Major Conservation Challenges Have a New Solution: Activating Outdoor Industry Partners in the Wild for Measurable Impact

March 11, 2026

Adventure Scientists is mobilizing thousands of outdoor enthusiasts across the Pacific Northwest to protect threatened species, old‑growth forests, and iconic ecosystems while giving brands a powerful way to align purpose with real‑world impact.

/OUTDOOR SPORTSWIRE/ – The Pacific Northwest is a rare convergence point: globally significant biodiversity, world‑class outdoor recreation, and a dense concentration of outdoor industry brands whose businesses depend on healthy, resilient landscapes. The region’s old-growth forests, high‑alpine terrain, and coastal waters support threatened species, active communities, and recreation economies that fuel the outdoor sector. Protecting these places, however, requires something that’s often in short supply: reliable data from rugged, remote landscapes.

Adventure Scientists is serving as a link between outdoor recreation and conservation science, activating outdoor enthusiasts and trained volunteers to gather scientifically rigorous data in places that are difficult, expensive, or near impossible for agencies to reach alone. Over the last 15 years, Adventure Scientists has become a major conservation presence, supporting data‑driven decisions that shape habitat protection, recreation planning, and long‑term climate resilience across forests, mountains, fresh water, and oceans.

Rather than pulling people out of the outdoors, Adventure Scientists embeds conservation into the adventures people are already having. Hikers, backpackers, trail runners, backcountry skiers, split-boarders, mountain bikers, paddlers, surfers, and mountaineers collect high‑quality data while moving through the landscapes they love. Every volunteer is trained, every protocol is vetted, and every dataset is designed to meet the standards required by land managers, agencies, and research institutions.

Conservation Impact Across the PNW

In forests across Washington, Oregon, and surrounding regions, volunteers are carrying passive recording devices deep into National Forests and BLM lands. These recorders capture the sounds of wildlife over extended periods, helping US Forest Service researchers understand how endangered species use old‑growth forests. The resulting data fills critical gaps and informs decisions about forest management, habitat protection, and recreation access.

High in the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges, mountaineers and backcountry skiers are helping to save whitebark pine trees, a keystone species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. These trees stabilize snowpack, support watersheds, and shape the resilience of mountain ecosystems, yet they grow in places that are notoriously difficult to access. Volunteer‑powered fieldwork allows land managers to assess tree health, identify priority restoration areas, and protect the species that anchor high‑elevation landscapes.

Along the Pacific coastline, surfers, kayakers, and coastal explorers are helping to document sightings and behavior of Southern Resident orcas, one of the region’s most iconic and endangered marine species. These observations support NOAA and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s workings to protect critical habitats and safeguard the coastal ecosystems that support both wildlife and recreation‑based economies.

What ties all of this work together is scale and rigor. Adventure Scientists develops detailed Quality Assurance Plans for every effort, resulting in research‑grade data trusted by federal and state agencies, nonprofits, NGOs, universities, and research institutions that can directly inform conservation action.

For outdoor brands and marketing leaders, this model offers something rare: authentic, field‑level impact that’s inherently aligned with how your communities already engage with the outdoors. Supporting Adventure Scientists enables tangible conservation outcomes while creating compelling storytelling opportunities rooted in real adventure, real science, and real results.

Get Involved

Adventure Scientists is actively seeking partnerships with outdoor and active‑lifestyle brands, organizations, retailers and outfitters, athletes, creators, and event organizers who want to connect recreation with real conservation outcomes.

Ways to engage include, but are not limited to:

• Sponsoring conservation fieldwork in regions that matter to your audience
• Activating athlete teams, ambassadors, employees, or customers as trained Adventure Scientists volunteers or contributors
• Co‑creating content and cause‑marketing initiatives through athlete participation, expedition storytelling, and campaigns that connect time outside to measurable impact
• Integrating Adventure Scientists’ field science into brand storytelling, events, and community activations

A trail run, a ski tour, a paddle, or a day in the forest can generate data that protects the places we all depend on. Adventure Scientists makes that connection possible.

Learn more and explore partnership opportunities at adventurescientists.org/corporate-partners/.

About Adventure Scientists

Adventure Scientists is a nonprofit organization that equips partners with high-quality data collected from the outdoors to help solve pressing environmental challenges. By mobilizing trained volunteers and applying rigorous scientific protocols, the organization delivers hard-to-get data at scale, enabling more informed conservation and sustainability decisions worldwide.

For Partnerships & Media Outreach:

Chrissy Very, Impact Marketing Manager

chrissy@adventurescientists.org

(406) 624-3320 x 728