Oregon's Tillamook Coast Begins Volunteer Adventures Programs

Published 09/03/23 at 5:07 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Tillamook, Oregon) – Visitors to the Oregon coast are finding more ways to engage in the beaches and cliffside shorelines these days, often getting involved in citizen science, beach cleanups or other truly interactive and even proactive ways. Sometimes it's akin to eco-tourism. Sometimes it simply comes down to stewardship.

One area of the Oregon coast that can inspire fierce loyalty from out-of-towners is the Tillamook Coast region, the Tillamook County stretch that spreads some 70 miles from Neskowin up to Manzanita, including the burghs of Pacific City, Oceanside, Bay City, Rockaway Beach and Garibaldi. Since last year, Tillamook Coast Visitors Association (TCVA) has been making an effort to build a small army of beach stewards. Now, it's putting out a call for for schools, work groups, churches, community organizations and families to help care for the natural areas in this beautiful set of diverse locations.

It is, after all, a part of the eco-tourism ethos.

This summer, TCVA put together Tillamook Coast Volunteer Adventures, debuting two distinct means of digging into the beach experience. One was the Girl Scouts Service Unit 14, Troop #45210, out in the area in August, learning about marine debris as they cleaned it up and then made art from it.

Courtesy Tillamook Coast Volunteer Adventures

Next up: a group of Linfield University students and faculty will be performing stewardship projects at Alder Creek Farm in Nehalem October 7-9.

“My hope is that our volunteer adventures program will help create a deeper awareness of how special this place is,” says Dan Haag, TCVA Director of Trails, Outdoor Recreation and Accessibility. “The Tillamook Coast is not just a pass-through vacation or a place to buy t-shirts. We want our visitors to understand and care about local stewardship and conservation as our residents do. The best part is, there are plenty of local non-profits that could use the volunteer help. They run on volunteer power and often can’t get to their projects.”

Courtesy Tillamook Coast Volunteer Adventures: girl scouts scour the beach

TCVA will design a custom adventure to fit your groups’ needs, featuring itineraries of one to two and a half days. Meals, transportation, lodging and activities are included. Tools and supervision are provided by the host organization.

Crews typically consist of 8-15 volunteers, as well as a TCVA staff member. If you know of a group or would like to put together a group to create your own volunteer adventure, contact Haag at 503-842-2672 or email dan@tillamookcoast.com.

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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