Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR) has donated $5,000 to the Petrolia Volunteer Fire Department, a quarter of the department’s $20,000 fundraising goal. The all-volunteer department serves the Mattole Valley in one of the most remote corners of Humboldt County, along a stretch of the Lost Coast BDR-X. The donation will help the department buy protective gear, radios, and rescue equipment.
On the Lost Coast, help can be a long way off. For residents, ranchers, and local businesses, as well as the riders who travel the area’s backroads, Petrolia Fire is often the first and only source of help in an emergency. Since its launch last year, the Lost Coast BDR-X has become a favorite among riders, bringing more visitors to the region than ever. For BDR, supporting the department that looks after this community is part of being a good neighbor.
“Volunteer fire departments like Petrolia’s are the backbone of rural communities like this one. When there’s a fire, a medical emergency, or an accident on a back road, these volunteers show up for everyone, whether you’ve lived here for generations or you’re just passing through. Our routes depend on the communities they run through, and we want to give something back to the people who make this region what it is.”
Inna Thorn BDR Executive Director
Part of a Broader Commitment to Route Communities
The donation reflects BDR’s longstanding belief that backcountry routes should strengthen the places they pass through. BDR routes bring travelers to small towns for fuel, food, lodging, and supplies, and BDR works to ensure its riders are respectful, welcome visitors in those communities.
That means encouraging riders to travel responsibly: slowing down near homes, ranches, and livestock; staying on designated roads; respecting private property; and supporting local businesses along the way. BDR understands that riding through these communities makes its riders guests in someone else’s backyard, and that comes with responsibility. The organization is committed to earning a reputation as a good neighbor in every community along its routes.
BDR plans to continue investing in the communities along the Lost Coast BDR-X and its other routes, and welcomes conversations with local residents and landowners about how riders and communities can best share these roads.
How to Help
The Petrolia Fire campaign remains open. BDR encourages riders, Lost Coast visitors, and anyone who values rural emergency services to donate at www.petroliafire.org and share the campaign to help it reach beyond the Mattole Valley.
