As the world celebrates Earth Day on April 22, the anniversary of the modern environmental movement, many Jellystone Park locations are stepping up their efforts to protect the environment.
“Our franchisees are increasingly transitioning to paperless check-ins and promoting recycling as much as possible. Some Jellystone Park locations even use recycled materials for their arts and crafts activities,” said Trent Hershenson, vice president of marketing for Camp Jellystone, the Milford, Ohio-based company that franchises Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts across the U.S. and Canada.
Many locations are coming up with creative ways to promote recycling. Consider the Jellystone Park in North Java, New York, which provides its guests with a blue recycling bag for cans and bottles as soon as they arrive.
“We tell guests we collect cans and bottles and use the proceeds to purchase Christmas gifts for families in need in Wyoming County,” said Chelsey Schreiber, the park’s senior resort manager.
Last year, the park collected more than 90,000 cans, which not only raised $6,500 in funding that was used to purchase clothing for families in need, but also kept those cans out of landfills
“It’s super easy with the blue bags, and guests love that they are making a difference,” Schreiber said. “We have a lot of participation.”
In addition to promoting recycling, Jellystone Park locations in Fremont, Indiana and Luray, Virginia have wildlife-themed weekends featuring educational talks with guest speakers who discuss the importance of protecting the environment. The locations have also reduced their paper consumption by creating a digital “guest dashboard” on their websites where guests can access all of the information they need during their stay. Signage has also been placed in all of their cabins to encourage guests to minimize their electricity consumption by turning off lights, air-conditioning, and heating when they’re not in the cabins.
Here’s a sampling of green initiatives at other Jellystone Park locations across North America:
Bostic, North Carolina: In addition to promoting recycling, this location has wildlife-themed weekends featuring educational talks with guest speakers who discuss the importance of protecting the environment. The park has reduced its paper consumption by creating a digital guest dashboard on its website where guests can access all of the information they need during their stay. Also, signage has been placed in all cabins encouraging guests to minimize their electricity consumption by turning off lights, air-conditioning, and heating when they’re not in the cabin. https://campgoldenvalley.com/
Brandon, South Dakota: This location has converted all of its lighting to LED lights. The park also promotes recycling. https://www.jellystonesiouxfalls.com/
Carver, Massachusetts: This location has a new digital brochure this year that guests can access online so not every guest has to have a paper copy of informational materials. https://cranberryacresjellystonepark.com/
Gardiner, New York: This location handles all of its reservations online and emails invoices and receipts to save paper. https://lazyriverny.com/
Glen Ellis, New Hampshire: This location has refillable water stations throughout the park as well as recycling bins near its dumpsters, which guests can use throughout their stay. The park also launched an interactive, digital brochure this year to reduce the use of paper. https://glenellisjellystone.com/
Harrisville, Pennsylvania: This park is a three-time winner of the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds’ Plan-it-Green Award, which recognizes exceptional water, energy, and recycling initiatives in campgrounds and RV parks. The Harrisville park has invested in motion-activated faucets and lights, a solar-heated swimming pool, high-efficiency toilets, tankless water heaters, and a paperless reservation system. Also, the park’s walkways are made of all-natural materials. Even its laser tag battlefield is made entirely of recycled or repurposed materials, including recycled tires, recycled building materials, and recycled playground equipment. https://pittsburghjellystone.com/
Kerrville, Texas: This location purchases paper towels made from recycled paper and uses eco-friendly toilet paper, facial tissues, and LED lightbulbs. All lights and air-conditioning units are turned off after each cleaning by housekeeping staff to avoid wasting energy. Signage is also posted in each cabin encouraging guests to turn off lights, televisions, fans, and heating or air-conditioning whenever they leave the cabin. https://jellystoneguadalupe.com/
Larkspur, Colorado: This location uses eco-friendly packaging for its food services. Guests also need to use recycled bags at the camp store because disposable bags are not available. https://www.sunoutdoors.com/colorado/jellystone-park-larkspur
Lodi, California: This location provides recycling containers at each campsite. https://towerparkresort.com/
Mexico, New York: This location has recycling barrels for cans and bottles throughout the campground, which are picked up by a local recycler. The park also prohibits burning of plastic products as well as wooden pallets. https://jellystonecny.com
Milton, New Hampshire: This location has a new digital brochure this year that guests can access online instead of relying on paper brochures. https://www.lakesregionjellystone.com/
Port Huron, Michigan: This location has installed touchless bathroom fixtures with timers to reduce unnecessary water use. The park also requests that job applicants apply online rather than requesting hard copy applications. Social media and smartphone apps are used to advertise hours of operation and recreational activities to reduce paper consumption. https://northporthuronjellystone.com
Quarryville, Pennsylvania: This location has a recycling bin in its front office where it keeps old papers that can be reused as scrap paper. The park is also now using paper bags for its guest check-in packets. https://jellystonepa.com/
Pouch Cove, Newfoundland: This location has a recycling shed and encourages guests to drop off their plastic and paper for recycling. Plastic caps from beverage containers are also collected for repurposing by local crafters. https://www.marineparknl.com/
Tabor City, North Carolina: This location is offering a new Yogi Bear costumed character experience this year with an environmental theme. This new experience includes a nature walk, a craft, a lesson with “Leave No Trace” curriculum, s’mores around a bonfire, and a visit from a Yogi Bear character. https://taborcityjellystone.com/
Uniontown, Ohio: This location was a finalist in the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds’ Plan-it-Green Award competition last year. This year, the park has launched a new program that weaves green initiatives and education into campground activities as well as employee training. In recent years, the park also added solar panels to its pool area, purchased energy-efficient appliances, and invested in natural park roads and landscaping, including hundreds of new trees. https://akroncantonjellystone.com/
Williamsport, Maryland: This location offers a paperless reservation system and offers paper bags and reusable bags for sale at its store. Recycling bags are also provided in every cabin along with recycling pickup services. Recycled materials are used in its arts and crafts activities. Friendly reminders have been placed in all cabins encouraging guests to turn off lights, appliances, and fans when not in use. The campground has also converted much of its lighting to energy-efficient LED lights. The park also purchases items through Amazon Smile, which donates 0.5% of qualified purchases to The Nature Conservancy. https://jellystonemaryland.com/
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin: This location uses Yogi Bear, Boo Boo, and Cindy Bear to make its recycling program kid-friendly and family-friendly. Guests are given a blue bag for recyclables and a green compost bag upon arrival at the park and are directed to the many recycling stations throughout the campground. Use of this program enabled the park to reduce its landfill waste by 25 percent when the program launched in 2018. https://www.dellsjellystone.com
About Camp Jellystone
With 75 locations across the United States and Canada, Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts feature fun attractions such as pools and water slides, non-stop family activities, up-close fun with Yogi Bear characters, and glamping-style accommodations. For more information about Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts, please visit www.jellystonepark.com. For more information on franchising opportunities, please visit www.jellystonefranchise.com. Camp Jellystone is part of Sun Outdoors’ family of brands.
About Sun Outdoors
Sun Outdoors is a leader in outdoor hospitality and is committed to its mission of offering guests exceptional and transformative outdoor experiences. With over 150 locations across the U.S. and Ontario, Canada, Sun Outdoors offers guest several ways to stay: from RV sites to vacation rentals, from tent camping to glamping, whether they stay for a weekend, season, or longer. Visit www.sunoutdoors.com to learn more.