The Experience of Connection

Somewhere in Maine’s wild interior.

Mike Smith | OSI Executive Director

This spring marks my 26th year exploring Maine’s whitewater. Every spring, I find myself with friends somewhere in Maine’s wild interior, enjoying the smell of evergreen tannins and thawing dirt, as we trudge through the woods seeking adventure. Throughout the years, I’ve learned so much from these rivers and streams. One of the most important lessons has been that it’s the experience of connection - to others, to the land, and to myself - that has sustained my passion for outdoor recreation. This connection has kept me coming back to the mud, the cold, and the high waters of spring year after year. It has taught me to embrace discomfort in service of something greater.

This passion has brought me and others like me into a career centered on the outdoors and community development. In recent years, interest in this space has grown and welcomes increased investments in Maine’s outdoor recreation economy. New sources of funding seek to stimulate trail construction, workforce development, and tourism. While these are all important parts of a large and complex puzzle, a key piece that often feels like it’s missing is the role of leadership.

This is a priority for us at OSI. Through our leadership development programs like trainings, place-based internships, and our cohort program for emerging professionals, we are working to increase the number of leaders in Maine’s rural communities who are skilled and passionate about making change. This development requires guided practice, coaching, and mentorship to help emerging leaders stay in touch with the source of their passion. The way the world is changing, we believe it’s the leaders that can innovate and collaborate, while staying grounded in a connection to the outdoors, that will shape what our rural landscape looks like for generations to come.

Changemaking in rural Maine is hard. Making progress is about building relationships and cultivating trust. It’s about being innovative and self-generative while also being collaborative. This is slow, deliberate, challenging work and the rewards on any given day can feel outweighed by the difficulties. It’s too easy to feel disconnected and get burned out. In our work at OSI, we strive to regularly help leaders find ways back to the meaning outdoor recreation brings to their lives, while also supporting their growth.

Skilled and passionate leadership is, I believe, an essential ingredient in any community that seeks to have a sustainable, meaningful relationship with outdoor recreation. More than workforce programs or marketing plans, we need leaders that understand the inherent value of outdoor recreation and have the capacity to guide long term change. Funding is critical to build trails and develop business, but while money can build recreational assets, it can’t build community. For that, we need passionate, invested leaders.

Such leadership doesn’t only come about by chance. It can be fostered, cultivated, and strengthened. It’s possible to develop leaders in this space that can navigate the challenges of community, economy, and sustainability, while also staying grounded in the experience of connection that outdoor recreation provides.

My connection to the wild landscape of Maine fueled a passion that has grown into a career in connecting community and the outdoors. 26 years from now, my hope is that I’ll still be immersed in Maine’s springtime flows, and this work will be embodied by thousands of young leaders across Maine’s rural spaces.