22 BRAND STORY PRODUCED BY THE OREGON BUSINESS MARKETING DEPARTMENT BY NAN DEVLIN “Welcome,” “parking,” “one way,” “tourist office,” … When directing visitors to our towns, we focus on guiding their cars to entrances and services, and rightly so. Communities use wayfinding to create safe, smooth visitor experiences that enhance the local tourism economy. But wayfinding can be more than that. It has the power to increase local and visitor understanding of the places in which they live and travel. A memorable visitor experience connects people to place. It creates a journey that involves both tangible and intangible factors. Many places, especially popular destinations, offer kiosks with printed or digital maps, transportation routes, QR codes or even a visitor center hotline. Historical sites will often feature informational placards about associated figures or events. Less commonly found, especially in rural areas, are interpretive signs that share stories about wildlife, natural resources, stewardship, local history and native peoples. In 2014, when Tillamook County implemented a transient lodging tax, it issued a directive to the new county-wide tourism organization, Visit Tillamook Coast: Develop a comprehensive wayfinding system. The county commissioners aimed to direct visitors to small towns across the 72-mile-long county in order to ease traffic on Highway 101, the ribbon of road that connects the entire Oregon Coast, and bring economic vitality to businesses not on that highway. Visit Tillamook Coast worked with Lennox Insites, a well-known wayfinding and interpretive firm that previously worked with Nehalem Bay State Park and Partners Wayfinding in Tillamook County: Connecting People to Place New county tourism organization installs signage to inspire visits to coastal towns. Below you flows the Nehalem River—part of the Greater Nehalem Watershed that stretches from Vernonia on the east side of the Oregon Coast Range, combining the waters of Salmonberry River, North Fork of the Nehalem and Cook Creek. One of Oregon’s longest free-flowing rivers, the Nehalem runs 120 miles (193 kilometers) from its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, the river supports vital habitat for wild steelhead, Coho and Chinook salmon, which in turn provides food for people and wildlife, recreational fishing and nutrients for the land and the ocean. Catch and release only fishing for wild winter steelhead is popular in the Nehalem River during February and March. The river provides one of the few remaining Wild Coho salmon seasons in Oregon. Runs of hatchery Coho with clipped fins also inhabit the river. As you paddle along the river or view from the banks, look for these fish and other wildlife such as river otter, beaver, osprey, black-tailed deer or elk. Check with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for specific regulations at www.fw.state.or.us. Connecting Mountains to Ocean The Nehalem River Watershed right: Osprey below: River Otter Photo: Justin Bailie Photography “Interpretive signs are key to educating both residents and visitors about history, culture and stewardship, and with the intent of inspiring respect for the place they live and visit.” CHARLES LENNOX, LENNOX INSITES
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