Do you live, work, and/or play in the Laurel Highlands or Pocono Forests and Waters Conservation Landscapes? Then you may be an ideal candidate for the first cohort of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Ambassador program!
Launching this year as a collaboration between PEC and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), the program provides training, resources, and a peer network for those who interact with visitors. This comes as parks across the state continue to see higher visitation rates than prior to the COVID pandemic.
“People fell in the love with the outdoors. They’re exploring more, and we just expect that trajectory to rise,” Gretchen Leslie, Senior Advisor at DCNR, said during an introductory webinar for the Outdoor Ambassador program.
Many of these are new visitors. By training ambassadors who are knowledgeable about hidden gems, must-try restaurants, and other attractions, we hope to cultivate positive experiences that encourage visitors to return and recommend these regions to family and friends.
“We think there’s a collective interest in improving the visitor frontline interaction,” said Amy Camp, who’s been leading the development of this pilot program.
The program is geared for DCNR staff and volunteers as well as businesses and organizations that interact with visitors. Becoming an ambassador takes approximately 20 hours, including:
- Self-paced online introductory material (1-2 hours)
- In-person classroom instruction (6 hours)
- Two site visit days (Approximately 6 hours each)
It’s important that participants be able to attend the in-person classroom sessions and site visits, which for both landscapes run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- In-person dates for the Laurel Highlands region are April 23, May 7, and May 20, 2025.
- In-person dates for the PFW region: April 9, April 30, and May 14, 2025
Pennsylvania has eight regions that DCNR has designated as Conservation Landscapes. They represent place-based partnerships aimed at promoting sustainability, conservation, community revitalization, and recreational projects. The Laurel Highlands, in southwestern Pennsylvania, is a landscape defined by three Allegheny Plateau ridges and portions of several watersheds. The Pocono Forests and Waters, in northeastern Pennsylvania, is composed of two distinct areas in Pike, Monroe, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, and Carbon counties.
“This is a program that was first imagined during the pandemic when there was this really great interest in the outdoors,” Camp explained. “Protecting some of our favorite places has to come into our thinking here.”
Elements of the program have been informed by months of stakeholder interviews, focus groups, surveys, and research on similar programs in other parts of the country.
Camp hopes participants get as much from the program as they are able to give back to the landscapes. Among the top reasons to participate are improving regional knowledge, visiting and becoming familiar with regional attractions, and getting to know members of the regional outdoor economy and outdoor recreation community.
Applications to the Outdoor Ambassador program must be submitted by March 1, 2025. To learn more and to apply, click here.