Here are student summaries of survey observations with visitors to the Tillamook Forest Center, adapted for the public Rain Festival event. Click on any title for details, then return to see all titles.
Tillamook Rain Festival Attendees and Their Relationship with the Tillamook forest
Event: Tillamook ForestInterviewer: Ava
Whom did you interview?
At the Tillamook Rain Festival, my group surveyed many different people who had come to see the festivities and had the opportunity to learn a little about the Tillamook community. Our group talked to a variety of visitors, including a mother and her four-year-old daughter, a grandfather and his granddaughter, a family of three with a teenage son, and a larger tour group. The mother seemed slightly indifferent about experiencing the festival herself but was happy to expose her daughter to the forest and allow her to explore the Tillamook exhibits. I also spoke to an older man who mentioned that he grew up in Southern Oregon, and has always been interested in camping, hiking, fishing, and other outdoor activities. He and his granddaughter were at the Tillamook Rain Festival to forage for mushrooms and get out into nature together. His granddaughter was also there for a biology class she’s taking at PCC. The other groups that we talked to also discussed enjoying the forest for its aesthetics and outdoor activities, and many of them had never been to the Tillamook Forest Center before. In general, people were friendly and willing to chat with us, and many were on their way to Tillamook-sanctioned events, such as mushroom foraging and the fish release.
How did your EcoTypes and SDG priorities compare?Based on age, gender, place of birth, and other variables that I noticed while surveying the attendees at the Tillamook Rain Festival, the people I talked to discussed many different priorities concerning forests and the environment. For example, I noticed that many of the older festival-goers said that their care for the forest stems from enjoying nature’s benefits and having exposure to the natural environment as a way to benefit them and their families. This rings alike to those with the Land Stewardship EcoType, as these people gave me the impression that they believed we can each care for natural resources to benefit everyone. Considering the importance of nature and humans having access to it (Human Place) to improve their own lives, these people consider their own impact on the environment to be small, focusing on Small Action. In contrast, many of the younger people that I talked to— including one friendly woman who seemed already very knowledgeable about forest conservation in Tillamook— emphasized that taking big steps towards systematic protections for our forests was important to them, and preserving Non-Human Place and areas of undisturbed environments was also a priority. These people seemed to back the Earth Action EcoType, which based on my survey groups’ observations is a common EcoType among younger people, at least comparatively to older generations. This could merely be a testament to the fact that young people tend to care more about environmental action and conservation efforts, as they recognize our modern societies’ moral obligation to preserve the earth for ourselves and future generations. I could also see how many of the people I talked to who were (1) not particularly informed about recent preservation efforts, and (2) were not particularly interested in being active participants in those efforts could also fit more snugly in the Small Green Steps EcoType instead, as they are more inclined to prioritizing Non-human Place and Small Action, and were less interested in the Big Action aspect. As for SDGs, since we were solely discussing forests and learning why these people were visiting the Tillamook Forest Center for the Rain Festival, we didn’t really focus on SDGs in our discussion. However, based on the information we gathered, it is not far-fetched to assume that many of these people may care about Good Health and Wellbeing, Life on Land, Life in Water, and Responsible Production and Consumption. Those who enjoy spending time outdoors, and believe that having access to these spaces improves their health and well-being would prioritize that SDG, while attendees who came to the Forest Center for the mushroom hunt and the salmon fish release might care about the Life on Land and Life in Water SDGs. The few people that we talked to who knew more about the logging and conservation aspect of Tillamook’s forests might rally behind the Responsible Production and Consumption EcoType, prioritizing preventing deforestation and using the forests’ resources mindfully. Overall, everyone I spoke to had slightly unique interests and priorities. However, the fact that all these people chose to spend their Saturday at the Rain Festival and visit the Tillamook Forest Center clearly shows that they ALL care about the forest in some way.
What larger MCJD lessons did you learn?For me, this activity highlighted how different demographics of people felt differently from the students surveying them. One of the biggest factors in the interactions that I had that contributed to this concept was age and place of birth. Many of the people I talked to were of an older demographic, and many of them were originally from Oregon or surrounding states. While talking to these people, I found that many of them expressed that they had maintained a relationship with the environment their whole lives, some proclaiming their love for activities like camping and fishing, and others talking about using nature as an outlet and/or place to decompress. Many of the older people that I talked to discussed how raising their children and grandchildren around nature was important to them, and one man even had come with his 19-year-old daughter, saying that they’d been doing things like this for years. I noticed that many of these people seemed to care about forests for the use and enjoyment that they get out of them, from enjoying the views of nature to sporting activities and spending time with family and friends. I didn’t speak to many people who talked about how they care about forests because of any specific environmental issue, or concern for conserving them. Where this differs from our group of surveyors is the younger generation tends to care more about environmental issues threatening forests, in addition to enjoying and appreciating nature for what it is. From my impression, young people care more about the preservation of forests, and protecting them for us in the future and for future generations, while older people care more about enjoying the environment that they have access to. Again, this highlights that while many people care about the same issues, they may care in different ways.