How onX Celebrated National Public Lands Day
We’ve staked our business on the sustainability of public lands—which is why we’re giving back to the places that have enriched our lives so much. Whatever your adventure, onX is here to help you navigate it while giving back to the outdoors. Through our long history we’ve developed deep relationships with partners across our audiences, including Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Pheasants Forever, TreadLightly!, Leave No Trace, and countless others to help connect you with opportunities to give back alongside those leading the way in access and stewardship. We believe in the power of partnership and collaboration, which is why onX joined in on the largest nationwide day of stewardship in the calendar year—National Public Lands Day.
We set out to do a couple of things on September 24th;
- Enable our staff to use company time to engage in trail projects that mean something to them, individually.
- Secondly, we empowered you to get out and give back to public lands that mean something to you.
In an effort to help us reach the second goal, onX and its People Success team gave employees one day of company-sponsored time to give back to a trail in their region. We have hubs across the country where onX’ers can congregate with their colleagues, and each Basecamp (employee hub) came up with their own project. Whether that cleanup took place during business hours or on a weekend, every employee was given an additional eight hours of Volunteer Time Off on top of the yearly allotment of the original eight hours. Check out a map of our current Basecamp locations below.
Our staff is a passionate bunch—they’re whitetail fanatics, mountain climbers, rock crawlers, and acutely in tune with the wilderness around them. Keeping that stoke alive is something we cherish, and giving back is something that comes naturally to this group. We, as individuals and the collective, recognize that impacts on the local level can make waves across our community and beyond.
The Data
- 67 onXers participated in National Public Lands Day.
- 23 project locations across 11 states.
- Over 300 hours of volunteer time committed.
Stewardship Takes Many Different Forms
We’ve learned a lot throughout our history, and one of those lessons is that Access and Stewardship are nuanced topics. They mean something different to many different communities. Dogmen in the Deep South are going to have a different perspective than an adaptive skier from Connecticut or a woman participating in the Rebelle Rally spanning Nevada and California. We learned a lot about this through our Shared Ground Symposium in August 2022. That breadth of projects onX’ers participated in for NPLD illuminated how vast a spectrum stewardship encompasses.
- We picked up trash in
- 10 locations in Montana
- Cushing, Wisconsin
- Lakeville, Minnesota
- Wheat Ridge, Colorado
- Loveland, Colorado
- Austin, Texas
- Edinboro, Pennsylvania
- Prescott, Arizona
- Removed invasive plants in
- Seattle, Washington
- Portland, Oregon
- Built fences in
- Bozeman, Montana
- Built mountain bike trails in
- Richmond, Virginia
- Portland, Maine
While many of us listened to the rustling of the fall leaves, crunching beneath our boots, and ducks quacking, we heard some hilarious and heartfelt things both from passersby and fellow staffers we thought to share with you.
“This is the 100th time I’ve gotten out of my truck to pick up a Budweiser can.” – Ross Carlson
“Is that a Funkwerks beer? I’m disappointed in you hipsters!” – The Denver Crew
“Thank you for taking the time to clean up this area. We truly appreciate your effort.” – passing motorist
“I got several ‘thank yous’ from people recreating on the trail. It felt really good to be out on a trail I use all the time, helping keep it clean.” – Rachael Caldwell
Looking Back
While this was a special occasion for all of us at onX to put the gloves on, get dirty, and clean up some local trails, it’s only a part of a larger effort to create more access possibilities for generations to come. We’re continually giving grants to trail groups, enabling our staff to spend company-sponsored time restoring their natural environments, and inviting you to join us in that effort. Thanks for your part in making this National Public Lands Day a success.