The Stikine River Jet Boat Association of Wrangell was awarded an Adventure Green Alaska (AGA) certification earlier this month.
AGA is a certification program offered through the non-profit, The Alaska Wilderness Recreation & Tourism Association. It encourages businesses in the state to be environmentally conscious while promoting sustainable tourism in Alaska.
AGA is the only sustainable tourism certification of its kind in the state.
Marjy Wood, executive director for the Stikine River Jet Boat Association said she wants the community to know the companies included in the association have a vested interest in keeping the area as clean and pristine as possible.
“The certification verifies that,” she said.
The Stikine River Jet Boat Association began the application process for AGA certification in October, said Wood. In early March, Wood heard the association, made of six local tour companies, had been awarded an AGA certification.
“The more certification the company can have, the better you are at doing what you do,” Wood said.
AGA was launched in 2008 and gives tourism businesses in Alaska the opportunity to be certified to help promote their business. The businesses that apply must use green practices and meet specific standards in economic, environmental and social sustainability.
Based on those practices, businesses are then granted gold, silver or bronze-level AGA certifications, according to the program’s website.
The Stikine Jet Boat Association was granted “silver” status. Wood said the AGA certification was a challenge for an association of gas-consuming and emission-creating jet boat companies.
However, the certification program also looks at what efforts Alaskan companies are taking to try to be more environmentally conscious— “what you can do to be more eco-friendly and still give the visitor a great experience,” Wood explained.
She said the jet boat association wanted to be as “green” as they could be in the confines of being tour businesses in Wrangell.
There are few opportunities to recycle in Wrangell, Wood said. However, members of the association do compost and recycle aluminum when possible, she said.
The 15-page AGA application also asked how the association was educating its members, as well as its customers, on climate change. Wood said every time a jet boat goes up the Stikine River, those aboard hear of the effects climate change has on the local landscape.
The Stikine River Jet Boat Association also uses local products to support local businesses, Wood said, which is another requirement of the AGA certification process.
So while the jet boat operators are causing emissions from their boats, Wood said, they are also making efforts to cut down on those emissions and that helped the association receive its AGA certification.
“They do use gas, they are noisy,” Wood said of the jet boats. “But all of the other factors rolled into it made it possible to be part of this.”
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