Exploring North Carolina's Outdoors Thoughtfully & Responsibly, with Outdoor NC's Amanda Baker

Picture this You're stepping into the lush outdoors of North Carolina, surrounded by the rustle of leaves, the soothing sound of gurgling mountain streams, the waves crashing along the coastline, or walking along one of North Carolina's many trails. You no doubt are aware of the beauty, but are you aware of your responsibilities as an outdoor enthusiast? In this episode, we'll break that down as I sit down with Amanda Baker, who serves as the partner marketing manager for Outdoor NC. Amanda guides us through the innovative Outdoor NC program that aims to educate visitors and residents on how to enjoy the state's stunning outdoor spaces responsibly. In fact, it's so groundbreaking that this is the first initiative of its kind on the entire east coast. Teaming up with Visit North Carolina, the outdoor recreation industry office and Leave no Trace, amanda helps to unveil the partnerships and strategies behind spreading this vital message across the state, from grassroots conversations to comprehensive resources for sustainable outdoor recreation. The evolution of the Outdoor NC program is a journey that you don't want to miss. Amanda expertly guides us through the three core areas of the project, which are make it your nature accessible outdoors and the designated trails program. She sheds light on the significance of inclusive trails, local tourism and the critical partnerships with upper concept and tourism impact services. Plus, we'll hear about the innovative trail town designations that highlight trails across the state and their connection to local communities and destinations. But that's not all. Ever wondered how outdoor recreation can help revitalize small towns and build thriving communities? Amanda provides a fascinating insight into just how the Outdoor NC program is creating strategic partnerships and resources to do just that. I have a feeling you're really going to love this episode. You're listening to Exploration Local, a podcast designed to explore and celebrate the people and places that make the Blue Ridge and Southern Appalachian Mountains special and unique. My name is Mike Andress, the host of Exploration Local. Join us on our journey to explore these mountains and discover how they fuel the spirit of adventure. We encourage you to wander far, but explore local. Let's go, amanda, it is so, so good to finally have you on the show.

Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm really excited to finally be a part of it.

Me too, Right from the very get go. What is Outdoor NC? Where does this fall into this umbrella of other organizations within the state? And then why are you all doing the things that you're doing all across the state right now?

In 2020, visit North Carolina, and the Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, which is a part of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, joined forces with Leave no Trace. We were seeing an influx of visitors and residents getting into the outdoors who maybe weren't familiar with picking up their trash when they were out in the outdoors or how to stick to trails. They weren't understanding some of the ethics behind experiencing these outdoor spaces. And we were seeing our partners, our destination management organizations and marketing organizations TDAs who were trying to market their destination, but also understanding that there was this need to market responsibly. So, with this initiative, we saw this as an opportunity to help share that messaging with visitors and residents.

So I love what you're doing for a lot of different reasons, but I got a chance to see this firsthand being in the mountains, and part of it is, I think, is what you're saying. People just didn't know, and sometimes you and I have been talking about this they don't know what they don't know. But the other thing is that when the park service and all of those services were sort of shut down because of COVID, people really didn't have anywhere else, and so you started to see some of this trash pile up. We saw some places like Maxpatch. People are just wanting to get into the outdoors. They're trying to find some normalcy in their life and they get out there and then they realize that, okay, there's everybody's trying to get to the same spot, and one of the things early on that you started to share with me about this program was that it's wanting to find other places around North Carolina, because we have so many amazing places beyond just what Facebook's telling us and Instagram and other social media. So one of the things I think that we have talked about early on is really kind of spreading people out, getting them to discover new places within the state of North Carolina, and that's a large part of what you're doing. That's kind of the one of the drivers behind your initiative, I think.

Yeah, absolutely. We have some really loved places in North Carolina and then we have some places that have been undiscovered, and then we saw people discovering both of those places during the pandemic Residents and locals looking for those places that were less crowded as well as those places that were overly loved, continuing to receive that love. And one of the things we were looking at is times of year, and this pandemic lasted for some time. There was quite an influx of visitors and residents. Have you ever been to the beach in the fall or the winter? It's one of my favorite times to visit in the mountains. Have you discovered some of the less beaten paths, still sticking to those paths, but discovering them nonetheless? So it was really looking about what type of visitors we can attract to those outdoor spaces at the right time and the right place, and providing services and educating them on how to do so responsibly and be good stewards of those spaces.

That's very cool and I'm aware that Heidi, with your office early on when this started to occur, she was aware of some programs in Colorado and she wanted to bring those back here to North Carolina and that was one of the things that really kind of propelled you all as you started looking into this outdoor NC initiative.

Yeah, absolutely. Heidi was familiar with the Care for Colorado program, which was a partnership with the state office of Colorado Tourism, as well as Leave no Trace, and they had partnered on initiative and she had seen a case study at one of our tourism events and for the industry and she was like you know that that's great, this is something that could work for North Carolina. So she really took the charge and brought it back to all of us and we were like, yes, we love this, we love the outdoors, how can we partner on this? And that's where the North Carolina Outdoor Recreation Industry Office really came into play as well with their connection with Leave no Trace, and it's just grown from there.

That is so cool and, as I understand it, this program that you all are involved with is the first of its kind on the East Coast, and then especially the first of its kind including the coastline too.

Yep. For a state on the coast like us, it was unique in that situation and it really broadened the horizon for Leave no Trace as well, like what type of principles are applicable to our coastline, what makes it different? We are a unique state with the mountains, the Piedmont and the coast region, so it was exciting to be able to highlight our coast and our unique dune grass and wild horses and sea turtles and all the things that make the coast so wonderful.

Oh, it's so true, and you're also partnering with a local group I say local, local to me in the mountains, Western North Carolina. Do you want to kind of share who that group is? There's actually a couple different groups that you all are working with. Yeah, absolutely.

This is all about partnerships. This would not be possible without partnerships. So we're very excited to be working with the Upwork Concept. Derek and Nate their team is fantastic. They're really working on the creative and design and some of the partnership programs behind what we're doing here. And then we're also working with Tourism Impact Services, which they are working programmatically, looking at destination stewardship and educating partners and folks like that. So it's really, you know, we wouldn't be anything without partnerships.

Yeah Well, and I saw that at play and it's really cool to kind of watch that not just Derek and Nate and Upwork Concept, but also be in the room your constituents being elected officials, tourism people, people at the National Park Service like there is a wide breadth of your partnership and I'm wondering if you can kind of speak to that a little bit more, not only of what would be experienced the last three visits, but also for the remaining visits you have across the state as well.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean from a broad perspective with Visit North Carolina. Like the parent organization there, we've always been about working with our destination marketing organizations across the state and statewide stakeholders. And then when you talk about the outdoors of North Carolina, it just touches so many more people, it impacts so many more people and more people are interested in being involved because so many people enjoy the outdoors spaces. So we have been able to partner with state parks as well as local parks. We are working with Parks and Recreation on an upcoming guide summit we have going on, as well as the state parks for that. So, yeah, it's a diverse group of individuals with the like-minded goals of creating sustainability and stewardship within destinations across North Carolina.

Yeah, I love what you just said, that there's like-minded individuals. I had the good fortune of talking to a few people just on what their experience was like at one of these workshops and also what they hoped to take away, what they brought into the conversation, and one of the things I heard over and over is that it's so great to have people across the state, and especially at the level that you all are with Visit NC, to be singing off that same sheet of music right and so they're not in these silos anymore. It's really bringing about this collective voice which is really just leaving last night from the coast into here. That's just what resonated with me, and still is to this day, of just how many people are thankful for the work that you're doing, but they're also glad that they're not alone in this cause either, because there's some people doing some really good stuff right now.

Yeah, I would definitely add to that. I mean, when this program started it was very grassroots. It was reaching out to our destination, marketing organizations, potential stakeholders within the state, developing the principles themselves to cater to North Carolina and what it looks like with our different environments and ecosystems, and then, going beyond that, it's continued to grow with the Year of the Trail and the Great Trail State Coalition. I mean, the timing of things just continued to line up just perfectly and we've always wanted to help amplify our partners' messaging and here we are creating messaging statewide which impacts all of these folks and they have a voice to provide their input to us as well. So it is representative of them. But if a visitor comes to the coastline and they see the same message as when they visit in the mountains or in our central green parks and those sort of things the hearing the message over and over and over again, eventually it starts to sink in. So we're hitting them with the reputation statewide.

That's good and listen, let's camp out here a little bit longer, because one of the things that I am sort of picking up is the fact that you not just you, but the people, your partners that you're partnering with it's not about beating somebody over the head, it's not about being upset that trash is piling up or that somebody went off trail, and it's not about that. That's not the approach. I should say the approach is very different and I wonder if you can speak to that, because from my perspective on the outside, looking in, it's almost as if you're just trying to educate without trying to browbeat and hoping that some is caught and then some is taught, and seeing that, excuse me, across the whole state having consistent language, that's huge.

Yeah, it's definitely not finger wagging. We're not trying to tell you no or don't. No one likes to be told no. On vacation, everybody wants to get out and experience things. It's more so like the things you didn't know, the why behind not acting in certain ways, and gives you a reason to behave a certain way. So, yeah, it's definitely not no, no, no, no, no, it's yes. Can you do this instead? Or did you know that this impacts our environment in this way? Because we know that recreating and through our partnership with Leave no Trace that there's gonna be impacts when you recreate in those outdoors. It's just about lessening those impacts and that's really our goal.

Oh, that's good, All right, so let's talk about the three areas, the three main areas that make up outdoor NC, make up this initiative that you all are going after, and I'm gonna let you name them.

Absolutely so. We do have three flagship programs. It started out with our partnership with Leave no Trace and that's our Make it your Nature program. So that's all about recreating responsibly. From there a program has grown to accessible outdoors and that's about communicating what is usable within our outdoor spaces, highlighting those areas that you can recreate in, whether that is a person who uses a wheelchair or a person who has invisible disabilities. So it's really about highlighting those places but, more so, communicating that to people so that they can determine what suits their needs and what they are able to accomplish. We all have different abilities, so we wanna be able to highlight those trails and encourage folks to be able to get out there and invite them into these outdoor spaces that we have in all love. And then, on the other side of that, we have our designated trail program, which is such a huge accomplishment and and task. Across the state. We have so many cultural trails, outdoor recreation trails, food trails, culinary trails. We have so many trails throughout the state and it's not only in the sense of those that you walk, hike or bike, but also those that you can experience in other ways. So we would really like to highlight those and create some trail towns, looking at every county across the state, every town being able to be one of those, because we all have trails to help highlight.

Now we are in the middle of outdoor NC 2.0. So there are some people and I met some that were a part of really the grassroots, as you called it earlier really, as this thing is kind of getting up off the ground and I'm wondering if you can just kind of take a walk through that journey of outdoor NC 1.0, really wasn't 1.0 back then, I'm sure it was just outdoor NC but then where it's come to with the 2.0 and maybe we can kind of see a little bit of that evolution.

Yeah, so 1.0 started on Zoom. There was a lot of calls organizing those stakeholders to have these types of conversations around what needs need to be addressed, what messaging needs to be communicated, what is unique to our environment and ecosystem that we can share out, and how can we do that effectively for you all, because obviously we're trying to share that messaging so that it reaches the right people, and how best to do that. So with that, we created a toolkit for folks based on that feedback, so providing posters, ads, different tools that they can help highlight, including, like social media posts. How do we speak to this? This isn't something we're used to doing. We're just talking about come and visit, and here we're trying to add this additional layer of education onto that and really trying to reach them on their planning stage, but also once they get here, how do we tell them what they should be doing, how they should be behaving? So, yeah, that was the 1.0 section of things, and then, as we transitioned into 2.0, we brought on additional partners, including the Upwork Concept and Tourism Impact Services, and continued to survey our partners, reach out to our stakeholders, have those conversations, bring everybody to the table to continue those conversations and see what the needs are and from that we discovered additional partnership benefits that we could provide, including with the partnership with Eno. We have created some cleanup kit backpacks that our partners are able to share with community partners as well, as if it was a visitor or a business that would be interested in participating in a cleanup within their community. A little bit of volunteerism there. So creating those touch points within the community as well as with the visitors has really been important.

In 1.0, did you have as many of the conversations with the constituents or the partners as you do now? Because it really seems like you're really in listening mode, like you have your ideas and you know what's worked in other states and other places, but we're not Colorado, we're North Carolina, we're not landlocked. We have three different ecosystems, three different regions, and so one of the things that's impressive to me is that it's not hey, all of you, all this is what you should do, it's hey, this is what we think would work and we wanna partner with you, but you're in listening mode, like that's the whole. One of the big reasons for this whole statewide tour is listening really.

Yeah, and I think in the initial stages of things we were doing listening but it was in a virtual environment. When you get face to face with people and we have these in-person conversations, it changes. You know, people are more open to having some of those discussions than in a Zoom environment, or they come to the table already having thought about what works, what doesn't work. So I think it's been really helpful to have these. We're always listening, we're always researching. We are research-based to begin with. So that's where 1.0 was very research-based. This is what the presidents are saying, this is what we're seeing from communities and then going with what. This is what we think will be helpful, and then from there we're getting feedback now on what what's helpful, what isn't helpful, how can we move forward, what benefits would you like to see and what benefits can we provide you all?

I love it. I love it, amanda. All right, so that is the partnerships, that's Make it your Nature program. Let's talk about the accessibility piece, because this is well, it's all exciting but, I learned some things and I'm learning things that are really blowing me away in this category.

Yeah, absolutely. Accessibility is something that I'm passionate about. I was able to participate in a photo shoot and video shoot that we participated in with Matador Network in the western part of our state and it was with Catalyst Sports, and we highlighted a father who was able to go out and mountain bike with his son for his first time. They had never mountain bike together and that's a type of experience that it shouldn't be an occasional or a first time, it should be the norm. Yeah, yeah, so it was really. I'm getting emotional thinking about it. It was really impactful for me and I've talked with others. I mean, when I first moved to the area, I lived with someone who used a wheelchair and I saw the daily things that were just different. And then to hear her talk about being able to go to vacation and that she always goes to the same place because she knows that she can get to the beach and how she can get into the house and how she can navigate things. And it just added to the idea that we should be sharing more of this messaging about these places that are accessible and how we can share that messaging. So, with the help of tourism impact services and bringing them on board, we've really looked at how we can make a difference. We do marketing, we do communicating. So how can we involve our partners across the state to share that messaging and communicate so that everybody can make their own decisions, because everybody has different abilities In our world, in the marketing world and the side of things, it's communicating that On the land manager side of things, it's thinking about what exactly is those physical barriers and helping us identify it. But again, it's bringing everybody to the table to have those conversations. And I'm really excited about the progress, even since I've been here with representation and with additional programs that have started up from Waypoint and from North Carolina, adaptive Sports and different programs like that that have really come on board and taken the initiative to help bring that adaptive cycling and kayaking and experiences to folks.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Such good stuff. Yesterday, when we were on the coast, what blew me away are the organization and I forget, you probably remember, but it's this organization that, for free, will deliver wheelchairs that are made for the beach. They're made for big wheels, big everything.

Ocean cure.

Ocean cure. That's what it was. It was ocean cure, I mean remarkable. And then hearing about these I think they called them tees where these basically these walkways from the parking lot down to the waterfront and then kind of going up and down the coast a little bit so they can kind of experience that's huge.

Yeah, those mobile mats. And what impacts this group, which is actually, like the largest minority group?

when you think about it. That blew me away it impacts everybody.

It can impact anybody at any time and I think that is really impactful. It's community, it's visitors, it's residents, it's everybody. It could be anybody anytime. And those small changes can make an impact for people who you know. The mobile mats going down to the beach. That's great for people using wheelchairs, but it's also great for people who are trying to take beach buggies down to the beach. You know it impacts everybody. Or when you think about sidewalks and people pushing strollers on a sidewalk, you know it's the same as someone with a wheelchair who's also trying to get through the area. And you know we talk a lot about physical different abilities and being able to provide access in that way. But it goes beyond that. There's great groups called like surfing for autism, and High Point has recently been established as a destination for autism friendly destination.

Really.

So, yeah, there's a lot of movement in a space of just being inclusive and inviting and providing that equality and equity across the board for everyone.

Well, let's shift a little bit to the third component, which are these Trail Town designations.

Yeah, so the Trail Town designation. That's a lot of reaching out to our stakeholders and having these discussions, because there are so many trails across the state of North Carolina. We have statewide trails like the Mountains to Sea Trail, we have barbecue trails and beer trails and cultural trails like the African American History Trail. So as well as the Civil Rights Trail across the state of North Carolina, and we're really hoping to highlight all of those different trails that we have across those states and how they connect to the communities in different destinations across the state. So it's a big undertaking because there are so many trails.

Where do?

you start, but it's all about the experience in North Carolina, and these trails offer something for everyone. One thing to consider when talking about trails is the cultural and historical assets of things, but when you can combine multiple ideas together into one trail, that's when I think there's like real magic there. When you look at, like the oyster trail, for example, on the coast that's an asset oysters but then you combine that with the restaurants that serve those oysters and the tours that you can take out to the oyster farms and then the merroir of the different oysters and comparing that with a wine from the western part of the state. So I just think there's a lot of collaboration that can happen within trails, within communities, that can expand beyond maybe what someone would expect from that destination and make them spend a little bit more time there and learn more about what it is that makes that area unique, because these trails pop up in destinations that, like, have a unique thing that's consistently across the board. Think about, like the quilt trail or cheese trail I would love to combine the cheese and the wine trail. I'm just saying but you know there's opportunities for things like that.

What I really kind of love about this concept is that there may be people right here in this town, Smithfield, that may not know about the Greenway, or they probably do, but I mean, there may be people that just simply don't. They may not know what's in their own area. So the stagcations being a local tourist, that's something that my wife and my family we've been trying to try on a little bit more. Let's just be a tourist here in our own little state or a little region of the community or own little region of the state. But so I think it's not just for the people coming in to recreate and tour, but it's also for the people who live in these communities too that may just not even be aware, to be perfectly honest with you.

Yeah and I think that was something we saw a lot during the pandemic as well Is people weren't traveling very far. They weren't sure where they could go or how they could get there or what it was gonna look like in the coming months. So they were looking at what's in their own backyard and I think we did see a lot of community members investing in what it looks like as they move forward into different trails and things like that. So definitely taking a look around what's in your own backyard is important.

It really, truly is my hope that we do discover other new places within North Carolina. I think I was sharing with you even on my drive in a couple of days ago. You know I was going through communities that I had never been through before. I'd always taken a different route and I kept having to U-turn and stop and add this place to my list. Add that place to my list. I understand why there's reforestation going on here with the pines and that whole trip was just like. It was only two hours because I was going for my daughter's house in Raleigh to the coast of Mechaw, but in that I found places that I will go back to. And, by the way, surf City that we just came from. I cannot keep talking about this place with my family. We're like we're booking our trip to Surf City, topsoil Island. I mean it's happening right, that's awesome.

Yeah, I have to say I was texting videos of the folks surfing outside of where we were having our meeting yesterday. I sent a text message to my brother last night and he's like where's this? How far is this? for me Like he was ready to book as well. So, yeah, it's definitely that sort of thing and I get people who ask me like, of course, being at the state office, everybody's like, oh, what's your favorite place to visit? And I'm like my favorite place to visit is actually a place I haven't been to yet. I'm always looking to discover something new and it's a changing environment always. Different seasons provide different opportunities for different experiences, but ultimately, the people in those destinations are what makes the experience what it is. I still remember I was speaking of trails in barbecue. I went through Lexington, North Carolina, and stopped into Lexington barbecue, sat at the counter there and had a conversation with the owner of the business and he was talking about the staff that was there and how long they'd been working with him not for him, but with him and that experience to me like I want to go back to Lexington barbecue all the time. But there's more places like that to discover across the state.

So, yeah, yeah, it's that intersection between the place, the people, the things there are to do and I think, when we sort of pause, like I've had. I've had the good fortune of traveling all around the world and I've lived in Europe and I've been to many places in the United States. But I've always said, going back 20 years ago, that if I could, I want to end up right here in North Carolina, and I mean this with all sincerity, not just because we're doing a visit and see podcast, but my family will tell you and people who know me will tell you too, I don't care if I really the state. To be perfectly honest with you, there's so much to see and do and there's a lifetime of adventure right here in North Carolina. Andre from your staff, he and I were talking a little bit yesterday and we were talking about some of the work, the important work that he's doing and really seeing some of these small towns all across North Carolina sort of having some level of revitalization or discovery of who they are, or maybe a rediscovery of who they are and who they're going to be for the future. That's what I want to do. I want to spend more time seeing, visiting, drinking in those places, you know, because they all have such a story to tell.

Oh yeah, such a story. I mean looking at Rocky Mount, north Carolina, I mean I don't know when the last time was that you were there, but it has transformed itself with the Rocky Mount Event Center.

Yeah, yeah.

And you know they have the great downtown like River and Twine little tiny home community. It's truly a budding community and they're they are working together to build something and that's exciting to see, bringing in sports tournaments and different things like that. But yeah, it's really great.

It is so great and you're right. So where we are right now, I have to tell you too I don't want to project anything on them that doesn't exist, but the very fact that as soon as you pull off 95 and I've pulled off this exit many times over the years but pulling off this exit and then beginning to see the directional signs and the assets that are available here, where is your downtown? Like not just little signs on the side of the road, but you know the greenways this way. I was a little late getting here this morning because I had to go see the downtown. I didn't know if I was going to have a chance to at the end of the day. So I'm just drawn to those downtowns and I get down there and I'm like this is really cool community here, and so in order for that to happen, the whole community has to embrace this thing and I can ride around this town and go. They get it. Like just looking at the signage you can tell there's something here.

Yeah, absolutely Johnson County, does they get it?

They do.

They do engage with their partners as well. And I think that's where everything comes back to is having those conversations and seeing what needs there are and then finding ways to address those needs, depending on what your organization's strong suits are and what you're tasked with doing.

I love it, I love it, all right. So we've talked about all the really great things that we love and we're smiling, or. But what's the hard work to do? Like from here? What is the hard work to do to really make this from this concept into a reality that we can look back on in five, 10 years from now and go, wow, that's look, look, look what's happened, look what's been done?

Yeah, that's a really great question. I think the hard work is what we're about to be getting into here. We're doing the listening and now it's going to be time to implement and show our work. You know we could. We're getting to the bottom of the math problem and we may not have the right answer yet, but we're going to show our work to get there and get to that right answer. So we're really engaging with everyone across the state and I welcome anybody who wants to engage with us and have conversations with us. I might not have all of the answers, but I hope that I can connect you with somebody that does have the answers, or build more partnerships and find other needs that we can help address in different ways. Like I said, if, looking at the partnership side of things, there's certain things that we're good at, but I may not be good at what you want us to do, so let me connect you with that person who knows how to do that and is great at doing that. So, yeah, it's going to be about implementing everything that we're working towards and an onboarding folks that want to help amplify the message and be a part of this movement to really change the narrative, as North Carolina is a good steward of our natural spaces and we want to be good stewards of the communities in which these spaces are. So it's it's a collective effort.

So for people that may not be as connected, for some towns, maybe some DMOs, tdas, how do they get involved and why should they get involved?

You can reach out to info at outdoornccom. We have a visit North Carolina conference taking place in March in Greenville. That would be a great way to connect with us and learn about our program of work and all that we're doing and how to engage with us, especially from the destination marketing side of things or destination management side of things. We understand that there are communities that are have a big task and a small staff, so we're really here to try and help amplify that message and be a good steward of your messaging and we want to help you in communicating with visitors what they want to hear and as well as your community, and meet those needs when it comes to marketing your destination.

Wow, that's good. Now talk a little bit about the partnership program, because the buy-in is very minimal, but the return can be huge.

Yeah, so, specifically when it comes to the make it your nature program, there is a small fee associated with that, starting at $300, and that fee is really due to the partnership with Leave no Trace. We provide that the Leave no Trace copyrighted intellectual language as a service for all of our community partners around the state, and in order to do that, we do need some buy-in that this program and the way you are going to be using the language is appropriate. So that's where that comes from. But in addition to that, there's multiple layers and benefits that come from it, including, like the cleanup kits and being able to offer those to the community, additional marketing of itineraries around the Leave no Trace messaging incorporated into your specific destination and how to help people plan ahead and prepare. And, to you know, there aren't any trash receptacles at this location, so be sure to pack in and pack out Just a little details like that that maybe aren't things that are traditionally thought of when they're talking about their outdoor spaces. So we're here to help shepherd folks along in that process, and we're here to help.

So one of the things we have not talked about, we alluded to it, but it's this guide summit and I've got a great picture that I took yesterday of this great little backpack. And you're talking about the trash can liners. But let's talk about this piece more, the guide summit, because you're not just leaving here to do all these workshops across state. There's some really important things that y'all are doing to onboard your very first group of partners in this guide summit.

We are really excited about this guide summit. This is something that is near and dear to my heart as well. I was once a kayak guide myself for one summer on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and I see the direct connection that folks have with visitors. It really lowers the barrier of entry for folks to experience something that maybe they haven't done before. It gives them the knowledge, the skills and the equipment to experience these outdoor spaces. So we are onboarding a group of guides who are going to learn more about the outdoor and sea program, some of the research behind it, how we got to where we are today. But in addition to that, they are going to be trained with a new curriculum that we have partnered with Leave no Trace to create so that they can continue to instruct others guides on how to share this messaging in a way that isn't finger wagging no, no, don't do that but also in a way that highlights our unique ecosystem and culture in North Carolina. So I'm really excited about onboarding these guides from a variety of different activities and highlighting them as we move forward in numerous ways, including we are developing a guide program to share and help promote guides across the state that goes beyond just the recreational guides, but numerous tour guides and things like that. And then, continuing on from there, we have partnered with a company called Tourism Exchange in order to help those guide services and companies book their actual trips. So it's a free service that we're offering out to folks so that they can onboard to that and book the business, because ultimately you got to book the business to be able to continue to offer those services. And we want to continue to foster those relationships with the guides and grow that. Guides are a huge asset within our state. They're a resource, and I'm looking forward to having conversations with these guides about the things that they're seeing in the community the boots on the ground, the tires on the tracks. You know, all across the board and see how we can work together better in the future.

That's so cool and I got a little bit of a preview of your first class and I'm so excited because I think 75% of those were our past guests. And so I wasn't surprised by that at all, and so maybe at some point, if it's appropriate, we'll put some of those names in the show notes, because I think you all well, yeah, that would work. We will put them in the show notes because you'll kick that off tomorrow, so we'll have all of them as well, our guests and maybe our future guests as well. So definitely an awesome group of people. I'm so jealous that I can't be in that room with you all. Yeah, that's good, amanda. The work that you all are doing you and your whole team and your partnerships, the people that you reach out to to help you along this journey it's really important work and I know you know that. But just I want to tell you that, from my perspective as a resident of North Carolina and then also seeing all the great work that you're you're doing to make sure that people love on North Carolina, but we love on it well and we don't overlove North Carolina. So I truly commend all the work that you all are doing. I just can't thank you enough. This has been really really good.

Thank you. I appreciate that and you know we're a resident of the state as well, so this is a passion of mine and I hope that others continue to join and align with the mission.

Good stuff. I want to express my gratitude to Amanda Baker for sharing her expertise on the Outdoor NC program. It's clear that this initiative is not just about enjoying the beauty of North Carolina's outdoors, but also about embracing responsibility as outdoor enthusiasts. The partnerships with Visit North Carolina, the Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, Leave no Trays, Uproar Concept and Tourism Impact Services underscore the collaborative effort needed to spread the crucial message of responsible outdoor enjoyment. We hope you've been inspired by the innovative Trail Town designations and the program's commitment to connecting trails with local communities. It's evident that the Outdoor NC program is not only preserving the natural beauty of the state, but also contributing to the revitalization of small towns and the creation of thriving communities. As you step back into your day or head out on your next adventure, consider how you can be a part of this movement. Whether it's through mindful outdoor practices, supporting local tourism or spreading the word about responsible recreation, Each of us plays a vital role in making the outdoors enjoyable for everyone. Thank you for joining us on this journey through the Outdoor NC program. Stay tuned for more engaging conversations across the state that inspire and educate. So take a breath of fresh air, embrace the beauty of nature and remember the outdoors is for everyone. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please consider leaving us a review. It truly does help us reach more people, and if you know someone who also might enjoy the podcast, be sure to share this episode with them too. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram and keep those episodes suggestions coming. You can email them to me at mike, at explorationlocalcom, and you can also drop me a DM in Facebook or Instagram. That's going to do it for this episode. Until next time, I encourage you to wander far, but explore local Bye.