New Guide Called “Chelan County Living” Now Available

A new land and resource guide for Chelan County is now available. 

It's called Chelan County Living, which includes sections focused on outdoor recreation, local wildlife and wildfires among other things. 

Chelan County Living was picked up as a project earlier this year by Visit Chelan County, which is a nonprofit agency that works to grow tourism within the county. 

It was originally published as the Chelan County Good Neighbor Handbook, produced by the Chelan Douglas Land Trust.  

In 2017, the Wenatchee Outreach Committee, a subcommittee of the Wenatchee Watershed Planning Unit of Chelan County Natural Resources, led a community effort to publish an update to the guide. 

Visit Chelan County Executive Director Jerri Barkley says the new guide is meant to give visitors insight into the land and resource priorities in the county. 

“Just a little deeper dive into the quality of life here, and the things that we value, and the things that we spend our resources on,” said Barkley. “That’s the kind of information that was the intention of having in this guide.” 

The guide is available online, with printed copies available at the local chambers of commerce throughout the county, including chambers in Entiat, Cashmere, Chelan, Manson, Leavenworth, Wenatchee and Plain. 

Barkley says they plan to make the guide available to tourists and visitors. 

“It is our intention to have them available at all of the short-term rentals that are permitted in Chelan County, so that when people come to visit, they just have kind of a coffee table book that has a little information about our area, and things that they might find interesting,” said Barkley.  

Those local organizations that have partnered on the publication include: Cascade Community Markets, Sustainable NCW, TREAD-CW, Cascade Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group, Cascadia Conservation District, Chelan County, Chelan Douglas Land Trust, Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition, Trout Unlimited, USDA Forest Service, Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, WSU Chelan Douglas County Master Gardener Program, Wenatchee Outdoors and the Wenatchee Valley Museum.