Alternative Transportation EcoVacation

Forest Unlimited and EcoRing are planning an “Alternative Transportation EcoVacation” in late April or May of 2011 as one of EcoRing’s EcoAdventures.   This is a eleven-day tour from the Ferry Building in San Francisco to the Russian River and back via a variety of modes of transportation including ferry, bicycle, horse, kayak, hiking boots, electric cars, electric scooters, bus, and with SMART’s approval, railroad speeders!

The tour will follow the historic route of three railroads:  the North Pacific Coast Railroad (Sausalito to Cazadero), the Northwestern Pacific (Duncan’s Mills to Forestville), the Santa Rosa and Petaluma Railroad (Forestville to Sebastopol to Railroad Square in Santa Rosa) and the Northwestern Pacific again (Santa Rosa to Larkspur).   We have agreements with Getaway Adventures and Wildfire Stables to provide the bicycles, kayaks and horses for transportation. Innkeepers along the route have agreed to provide lodging.  The exact route is substantially set.

We want this trip to be more that just a fun adventure.   We want it to be educational, not just for the eleven travelers, but also for the general public and especially the public officials of both Marin and Sonoma Counties.   Here are our underlying goals:

1. Prove the economic and physical feasibility of a tour without standard autos.

2. Promote the use of public transit.

3. Create public support for funding of non-auto transportation infrastructure (trains, trails, electric car charging stations, bike paths, equestrian trails and appropriately placed lodging).

4. Encourage decision makers to support alternative transportation.

5. Raise awareness of the important work done by local nonprofit groups.

6. Forge a cooperative alliance among environmental, business, trail, and bicycle and rail organizations.

7. Extend the tourist season into the off-season.

8. Support local ecotourism and publicize the beauty of Sonoma and Marin Counties.

9. Encourage local businesses to get green certification by EcoRing.

10. Create additional EcoAdventures.

11. Raise money for environmental organizations.

12. Educate tourists as well as the general public about local history and bay, ocean, river and forest ecology.

13. Educate the public on the effects of public policy on environmental protection. 

14. Promote local authors, artists and musicians.

Travel writers and public officials will be invited to take the first tour. Several have already committed to take part.   If this pilot project is successful, we will make this EcoVacation a yearly event (or offer it several times a year.) Participants will lodge at inns, retreat centers and B&Bs.  Each day along the route, short presentations will be made by a variety of organizations regarding their programs.  The tour members will visit the San Francisco Bay, Richardson Bay, Tomales Bay, both in Marsh, Estero Americano, Estero de San Antonio and the Laguna de Santa Rosa. They will horseback ride the Camino Alto, Loma Alta and White Hill Open Space Preserves as well as the Freezeout Creek addition to the Sonoma Coast State Park.  They will visit Samuel P. Taylor, Armstrong Redwoods, Sonoma Coast and Tomales Bay State Parks.  They will also visit the Tamalpais Slough, the Russian River and several creeks as well as recent acquisitions by the Sonoma County Agricultural and Open Space District including Willow Creek, Freezeout and Jenner Headlands. They will visit historic railroad stations in Sausalito, Fairfax, Duncan’s Mills, Korbel, Sebastopol, Santa Rosa and Petaluma and learn the history of the railroads.

Because this EcoAdventure has social, political and economic goals, it is a tour with a purpose. Consequently, we will be mounting a serious and extensive marketing program aimed at raising public interest in alternative transportation and marshaling public support for alternative transportation infrastructure funding.   This will include articles in travel magazines and local newspapers, a website with a real-time video and daily account of the trip, a documentary film and public presentations by a variety of environmental and alternative transportation groups. 

Supervisors from both counties have agreed to take at least part of the tour, so that they can experience, first had, the infrastructure needs.  Also State Senator Wes Chesbro and SMART Board Chair, Debra Fudge have expressed interest in participating. Mayors of the Cities visited will also be contacted and at least one has already said she wants to take the trip.  

Because each segment of the tour utilizes a different mode of transportation, the tour provides many opportunities to spread the message of alternative transportation.  Furthermore, “welcoming committees” who highlight various infrastructure needs and provide opportunities for news stories will greet the tour members along the route.

Various groups, including environmental, bicycle, rail and history groups have committed to participate.   The Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society, The North Bay Electric Auto Association, LandPaths, Sonoma Land Trust, the Laguna Foundation, Marconi State Conference Center, Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods, Audubon’s Cypress Grove Research Station and Coastwalk have agreed to give presentations. Various authors, musicians and artists have agreed to provide evening programs at each inn.

The excitement is building.  This adventure can really move forward the collective goals we all share. All aboard!