so, you know, that is then helping, you know, with all of these different aspects of like, hey, maybe life is difficult because we see more impact on the river, or we see more impact on the trails, or, you know what have you.

But we’re able to kind of then use this tourism machine as a ways to help remedy that stuff, you know, of course. We look at Smith Rock as one of our most well loved state parks around here, and there’s a lot of impact there. But, of course, then they have their annual get together, and, you know, folks will help bring out, you know, materials to make stairs, or things like that, where it’s, you know, really difficult for, you know, a state run organization to find the funds and the time and human hours to do all this stuff.

But then, of course, we get a bunch of people that, again, just inherently want to do things to help the areas that they care about. And so that’s where we can say, well, great, I have a project for you, and all I need is an extra set of hands. It doesn’t require this specific set of skills or things like that.

We just would love you to come help us move this stuff and build this, you know, that kind of thing.

Josie Van Der Velden: It’s like a feedback loop, right? It’s like, if you can build this connection to nature and this desire to protect as the volume increases, it can put you up. But as long as it doesn’t get out of balance like that, you have to have that cultivation of the love and connection to place in order for that respect and that volunteerism and all of that spirit to arise, right? 

Jared Garfield: Yeah. And it’s, it’s also really interesting too, because I think, so, you know, you, you touched on kind of the volume and, and to a certain extent, you know, you find that volume is important, right?

We, of course, we see more impacts with more people, but that’s where we get back to, like, if we can be mindful in how we go about this. You know, if you have a dozen folks that walk in a straight line off a trail, you will find then there’s a discernible trail, but then you could bring 500 people through the already established trail, and you would never know that 500 people were just there.

And so that’s where I think it’s really important that educational component that we talked about before, where again, people just don’t necessarily know what it is that they’re supposed to do, and they want to do the right thing. And so you just tell them, hey, this is the way that we go about this. This is how we do it.

And then you’re going to find that, sure, your volume increased. But if people are all doing things the same way, you know, you’re gonna find that that impact didn’t necessarily increase as well. 

Josie Van Der Velden: Yeah, that’s so important. And actually it’s a good kind of transition into talking about Wanderlust and the idea of guided tours.

Obviously in the age of Instagram and social media, there is a DIY approach. You mentioned like, oh, I’m going to go for a hike. I could just look up a hike and I don’t know anything about what I should be doing, but I’m just going to show up and figure it out. Do you feel like you’re feeling the impact of that DIY tourism, both on, you know, the people signing up for the tours, but also on the places that you’re taking your tours.

Jared Garfield: Yeah. You know, and, and I feel like that’s a really hot button topic at the moment, you know, and, and to a certain extent, you know, as, as everything, all this information is at our fingertips, right? Like you’re responsible for what you put out there. Right. And so that’s where I feel like having these DMOs, they oftentimes, you know, do a really great job of saying, Hey, here’s how we come to Bend.

And here’s how we do it responsibly, right? But then, you know, if you go on Instagram and you see this picture of this beautiful alpine lake, and it’s in the middle of the wilderness, and now all of a sudden that photo has circled around to, you know, a million people. Now you get people who don’t necessarily know those ethics and that kind of thing that are now trumping through the woods, trying to find this lake.

And so that’s where I feel like, you know, at a certain extent, you have to be responsible for, you know, what it is that you’re, you’re putting out there. And so, you know, you do find, especially the past few years with COVID, more people wanting to get outside, which is a really wonderful thing, right? Like we want people to get outside and we want to explore and, you know, there’s, you know, this push to just, make outdoors accessible and, and, you know, my experience of what I would prefer to do outdoors, I don’t think is always going to match up with everyone else’s, right?

And so that’s where I think, you know, we give people leeway to be comfortable in these outdoor spaces to do what they want, but provide them with the tools to do so appropriately. And so that’s where I feel like our role as naturalist guides are really important because we have the ability to educate about things like leave no trace principles or how appropriate is it to just walk up to that deer or things like that.

You know, we want to make sure that people have kind of these guidelines for like, hey, we’re out here and we’re doing this and, you know, this is the way to appropriately do it. And, you know, it’s everything from, like I said, interacting with wildlife to, you know, how do we not impact the vegetation, but then also the social components as well.

It’s like, what is boat ramp etiquette, right? Do you just take your boat and you just chuck it there and then you go park your car and you don’t worry about who else is trying to do the boat ramp. No, you go ahead and you take your boats and you stack them off to the side where they’re not on top of any vegetation or things like that.

And so a lot of people also have only kayaked a couple of times or only snowshoed a couple of times. And so they’re kind of looking for that information. And we get a lot of those questions of like, hey, so when I go out to do this on my own, how do I do X, Y, or Z. And so that’s where I feel like that’s really our time to shine as guides where, you know, we can educate on some of those hard skills as well.

And so, you know, our, our job, of course, goes beyond just the, um, the fun facts and the interpretation and that kind of thing. But, you know, actually like, yeah, how do you do these activities in a way that like you were going to minimize your impact, uh, on these areas for the time to come. And so I think, you know, all of that is very important as well.

Josie Van Der Velden: Yeah. It kind of comes back to that thoughtfulness, right? In sort of how do you educate and how, what do you do on tours? And what do you, how do you consider your role as the naturalist guides? Can you give us your kind of like one minute elevator pitch of like, who is Wanderlust Tours? What do you offer and what is the experience you, you sell?

Jared Garfield: So yeah, at Wanderlust we do naturalist guided tours. We typically focus on half day tours, but we also do, you know, overnights and things like that. During the summer, most of what we do is going to be canoeing, kayaking, caving, hiking, as well as brewery tours because, you know, we’re in Bend. We have some pretty great beer here as well.

And then in the winter, we’re going to do caving, snowshoeing, and also, of course, the brewery tours. So, you know, with all those different forms of recreation, one thing that’s really important to us is the ability to, again, like, educate, right? Like, we bring you to these spaces and we say, hey, this is beautiful, this is unique, but what is it that makes it beautiful?

What is it that makes it unique? And, you know, wanting people to just really understand that. 

Josie Van Der Velden: What’s the role of Wanderlust Tours in kind of like building and fostering that deeper appreciation and protection of the, of Oregon’s environment with your guests. 

Jared Garfield: People have this interest in going and experiencing the lake or the mountain or, you know, wherever it is that we’re taking them.

They don’t always understand, you know, what that necessarily looks like, and that maybe they haven’t been canoeing or they haven’t been snowshoeing before, but they’re at least interested in it. Um, you know, maybe it’s that they had a friend tell them, Oh, man, this is a really fun thing that you should try out or maybe they saw a picture of this beautiful mountain and they’re like, oh man, to be out on the lake and to see that in the background like that is just awesome. Or especially with, um, the increased interest in dark sky, uh, tourism as well.

I think that’s a really unique opportunity to take folks that maybe live in an area that’s fairly polluted from a white perspective and bring them out here and you see just these thousands of pinpricks in the night sky and it’s just this incredible thing that they’ve never seen before. So I think our job is to be able to introduce these things to people in a way that it’s going to be fun for them.

They’re going to feel like it’s safe and that they are comfortable doing these things. And in a way that they feel like they’re doing it correctly. Like they leave here and they know, hey, if I were to go purchase my own snowshoes or my own kayak, I can now go out and I can recreate in a responsible fashion and not worry too much about impacting the environment that I’m going through and, you know, continue to foster and build that positive relationship with outdoors.

Um, you know, I think it’s really interesting if we look at, like, human history of how we decided to start exploring, you know, outdoors. And, you know, we go back to initially when we were founding, you know, the areas up and down the, the East coast, you know, at that point you still had people that were afraid of the forest, right?

Cause that’s where the trolls and the witches and the boogeyman lived right. And so slowly we started to understand that you know, oh, maybe there’s not as much to fear. And then it became, you know, this like transcendental movement and, you know, understanding that, oh, well, you know, God was the one that created the forest.

And so, you know, now we have, um, this deeper religious attachment and, you know, now I feel like we continue to branch out on and find different things where it doesn’t need to be a religious thing, or it doesn’t need to be a fear based thing. It just this is a way that I can connect with my environment with my community and, you know, for a lot of people, I feel like they just need that first step to be able to, you know, understand that Yes, this is a safe and welcoming and fun, you know, it’s, it’s also really easy to go out and have a bad time in the forest if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Right. And so I feel like there’s a lot of maybe fear behind you know that when you’re just first getting into it, you know, particularly if you’re doing something that’s maybe a little bit more, you know, fast paced than what you’re used to. Like there’s a pretty big jump between kayaking on a lake and whitewater kayaking, right?

Um, you know, there’s a pretty big difference between, hey, I rock climbed in a gym and then I went to Smith Rock and now I’m dangling 200 feet off the floor. So, understanding, you know, ways that we as guides can get people out there in a way that they feel safe and taken care of, but also are having fun, right? Like that, I think is, is kind of one of the key components to making sure that they continue this positive relationship with the environment is they’re enjoying it while they’re doing it.

Josie Van Der Velden: And what do you find are some of the more, like, effective ways to get through to visitors to, to be able to build that connection, make sure they have fun, and to ultimately have them leaving with the desire to respect the places that they’re exploring? 

Jared Garfield: Yeah, I think that’s where, you know, our role as guides are pretty critical in that someone has essentially just handed you a microphone and said, educate me like you tell me what is the appropriate thing to do.

And so, you know, of course you can do signage and you know, you can have websites that talk about these things. But ultimately I feel like in a lot of cases like that is where guests are searching out how do we do these things. And so, you know, when you are outside with someone and, and you know, taking them on a guided tour, you basically have their undivided attention for a few hours, right? And so you’re able to maybe go a little bit further. And instead of, you know, just saying, hey, do this thing, like a sign might say, well, this is why we do this thing, right? And so I feel like that why component is critical for a lot of people. And if you see it, you know, in an email, on a website, on a sign, sure, it might then explain a little bit after it, but there’s nothing that is forcing you to continue reading, right? Like you can read it and then you can just skim through it and maybe miss a few of the details. But I feel like that one on one human component I feel like is just so incredibly helpful, um, in passing on this information. And then also just giving people, you know, a chance to like, oh, well, I actually heard X, Y, or Z.

And I’ve been doing this activity this way because I heard that. Maybe it’s something that like 10 years ago was perfect, but now the population of this animal is different or, you know, the way that the vegetation has grown in is different. Or maybe we just found out that, yeah, it does take a lot longer for that thing to biodegrade than we initially thought, you know, things like that I think are really important, not that you need to like tell people like, hey, what you’re doing is wrong, but to open that door for conversation, right?

Like it’s pretty frequent, you know, that people ask me like, hey, as a guide, how do you understand that climate change is happening around you? Well, it’s pretty easy when you’re outside every single day and you see these shifts like year over year over year, you know we used to ten years ago get a lot more questions about forest fires.

Like tell me about forest fires. Are they an issue? Are they not an issue? You know people hear things all the time and have no idea how accurate that thing is and so as someone who you know is living and breathing this stuff every day you really have a great opportunity for people to interact with you and be able to ask those questions that they might not normally have been able to ask if, you know, you’re just looking at a sign or reading a website, something like that.

Josie Van Der Velden: Taking what you just said and putting it into a bit more direct kind of tactics. We have other businesses, other operators who want to be working the way that Wanderlust does. They want to be enhancing the visitor experience in the way you do, but in a way that is also reciprocating with the environment and protecting and promoting this love.

Do you have like any advice for businesses looking to do better? 

Jared Garfield: Yeah, you know, it’s, it’s really interesting. I think one of the things that isn’t necessarily unique to Wanderlust, but we really like to channel that is passion, right? I care much more about someone who is passionate about what it is that we do than, you know, the amount of experience or training that we have you know, that they’ve had before coming to us. And so I I’ve worked for other, you know, guide outfitters with various levels of like importance placed on interpretation, or sometimes it’s, hey, we’re going to do this same loop every day. And when you get to here, this is what you talk about. When you get to here, this is what you talk about.

As the owner of Wanderlust, like, I don’t want people to necessarily talk about the same things that I talk about, because I understand that, sure, you love the outdoors, but I don’t pretend to think you’re going to be as excited about the biological adaptations of plants to survive in a winter environment, or, you know, something like that, that I am.

So I want to give my guides the autonomy to talk about things that they are passionate about, because I feel that it, that passion is pretty obvious to guests and then also it keeps it fun and exciting and engaging for them because they’re consistently able to research and talk about the things that they find interesting And so, you know, I also think it’s very beneficial from a guest standpoint of like if we think about return customers. If you go on a tour with myself, or if you go out with my business partner Courtney, they’re going to be two very different tours, even though we’re going to the exact same spot and neither one of them are wrong.

They’re just different, right? And so that’s where the excitement and the passion for the educational component, for the preservation component, for just being outside and having a job where we get to explore, um, that really shines through. And so I would encourage folks that as long as, you know, it’s meeting your company mission and it’s aligning with your values of who you are, like, let your guide’s passion shine through. 

Josie Van Der Velden: What kind of challenges kind of based off of your own experience on your journey with Wanderlust and the company’s journey what kind of challenges could the when you know those other operators looking to go on a similar path what sort of challenges could they expect?

Jared Garfield: Yeah I think the main challenge for us is that you know, if I could throw out the monetary component and say, money is no object, I would love to just take everyone out on tour for free. Right? Like that’s, you know, finding that balance of it is our mission to get people outside and to be able to create this bond is also then weighed against, well, we also have to put food on our table. And so that’s where, you know, we find that we do have ways of kind of helping that.

Like when we get, um, a group that comes to us and says, hey, we’re a nonprofit and, you know, we would love to come out with you on this tour. And that’s just not in our budget. Do you have any wiggle room? And so we’re lucky enough that, you know, we are now well established that we understand that there are going to be certain things that this meets our mission.

This allows us to meet our mission while also staying in business and kind of where on that scale things fall. And so that’s where initiatives like you know what I mentioned before our scholarship program when people donate to the scholarship fund, it allows us to maybe take a school group out who doesn’t really have a big budget to be able to do this and kind of supplement that to, you know, cover our costs for being able to get these kids out that wouldn’t have otherwise been able to, you know, we also have partnerships with, like the Deschutes library where we’re able to offer them a discounted rate that, you know, covers our costs and then, you know, they’re able to offer it to their patrons who, you know, again, might not have been able to, you know, do so otherwise, that’s always really the balance of, you know, you would love to just do every single thing based off your ability to meet your mission. But at the end of the day, you do also have to make money so that you can then continue to make your mission. And so I feel like, yeah, that’s always kind of the balance there is trying to figure that out.

I think that’s, that’s really the big struggle, um, in the grand scheme of things. 

Josie Van Der Velden: Capitalism, man. 

Jared Garfield: Yeah, exactly. 

Josie Van Der Velden: Okay, going on to kind of how Visit Bend or Travel Oregon, like your DMO partnerships support the organization. Can you tell us a little bit about how you work with Visit Bend or, you know, Travel Oregon on the state level?

Jared Garfield: You know, when we look at Visit Bend or Travel Oregon or these other, you know, DMOs, I think we’re really lucky that we have these organizations to be able to help us out. You know, as a small business, we don’t really have a marketing budget per se. And part of the way that Visit Bend is able to help us is offering all of these analytics of where people are coming from, how many heads do we have in beds, things like that, that, you know, would cost us quite a bit of money to, you know, figure out on our own, um, but we’re able to partner with them to kind of get more of that, you know, user data and that kind of thing.

We’re also able to partner with them when, you know, they bring travel writers or influencers or things like that to town, we’re then able to be part of that, you know package that they have where this person will be in town for three days writing about all these different things and you know, we’re able to take them out on a tour and allow them to not only experience, you know, what it looks like in and around Bend, but also, you know that educational component as well and you know, especially when we talk about sustainable tourism and you know, Leave No Trace and all that kind of stuff like it again gives us this microphone where we are able to kind of get up and talk about these things to just help do good in the world, you know?

And so then, you know, those folks are able to go back and talk to or write about or, you know, all this kind of stuff. And so it helps to kind of spread the word of, hey, as I’m going about and doing these things, these are how I go about it, you know, in that sustainable fashion. 

Josie Van Der Velden: You know, you mentioned some of the Visit Bend initiatives that they’ve, they’ve had over the years.

How do you feel like those initiatives are changing the community for the better? 

Jared Garfield: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s, it’s really important and especially, you know, like the Leave No Trace, for example, you take the Bend Pledge and you get these Leave No Trace stickers and you get a hanger for your backpack, that kind of stuff.

And, you know, especially when you find, you know, kiddos are coming in here and they’re so excited about these stickers and it really then gives you the opportunity to interact with them and say, hey, you know, this is how, when we go out and we do this thing, you know, you can be the one to help us make Bend the special place.

And really, I think interacting with folks from a young age is super important, but then of course, it doesn’t only have to be kids, right? Like we talked about the Visit Bend Sustainability Council and, you know, the ability to recognize like, hey, here are some projects that maybe they would happen, maybe they wouldn’t based on, you know, some additional funding and say, hey, is this going to provide value?

It doesn’t have to be only outdoor value. You know, it could be cultural, you know, like we have the Bend, uh, cultural tourism fund, things like that. And so when we look at these initiatives, we find that they’re able to help us fund things that are beneficial, both from a visitor standpoint as well as a local standpoint.

And so, you know, not only are we then taking tourism and we’re saying, you know, hey, it’s a good thing, um, to help fund this stuff, but it’s not just funding further tourism, right? It’s funding this infrastructure and, you know, these things that locals can then go and enjoy as well. And in some cases it might also be used to fund, um, you know, like restoration efforts or, you know, maybe we’re enhancing the riverbank with some replanting and designating some more durable trail systems to get down.

Or maybe we’re making it more accessible with a ramp or things like that. So that now anyone who wants to, you know, go kayaking or canoeing can, you know, make it down the river bank to get to their boat or things like that. So I think, yeah, we just have this really, um, great opportunity to, yeah, enhance the area for everyone, visitors included, locals included, but just make that an all around better experience for everyone involved.

Josie Van Der Velden: Thinking about the people who are listening to this podcast, um, how do you think that DMOs and their work that they do in the community can support businesses like yours within their destination? Like what’s, like, what should they be doing? 

Jared Garfield: You know, we keep getting back to the same thing, regardless of what avenue we’re talking about it’s communication as a tour operator go into your local DMO like put a face to the name like foster that relationship and you know, I know like over the years as Bend has continued to grow you know, so have these DMOs and so that of course then gives them the ability to expand the ways that they’re able to help us and things like that.

But, you know, just starting that relationship, I think, is really important. And then figuring out, like, hey, so this is what I do. This is what my mission is. Talk to me about how that fits into, you know, what you guys do. How do you market? How do you reach out to visitors? Do you have an educational component there, you know, and just find out where those commonalities are and then, you know, work together to kind of enhance both of those companies in a way that, you know, makes sense for all parties involved.

But really, I think it just, like I said, it gets back to that communication and just taking that first step. 

Josie Van Der Velden: Okay, we’re coming sort of to the end here, so I’m, uh, gonna get philosophical with you. 

Jared Garfield: Sure. 

Josie Van Der Velden: What would Bend be like without companies like Wanderlust Tours? 

Jared Garfield: So I think, you know, like we said before, you know, we as humans, we really desire to explore and experience new things.

And especially in an area like Bend, that is just so beautiful, no matter which direction you go. People want to do these things, and so if you don’t provide a way for them to do that, they’re still gonna figure out a way to do it, right? Like, they’re gonna rent a canoe or rent a kayak, and then all of a sudden we talk about, like, boat ramp logistics of, like, where are people parking, where are they throwing their gear, things like that.

And so, you know, we also talk about that sustainability aspect of it as well, when all of a sudden we were taking a van of 10 people up to the lake. Well, now you have five different couples that are driving up to the lake with their cars. And so we have a fraction of the parking space that we had before.

We have more gas that’s being burned, more emissions going out there. And so from all of these small kind of, you know, pieces of the puzzle to you know, the grand scheme of like, oh my gosh, our trails are totally overrun and our vegetation is trampled. Like there are so many aspects in which guide services are just so incredibly helpful that, you know, I think we would find a lot more kind of chaos, if you will, a lot more of that free for all.

And, you know, people wouldn’t necessarily understand. That what they’re doing is bad, right? Like they’re just trying to get out there and do their thing and get on the water and maybe not give so much, um, thought to, you know, how to go about doing it or they saw someone else do it. So now they think this is appropriate where maybe that wasn’t the appropriate way to go about it.

And so I feel like there’s just a lot less structure when you don’t have those guide outfitters to kind of act as like, hey, here’s the gold standard of how we go about doing this. And not that I think every guide outfitter is going to be perfect 100 percent of the time, but I feel like it’s our responsibility to kind of be better and do better than, you know, most folks would. And so that’s where, you know, I think, yeah, a lot of times it just, uh, boils down to that example that we set. So, you know, we need to just make sure that most of the time as best we can, we are doing the best job that we can. And, um, you know, people see that and they kind of start to take that into account.

And, um, you know, then we find that, uh, there’s a little more, um structure, and a little less impact, uh, as we go around. 

Josie Van Der Velden: Uh, what gives you hope for the future? 

Jared Garfield: Yeah, I think by having, you know, all of this information right there at your fingertips, it just like creates such an easy bar to entry that you can interact with all these people.

And, and like I said before, I inherently believe that people do care about the places that they travel to and that they want to do better. We live in a world now where it’s easy to show you how. Like, it’s not like I have to go out and now talk to every single person that travels to Bend. Certainly, I feel like our role as guides is really important and more effective than, you know, maybe having a newsletter that goes out or something like that because we get that like undivided attention and that, you know, conversational piece.

But I also think, like, those other approaches are really important because you can access such a large number of people. And so I think, you know, really, it’s just, there’s a lot of things that are kind of growing and evolving in our world and making it easier to get the word out and get these, you know, common practices, if you will, or these preferred practices, I should say, out to locals to visitors to whoever it might be, um, to really positively affect our community. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: What’s one quick piece of advice for an operator or tourism business who wants to pivot their business to make a bigger, positive impact in their community? 

Jared Garfield: I think partnerships are really important. I think it’s a really difficult thing to tackle on your own, but I think that there are a lot of outfitters out there or businesses out there that really want to do better.

And so we can find through, you know, talking to people and. You know, we have these commonalities and we have these avenues where, hey, our business could partner with your business. And so maybe it’s, you know, going to a lodging partner and saying, hey, you know, you get folks that are here and we want to use this, uh, opportunity to educate our guests.

And so you can have some of these small flyers or signs or things like that around, but then ultimately be funneling guests towards our business. And then, you know, when, you know, guests come and they hang out with the guides and they’re like, oh, where do you like to stay in town? Where do you like to eat in town?

You know, the guides, I feel like have a lot of influence. From that standpoint with the guests of the guests want to know where do the locals go? What are the locals do? And so that’s where you have that opportunity to kind of share that message. Ultimately, that’s where, you know, you have to kind of consider what is your mission, what are your values and how do we go about, you know, meeting both the needs of the business as well as our mission.

And that’s where you can kind of find on that scale of like some things start as like this is strictly meeting our mission, and then they grow into, well, now this is actually a somewhat profitable thing. But I, I feel like all of it really just kind of starts with those relationships that you build with other members of the community and, and businesses.

David Archer: This has been Travel Beyond, presented by Destination Think. And you just heard Josie Vandervelden speaking with Jared Garfield from Wanderlust Tours. For more resources and show notes, visit the blog at DestinationThink.com. This episode was produced and has theme music composed by me, David Archer. My co host is Sarah Raymond de Booy.

Lindsey Payne provided production support. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to give us a five star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more people find the show. And one last big thank you to Visit Bend for sponsoring this season of Travel Beyond. Thanks for being with us this season, and we’ll see you next time.