BURSTA new project in Smithers aims to raise money for the Babine River Foundation.
The Tackle Box Project is a new collaboration between Tourism Smithers and Oscar’s Source For Adventure.
The two organizations worked together to design two different t-shirts, each featuring a classic steelhead fly, and printed by a local company, Smokescreen Graphics & Embroidery.
Ten dollars from every shirt goes directly to the Babine River Foundation. Since 2005, the foundation has funded more than 25 projects protecting the Babine watershed, along with the wildlife that depends on it.
Recently, the foundation, along with their partners, did an economic study on the value of steelhead fishing. Marketing and design specialist with Tourism Smithers Joshua Seinen said that study and realizing how much the environment is tied with local tourism inspired them to do the Tackle Box Project.
“In that study, they found, on average, that each steelhead caught and released by an angler contributes approximately $3,500 to the local economy,” he said. “That is amazing. These numbers, they really demonstrate that protecting the wild steelhead, it’s not just about conservation, it’s about the economic and cultural value, and that’s why with this first kind of kick at the can, we really see an opportunity to do something.”
He explained the Tackle Box Project is the first in a series to highlight or put a spotlight on non-project organizations in the region.
“It’s the very beginning of something that we are hoping that the hook sets and the community begins to really attach itself to something like this,” he explained. “Because you know ownership is important, and as a community, when we learn about the things that are being done that make our community so great, we really want this idea of brand evangelism, where these, our community members, will say thank you with their dollars, and that’s kind of the whole idea about it.”
Organizers are trying to make it easy for people to donate to local organizations, he added, instead of having to go online and look for a donation link, the Tackle Box Project makes it easy to give to the Babine River Foundation.
“You can just come into the Visitor’s Centre or Oscar’s and purchase a shirt. And that’s your way of tipping the hat.”