Washington and Oregon share billing in a new bistate National Geographic tourism map unveiled this week in Portland.
The National Geographic Geotourism MapGuide highlights destinations spanning the Central Cascades and Oregon’s Crater Lake to Mount Rainier, including eight points of interest in Clark County.
The National Geographic Society’s Center for Sustainable Destinations, along with Washington State Tourism and Travel Oregon, spent more than two years collaborating on the map.
The Southwest Washington Convention & Visitors Bureau helped, too, facilitating nominating discussions with local residents.
“With a name like National Geographic behind it, it’s definitely going to be able to get folks to come here,” said Jennifer Kirby, the marketing and communications manager of the visitors bureau.
Kirby described geotourism as “a combination of sustainable travel, ecotourism, it’s got the food component in there as well. It’s sort of a melting of all those things, with an emphasis on sustainability.”
Eight of the map’s approximately 200 points of interest are located in Clark County. They include the Pomeroy Living History Farm; the Friendly Haven Rise Biodynamic Farm (Venersborg); the Cedar Creek Grist Mill; Around the Table (Camas); the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
Two annual events were listed as points of interest: Birdfest and Bluegrass, held each October in Ridgefield, and August’s Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival.
In total, National Geographic received more than 1,200 nominations from Washington and Oregon residents.
“For our destination to have received eight points of interest on that map, we were very pleased,” Kirby said.
The Central Cascades MapGuide will be available in the West Coast edition of the May/June issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine.
It’s also available online at http:// thecentralcascades.com/explore/?map.
“Having grown up in the Northwest, I am proud to have my restaurant included on the National Geographic MapGuide,” Karen Lasher, the owner of Camas-based restaurant Around the Table, said in a press release. “Sustainable tourism is an important part of my business and my community, and I hope this MapGuide will inspire travelers to visit our beautiful region.”
