KSB NEEDS YOUR HELP!
The City of Sedona and the Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau partnered with non-profits, businesses, and governmental entities to develop a Sustainable Tourism Plan. The plan identifies sustainability practices that will support the long-term health of Sedona. Instead of focusing on attracting more visitors, the plan identifies ways to bring visitors’ impact into greater harmony with the environment.
The plan is built on four strategic pillars: Environment, Resident Quality of Life, Quality of the Economy, and Visitor Experience. For each of these pillars, the plan identifies specific objectives to be realized, along with broad tactics for realizing those objectives. Read the entire Sustainable Tourism Plan.
Keep Sedona Beautiful supports this effort and will partner with various stakeholders to implement the Sustainable Tourism Plan. We are the lead partner for four of the tactics. This means we will be responsible for working with our supporting partners to identify and implement specific actions with demonstrable results. The tactics include:
- Encourage less consumption of single-use plastics
- Advocate that the development of private/public lands is in alignment with sustainability goals
- Encourage grandfathered businesses and residents to implement dark sky-compliant lighting
- Encourage businesses and residents to eliminate the use of pesticides and other chemical products that may negatively impact the environment
KSB will function as a supporting partner for many additional tactics. We will work under the direction of the lead partner to help identify and implement specific actions for the following:
- Deploy a wider range of recycling resources/ containers in high-visitation areas and create effective branding to enhance utilization
- Increase the number of water refilling stations in the area
- Expand the capacity of local organizations to deepen the range of waste prevention and recycling
- Educate and encourage businesses to implement waste reduction and prevention programs
- Encourage businesses to implement water conservation programs
- Develop voluntourism opportunities that focus on the restoration and enhancement of Oak Creek and the Verde River
- Monitor trail utilization and implement programs that distribute visitation
- Investigate approaches to limit impacts of trailhead parking in Sedona neighborhoods
- Develop voluntourism opportunities that focus on the restoration and enhancement of trails and lands
- Adopt and expand Leave No Trace programs
- Build on existing recognition programs to highlight sustainable best practices by local businesses
- Develop a ‘Sedona Sensitive Visitor’ Pledge to help connect and engage visitors
- Develop a ‘Sedona Tourism Cares’ Pledge to help businesses put their sustainability beliefs into action
- Spur the Sedona Reinvestment Committee to incorporate sustainable thinking in all future initiatives
- Provide clarification to residents regarding
- Community Planning and Development policies related to lodging and other further developments
- Expand marketing to educate visitors on ways to monitor and limit the negative impacts of OHVs including noise and neighborhood disruption
- Develop initiatives that monitor and moderate noise levels and intrusion of helicopter tours
- Better coordinate with land managers, nonprofits, and businesses to develop collaborative solutions
- Identify and promote experiences that are synergistic with Sedona’s dark sky designation
- Develop a series of videos and downloadable content that provides a “local story,” while weaving sustainable practices
While challenging, implementing these tactics will improve residents’ quality of life and make visitors’ experiences richer, more rewarding, and less impactful on our environment.
If you are interested in volunteering some of your time to help KSB as we work with various partners to identify and implement specific actions, please call us at 928-282-4938 or email us at info@keepsedonabeautiful.org. Let us know how you believe you can help.