Submitted by Wild Olympics
Local Olympic Peninsula elected officials, business owners, and economic development leaders announced a new partnership with REI and Patagonia to promote the Wild Olympics Campaign at REI Seattle and online to encourage their customers to visit the spectacular Olympic Peninsula. The new effort comes out of an inclusive process involving local communities, businesses and economic leaders of the Olympic Peninsula, who helped to shape the initiative.
As part of the partnership, local elected officials from the Olympic Peninsula, the Wild Olympics Campaign, outdoor recreation groups, REI, and Patagonia unveiled a new “Destination Wild Olympics” map, highlighting some of the great recreation places in the Wild Olympics proposal. The map was designed with extensive input from local Olympic Peninsula business owners, economic development leaders and local elected officials, who announced their support for the initiative, calling it an amazing economic opportunity for the Peninsula.
The Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was reintroduced last year by U.S. Senator Patty Murray and Representative Derek Kilmer. The bill would permanently protect over 126,000 acres of new Wilderness areas in the Olympic National Forest, and 19 Olympic Peninsula rivers and their tributaries as Wild and Scenic Rivers — the first ever Wild and Scenic Rivers on the Peninsula. Designed through extensive community input to protect ancient forests, clean water, and enhance outdoor recreation, the Wild Olympics legislation has been endorsed by more than 550 local businesses, sportsmen organizations, outdoor recreation groups, faith leaders, conservation groups and local elected officials, and more than 12,000 local residents have signed petitions in support.
REI and Patagonia have set up a popup Patagonia store on the second story of REI Seattle, one of the most visited destinations in Seattle. The store highlights key campaigns and the special outdoor places on public lands that they are both supporting through their work with the Conservation Alliance, a national coalition of outdoor industry leaders. They chose to feature the Wild Olympics Campaign as their first campaign because of the worldclass outdoor recreation destinations on the Peninsula the campaign is seeking to protect. The outdoor retailers worked with local supporters of the campaign and other local Olympic Peninsula business and economic development leaders to highlight the special places on the Olympic Peninsula in the Wild Olympics proposal. Together their brands have a worldwide reach.
The map is available to download for free at wildolympics.org. Free hard copies of the map will also be available at REI retail outlets in the Puget Sound area. Aberdeen based PR and Marketing firm Alder Creative is helping the new partnership launch a sustained marketing effort of the new map that will continue throughout the summer and will be distributing free copies of the map for pickup at the hundreds of local Olympic Peninsula businesses who have endorsed Wild Olympics.
