Orleans Seeks Rare Surfrider Designation

ORLEANS – Orleans is in line to potentially become the first community in America to earn an Ocean Friendly Community designation from the Surfrider Foundation.

 The town has applied for the designation through the California-based foundation, which was formed in 1984. The application followed a statement of support for seeking the designation from the select board earlier this month.

 “No town has yet earned Ocean Friendly Community status from Surfrider,” the town said in a press release earlier this month. “If Orleans' application is approved, it would be the first in the nation to do so.”

 Surfrider has recognized restaurants, gardens and hotels nationally as “ocean friendly” through their efforts to more sustainably operate their businesses, including through commitments to eliminating the use of single-use plastic containers. 

 “The whole focus of those programs is to just bring to light sustainability and how businesses, restaurant owners and community members can bring ocean friendly practices into their everyday life,” said Isabella DeFrancesco, northeast regional manager for the Surfrider Foundation.

But it was Orleans that approached the foundation about being considered as an ocean friendly community, DeFrancesco said. She said the town and Laguna Beach, Calif. are currently in competition for the bragging rights of becoming Surfrider’s first ocean friendly community.

 “I think that draw, that ability to expose Orleans nationally as a community and be recognized for the work that it’s doing is what made the town excited about this process,” DeFrancesco said.

 The bid to become the first ocean friendly community is part of the town’s coastal stewardship initiative, a partnership between the town and the Communities That Care Coalition designed to “strengthen environmental stewardship, protect water resources, and promote sustainable practices across municipal operations, local businesses, and the broader community,” according to the release.

 Orleans’ pursuit of the designation is in line with its already healthy track record of environmental stewardship, the town noted in the release. That includes home rule petitions filed with the state legislature to curb the use of pesticides and fertilizers in town and long-range efforts to connect approximately 60 percent of the community to town sewer.

 “The Orleans community believes in the need to protect our waters, lands and wildlife. They are our most valuable environmental resource and economic asset, and Orleans has spent years building the pieces of this without necessarily calling it a single initiative,” said select board member Michael Herman.

 DeFrancesco said to achieve the community designation, the town has developed a phased three-year plan that calls for 75 percent of the town’s restaurants and hotels to meet Surfrider’s ocean friendly standards by fall 2029. That includes hitting a 60 percent benchmark in the first year, she said.

 “The way we’ve built this is we plan to celebrate all the different milestones,” DeFrancesco said. The official designation would be awarded when the town meets the year three milestones, “which could happen before year three,” she noted.

 Other goals include the establishment of an ocean friendly garden, which would be a first in New England, according to the release, as well as a public education pilot program to be launched at local businesses. 

 Achieving the designation could help the town qualify for grants and other funding that can further its sustainability efforts, DeFrancesco said. It also could be a boon to local tourism, she added.

 “Having something like being designated the first ocean friendly community in the nation, that is a huge draw and marketing opportunity,” she said.