By BOB WILBUR

I am Bob Wilbur, chair of Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve (COER), and I’m disagreeing with Allen McPheeters’ Aug. 28 column, which jabs at the Island County Joint Tourism Board for advocating regenerative tourism — i.e. promoting visitors who would come to participate in projects that would enhance Whidbey’s environs while making them feel they are contributing to bettering the world about us.

You seem to resent this sort of visitor involvement: “[T]he tourism board is acting as a fundraising and volunteer recruitment platform for environmental groups that have little or nothing to do with tourism.”

Contrary to that, I believe our tourists are drawn to the island particularly because of its environmental attributes, its sparkling shores and deep woods trails, its opportunities to camp, whale/bird watch, fish, boat, bike, or experience the sanctity of the country’s first national historic preserve. These all fit under the environmental umbrella.

So, we Whidbeyans and Camanoans are lucky to have vibrant networks and nonprofits that work in collaboration to secure these invaluable attributes that bring others to our islands for love of the outdoors.

A report from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis found that outdoor recreation in 2023 contributed 2.3% of the country’s gross domestic product, generated close to $1.2 trillion in economic output and accounted for about 5 million jobs. Washington’s outdoor recreation economy contributed about $22.5 billion and ranked sixth in the nation, according to the report. That’s up by about $2.5 billion over last year.

Do you really want to ignore those visitors and instead expand those who come to party by the water’s edge or the Harley Hogs groups that love to “cruise Whidbey?” We manage with a smile, but I suggest there is a ceiling.

On the flip side is protecting the island’s unique soundscape — like hearing the loon’s wail across the water, the splash of a salmon jump, a woodpecker hammering in the woods, the foghorn penetrating the mist. They are all part of the environ that bring so many visitors back.

Yet there was a tourism group that actually tried to promote Growler-watching as a visitor attraction. But when COER pointed out how noise levels at the OLF are loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss in just seconds of exposure — especially acute for children — they wisely abandoned that campaign.

But fewer practices at the OLF? … that might benefit tourism. While the Navy’s EA-18G Growler aircraft can be exciting to watch and their noise sensationally impressive for a short while, for visitors renting lodging in the toxic noise zone, it is invariably a major turnoff. Some pack up and leave early, others vow never to return. The same is true for those experiencing the noise while visiting Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve. As you know, Coupeville’s budget is very dependent on the return of these guests.

Allen, you go on to mock the 2.5% annual growth rate in tourism as unimpressive. Impressive or not, I’m not sure the growth rate is particularly pertinent. Relevant is how many visitors can we absorb without losing our sense of community, a question many tourist meccas now face and why compatible tourism is so important.

Regenerative tourism adds generally compatible diversity to visitor opportunities while growing the community’s bottom line. And instead of a footprint, it leaves Mother Nature a tip of appreciation.

Bob Wilbur is chair of Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve, an anti-noise activism group on Central Whidbey.