2024 Great Lakes Outdoor Summit Session Recordings
On October 24-26, 2024, over 300 outdoor recreation professionals and advocates from 14 different states attended the Great Lakes Outdoor Summit in Duluth, Minnesota to learn, network, and adventure together. On Friday, October 25, attendees enjoyed an inspiring keynote speaker, 12 educational sessions lead by over 30 industry leaders, and ample networking opportunities. Below are the session recordings and PDF slide presentations free for download and sharing.
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Welcome
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Welcome to the Great Lakes Outdoor Summit! Filmed on October 25, 2024 in Duluth, Minnesota. This Opening Ceremony is mc'd by Hansi Johnson of the Duluth Area Outdoor Alliance and has special guests Amy Klobuchar, US Senator, and Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert.
Judy Gibbs “Unless” Award
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One of the reasons we come together at the Great Lakes Outdoor Summit is to celebrate and recognize regional leaders within the outdoor recreation community.
The Judy Gibbs "Unless" Award now serves as an annual recognition of exemplary service and outstanding achievements, and we are excited to honor Richard Haney as the 2024 recipient at this year’s summit.
Keynote with Connor Ryan
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Connor Ryan is an Indigenous activist, filmmaker, and Patagonia-sponsored skier. As our keynote speaker, Connor shared his personal story and perspective on how traditional Indigenous culture and ecological knowledge can shape our relationship to the lands we recreate and adventure on.
Advocating for our Community + the Outdoors through Lobbying
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What comes to mind when you think of lobbying? Is it fancy suits and closed door deals? Or might it be community members with a range of identities, abilities and backgrounds coming together to meet with their public officials and ask for what they need? Hint: showing up with your lived experience and ideas for how things could be better is enough! In this workshop, we'll work together to ensure that our local outdoor advocates and leaders have the tools and skills to effectively engage with those who represent us as elected officials. We'll explore the purpose of meeting with decision makers of all kinds, including elected officials, how meeting with decision-makers can advance our community's goals, and learn tips for planning and holding an effective meeting with a decision maker at any level of government for any issue or campaign. Join us to learn, practice and build power together through lobbying!
Session Presenters:
Jenna Yeakle, Senior Field Organizer with the Sierra Club-Duluth
Bret Pence, Greater MN Director, Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light
**Unfortunately due to technical difficulties, this session was not recorded.
Adaptive Recreation + Emerging Technologies: Reducing Fear and Increasing Inclusion
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Emerging technologies in adaptive recreation are unlocking new possibilities and posing unique challenges for both land managers and users. This session explores how cutting-edge mobility devices and technological innovations are reshaping outdoor recreational experiences, with a focus on reducing fear and increasing inclusion.
Quinn Brett, adaptive athlete and co-owner at Dovetail Trail Consulting, discusses current laws and standards that affect the implementation of these technologies, while also highlighting a range of new mobility devices designed to enhance accessibility and user confidence.
Presenter Bio:
Quinn Brett was a professional climber, having established first ascents on unknown peaks and speed records all over the globe. She worked technical search and rescue in Rocky Mountain National Park and as a Wilderness Medicine Instructor with Remote Medical International. In 2017, Quinn suffered a permanently disabling spinal cord injury, now paralyzed from the waist down. Even so, movement remains a big part of her life. She has become the first person to hand-cycle the Tour Divide (a +3000 mile bike ride from Jasper, Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico) and a few other notable accomplishments as an adaptive athlete. Her personal and work experiences prior to injury in Wilderness, on trails and with visitor use management and search and rescue, have shaped her perspective on recreational opportunities now with a disability. Quinn returned to the National Park Service to head up a newly designed position, Wilderness Accessibility, where she gained momentum educating and advocating on Accessibility and Wilderness laws. She left the NPS last year and now is the Development Director and legislative task force member for a growing spinal cord injury research non-profit, Unite 2 Fight Paralysis. She also started an adaptive recreation business, Dovetail Trail Consulting with Joe Stone.
Outdoor Recreation Professional Networking and Capacity Building
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Feel alone in your work? Learn about the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals and the power of creating a space for outdoor recreation professionals from around the country to vet ideas, share concerns, brainstorm solutions and learn from one another. For the last 40 years SORP has been bringing together the experiences and ideas from many disciplines including community engagement, resource management, economic development, diversity and inclusion, and facilitated access. Launched at a time when outdoor recreation was not considered a serious profession, SORP has been at the forefront of legitimizing the field of Outdoor Recreation through research, policy change, advocacy and education. This session will explore the various support and tools SORP offers - from training resources, continuing education across disciplines, addressing trends, challenges and best practices in sustainable and inclusive outdoor recreation planning and management. You will walk away with some great resources and likely a new friend.
Session Presenters:
Rachel Franchina, Executive Director of Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals (SORP)
Lisa Luokkala, Executive Director Superior Hiking Trail Association
Lessons and Loopholes for Building a BIPOC Outdoors Community
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BIPOC Outdoors Twin Cities (OTC) has built an incredible BIPOC community in the metro over the last four years. Come learn about the community engagement process, challenges and roadblocks they had to push against or work around, as well as how they've found funding and built a robust community of BIPOC Outdoor Leaders. This session will be relevant and supportive to BIPOC folks looking to start or grow their own community, as well as white-led organizations looking to be better partners with BIPOC folks and communities. Attendees will leave with tangible ways to support BIPOC folks in growing their own skills and narrative in the outdoors.
Session Presenter:
Asha Shoffner, Convener for BIPOC Outdoors Twin Cities
**Unfortunately due to technical difficulties, this session was not recorded.
The Land Lives Within Us: Remembering our Interconnectedness through Storytelling
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Outdoors and nature enthusiasts hold stories about why we are drawn to and the depth of connection we feel with the earth and the natural world. Oftentimes these stories are deeply personal and carry a lot of emotion. Come share one of your stories as a way to form deeper community connections and “recreate” your love for land, lakes, and the earth. The session will be led by the Founder and Firekeepers of Maji ya Chai Land Sanctuary who will share their own stories as examples, including the origin story of how the Land Sanctuary, a black-led, nature-based healing retreat created to provide rest, reconnection, and rejuvenation of mind, body & soul for Black, Indigenous, and communities of color across generations, came to be. Holding story circles is a primary way in which the Land Sanctuary builds and engages with the community to help guide our work, and support all of us in building a thriving future together. We can’t wait to meet and learn more about you.
Presenter Bio:
Rebeka Ndosi, M.S., L.Ac., is a board-licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, teacher of child, adult and family yoga & meditation, a certified community coach in healing justice and a certified soul answer healer. She is founder of the Youth Healing Justice Network as well as Maji ya Chai Land Sanctuary. Dedicated to building a culture and practice of mind-body well-being for youth of color and the adults in their everyday spaces and places, her work recognizes, honors, and nurtures the individual + collective wisdom that we hold. Rebeka’s practice is driven by the firm belief that lasting, revolutionary, change and healing starts from within. She focuses on practical, relevant, and integrative healing modalities to support children and youth, especially indigenous youth and youth of color, in addition to the adults and communities who surround them in relieving stress, processing and healing from trauma, and affirming greatness. Rebeka was named 2019 “Artist in Healing” by Minnesota Women’s Consortium.
Every Kid Outside: Addressing the Adventure Gap (Panel)
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Join us for a panel discussion where we dive into the critical mission of fostering community-wide commitment to connecting youth with the outdoors. From introductory exposure activities to cultivating mastery in specialized outdoor sports, we'll explore the pivotal steps needed to bridge the adventure gap. Our discussion will confront barriers that hinder access, while unveiling innovative ‘vehicles’ to mobilizing organizations and inspiring resilient and empowered youth to embrace the outdoors. Moreover, we'll shine a spotlight on impactful successes from the vibrant landscapes of the Great Lakes region, celebrating initiatives that have sparked joy, learning, and lasting connections with nature. Join us as we ignite a movement towards a future where every child has the opportunity to thrive through outdoor exploration and adventure!
Session Presenters:
Ian Meeker, Associate Professor, Department of Youth Development University of Wisconsin Madison, Division of Extension
Micah Leinbach, Executive Director for Bus for Outdoor Access & Teaching
Sam Luoma, Programs & Operations Director at Chester Bowl
Scott Pilate, School Psychologist, Duluth Public Schools
Thurman Tucker, MN Quail Forever
Towards a Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail
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The Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail is an in-development trail modeled on the Superior Hiking Trail and other long-distance backpacking trails that volunteers are working to build from west of Chatfield to the Mississippi River south of Brownsville. Marty Walsh will present on the volunteer efforts to build the trail, including working with state and local governments, private landowners, and supporting non-profits. The presentation will include opportunities to support the trail, where to hike in the area today, and the latest on the trail’s $425,000 LCCMR grant application.
Access Solutions: Trail-based Recreation as a Tool for Conservation
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This session will explore the concepts of recreational trail advocacy and teach the tools for how to navigate the land management planning process. Participants will be challenged to think of recreation not as a choice between resource conservation and access but instead as a tool for resource conservation, human management, and the sustainability of public lands. Participants will leave with a better understanding on how to employ successful advocacy efforts that build broader support and long term relationships that ensure improved access into the future.
Session Presenter:
Aaron Clark, Government Affairs Policy Manager for the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA)
Welcome to MinneSOBA: How Business Alliance’s Can Help Amplify Outdoor Recreation (Panel)
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Step into the future of Minnesota's outdoor recreation economy with an engaging panel discussion ‘Welcome to Minne-SOBA’! Join industry leaders from across the state as they passionately discuss the imperative for a State Outdoor Business Alliance (SOBA). Discover firsthand the transformative potential of a SOBA for Minnesota, envisioning a landscape where our natural resources flourish alongside thriving businesses. This diverse panel of Minnesota-based outdoor recreation businesses will illuminate the path forward, while also exploring how SOBAs in other states have catalyzed growth and innovation. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of a pivotal conversation that will help shape the outdoor recreation sector for years to come!
Session Presenters:
Randolph Briley, Deputy Director of Outdoor Recreation at Explore Minnesota Tourism and Coordinator of the Outdoor Recreation Industry Partnership
Stephen Regenold, journalist, entrepreneur, and founder of GearJunkie.com
Lloyd Vogel, CEO and Co-Founder of Garage Grown Gear
Mikaela Swanlund, Community Advocacy and Impact Specialist at REI
Jill Sims, Principal, Park Street Public
Mark Norquist, Owner, GreenHead Strategies
Climate Change: A Measured Perspective, and Moving Forward
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Climate change is affecting opportunities for outdoor recreation with extreme seasonal variations, climate-driven changes in user preferences, and threats to recreation infrastructure. In the first half of this session, Kenny Blumenfeld, Senior Climatologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, explains what science is telling us about climate change in terms of what we’ve observed, and what the “new normal”—if there even is such a thing—may entail in the years and decades to come. The second half of the session will focus on adaptation actions that recreation groups and natural resource managers can take to ensure that outdoor recreation remains sustainable in the face of climate change. Climate Adaptation Specialist Katie Frerker will walk the audience through strategies specific to outdoor recreation that will translate broad concepts into specific, tangible actions.
Session Presenter:
Kenneth "Kenny" Blumenfeld, Sr. Climatologist, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Katie Frerker; Climate Adaptation Specialist, Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS)
Climate Response and Adaptation in Outdoor Recreation: Real World Examples (Panel)
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The past two years in our region have seesawed between record snowfall one year and a “brown winter” the next. Such extremes, and other consequences of climate change, are profoundly testing outdoor organizations, businesses, and events. Forward-thinking groups are finding they must be both reactive and proactive, and how they are achieving this varies according to the outdoor niche they occupy. In this panel discussion, representatives from three different aspects of outdoor recreation (a world-class ski race, a regional ski hill/recreation hub, and a nonprofit steward of an iconic hiking trail) discuss how they and other groups are adapting to remain successful in the face of climate challenges, both in the moment and for the future.
Session Presenters:
Ben Popp, Executive Director, American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation
Ann Glumac, Executive Director, Spirit Mountain Recreation Center
Lisa Luokkala, Executive Director, Superior Hiking Trail Association
Moderated by Kenny Blumenfeld, Sr. Climatologist, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Rebuilding Traditional Ojibwe Lacrosse
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Discover the rich heritage of Baaga’adowewin, Ojibwe traditional lacrosse, which largely disappeared from local Ojibwe communities over the past century. This session will explore the cultural significance of Baaga’adowewin within Ojibwe culture and its role as more than just a sport—serving as a vital spiritual practice.
As tribal communities face significant health disparities and challenges, the revitalization of traditional activities like Baaga’adowewin offers a powerful pathway toward cultural renewal and well-being. Join us for a discussion on the importance of reconnecting with Ojibwe traditions and how the revival of this ancient game can contribute to addressing contemporary issues in Indigenous communities; come away with a deeper understanding of your Ojibwe neighbors and the history of this Indigenous sport.
Session Presenter: Thomas Howes, Ojibwe craftsman + Baaga’adowewin Stickmaker