Spend an evening swapping adventure stories while discussing tourism for the 21st with Diane Strachan of Positive Futures. Strachan will share her insights from over 40 years of personal and professional world adventures and purpose-driven work in business, non-profit, and community development for a more prosperous and sustainable world on April 9, 2014 at the Sisson Museum in Mt. Shasta.
Strachan, a resident of Siskiyou County for 30 years, began her career with a degree in Environmental Studies and Planning in the early 1970’s. She was a pioneering professional outdoor guide, river runner, Outward Bound instructor, and adventure travel business designer/marketer. Working as a naturalist and consultant for public schools, park systems, city, county, state, and federal governments, and as professional facilitator for conflict resolution and organizational development, Strachan was the founding executive director of Siskiyou County’s Upper Sacramento River Exchange. Under her leadership the River Exchange received the Governor’s Award for Economic and Environmental Leadership in the area of Innovation for the State of California.
In addition to her leadership development work, Strachan has spent the last 2 years successfully designing and launching a new form of tourism for San Luis Obispo County that she will use as a model in her presentation. Her Stewardship Tourism programs and marketing strategies connect visitors and residents in a deeper way to people and places, provide opportunities for greater learning about those places, and emphasize pathways for visitors to contribute to making a difference during their vacations through donations and stewardship actions.
Strachan will weave adventure stories and insights during her presentation with the evolution and rise of Stewardship Tourism and emerging sustainable travel such as Geotourism, Volunteer Vacations, Sustainable Tourism, Green Travel, and Eco-tourism that benefit rural communities throughout California, the United States, and the world. Strachan’s adventurous life has deep roots in Mount Shasta.
In the early 60’s a nine-year-old Diane, parents, and her four brothers got stranded and fell in love with the town of Mt. Shasta after running out of gas money to get home while on vacation. In 1973 Strachan was in the first batch of long distance backpackers who walked the 1,500 miles to Mt. Shasta from Mexico on the Pacific Crest Trail, of which 500 miles of it at the time did not exist.
Past audiences have enjoyed her tales of adventure including one story that ended up featured in a book titled No Shit There I Was by Michael Hodgson. Additional adventures stories of Strachan’s include;
- The month she and a friend were stranded on one of Australia’s remote tropical islands, complete with barking crocodiles and voracious green ants, with just enough food for a week.
- Her solo exploration of death ceremonies in the interior rainforest of Indonesia’s Sulawesi and she stumbled upon an illegal cock-fighting gambling ring that was raided by armed guards just as she discovered it herself.
- For Strachan’s 50th she solo paddled the Whitsunday Islands 30 miles off mainland Australia in the Great Barrier Reef.
- She’s recently paddled in Nova Scotia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hawaii. Last year Strachan swam 15 miles over 5 days in Baja and took her own Pacboat kayak to Iceland to paddle amongst the icebergs with her son Will.
“We all have our own adventure stories to share,”” says Strachan. “What I find most fascinating about adventures is what we learn from them and how we apply our fresh awareness and new insights to our day to day lives in service to ourselves, our families, and our communities.”
“When I look into the future I see how we continue to need to be creative to thrive. We need new economic and social structures to deepen our appreciation of nature and each other, manage resources, educate ourselves, and live well and prosperous together. My vision over time is to help facilitate a highly collaborative and newsworthy Stewardship Tourism program for Siskiyou County that attracts tourists who care, includes building awareness, increasing economic gain, and provides for resource conservation. I am excited to introduce, stimulate, and discuss new ideas for both personal travel and the business of travel and look forward to meeting fellow supporters of the Siskiyou Land Trust.”
To see an example of Stewardship Tourism go to www.WineCoastCountry.com and click on Welcome Stewardship Travelers.
