Where It All Began

A lot has happen I never imagined would. I am now trying to make sense of it by telling my story.

Back in July I was out kayaking at Beauvais Lake Provincial Park, where myself and fellow Canadian Conservation Corps (CCC) members were stationed for our field placement with Alberta Parks. 

It was late in the evening, I was simply enjoying the scenery and serenity, nothing out of the ordinary. Lost in my thoughts, I was running through everything from where I am at, whats to come, where I've been. 

Simply, deep into reflection as I was kayaking along the Lake.

It was during this evening where it hit me. A thought and question of how to interconnect my two passions of protecting the environment and love for paddling, a concept I wasn't sure how to relate on a bigger scale. 

An idea came to mind, to find and create greater opportunities for people to access paddling equipment to get outside to connect with outdoors, and foster the important awareness of respecting the environment we enjoy.  

I have always seen the value of getting more people outside and active. There are so many reasons why I feel I am a better person today because of the outdoors. I want others to have the opportunity to have a sense of that as well.

The best moments in my life have come while being active outdoors, and some of the best friendships are fostered outside.

I truly believe everyone should have the opportunity to experience and appreciate the beautiful environment around us, and feel no barriers and stigmas in getting to this point. 

Freedom of access I feel a lot of people I encounter have the stigma that it requires a lot of time and energy to do something fun outside. For instance, the planning stage of anything is scary and daunting at times, but I hope I can make people realize its much simpler than it looks

After all this reflection, I wrote all of my thoughts down on paper and discussed it with my fellow CCC friends, trying to grasp if this was even a good idea or even made sense. I was trying to think how I could even begin to start working on this thought I had. In later discussions with my CCC Pride family, a few members encouraged everyone to look into and apply to the Outdoor Nation Summit held by MEC across the country. This summit weekend has been organized by MEC for the last few years that aims to bring new ideas to get more people outside to life, and facilitate advocates of the outdoors to be apart of this movement. An opportunity to network with leaders in the outdoor industry, and secure potential funding and partnership with MEC and/or other organizations in some shape or form.

 I took the opportunity to apply to the MEC Outdoor Nation Summit in Toronto Ontario that occurred on September 21 to 23rd. At the time of applying I was scheduled to be back in Ontario beginning my stage 3 of CCC. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to attend the summit, I was filled with so many positive emotions!

However, an exciting opportunity to facilitate Group 5 in Cochrane AB also presented itself, extending my stay in AB for the month of September. Luckily, I was able to send a representative of my idea in my place, and none other than my good friend Trevor from university was super stoked to attend the summit in my place and experience the weekend. This is how our formal partnership surrounding this idea began, another good reason to visit each other. 

The results of Trevor's personable skills and excitement surrounding the summit lead my idea into the start of the weekend as being one of  80 ideas being pitched, to carrying my idea all the way to the top 4 ideas by the last day of weekend! 

His hard work of networking and presenting carried this idea to a whole new level I never expected to reach! Our constant communication throughout the weekend was filled with excitement, nerve-racking moments, and amazement!

These past few months since thinking of the idea, to developing it at the summit have been BUSY; from establishing a name that truly represents our vision of this initiative, to all the paperwork and development collaboration with the Outdoor Nation team from MEC!  Trevor and I are aiming to launch a couple pilot events in summer 2019 along the shoreline of Lake Huron & Ontario.

I have come to realize this idea has more potential than just a thought it once had, its something that can lead to positive change.

Thus, "Preservation Paddle" was born.

Preservation Paddle is a program designed to create a space for a wider audience to have the opportunity to access paddling equipment through exchanging an act of conservation/environmental stewardship. This program will foster a space where a conservation based reward system will allow people to break the barriers otherwise holding them back from experiencing paddling on the open water. Whether that’s due to high rental fees, financially, time commitment, transportation restrictions are just some examples of potential barriers. Thus, anything holding someone back from experiencing paddling, Preservation Paddle aims to break those barriers and create that opportunity.

To create this barrier free platform, Preservation Paddle’s reward based program is designed around; simple beach clean ups, and volunteer hour receipts. This will be outlined based on a participant’s level of commitment to conservation that include volunteer hours, statistics of an event that are signed off by the coordinator of the event/organization to validate their efforts. These are just some examples of conservation actions and commitments that would be exchanged for a time slot to experience paddling at a reduced rate or even free of cost. Preservation Paddle will be developing partnerships with local outfitters and other environmental organizations to connect a wide-ranging of a community of like minded organizations with a common passion for enjoying, experiencing and protecting the outdoors.

Preservation Paddle looks to:

Create access to paddling by exchanging conservation action & commitment to foster a space to paddle and preserve the open water.

Stay tuned for 2019.

I am so stoked to see this initiative develop over the next while! Follow along, I would love to hear your insight!

Preservation Paddle;

Email: preservationpaddle@gmail.com

Instagram: @preservationpaddle

Facebook: Preservation Paddle