Take me to the Soul River

An Arctic Deployment

By Peak Design

April 25^th, 2019

We are members of 1% for the Planet which means that each year, Peak Design donates 1% of our total revenue to grassroots organizations working to protect our environment. You think 1% sounds small? Well, here's a number that sounds big: $1,000,000. That's how much we've donated over the past three years through our 1% commitment.

Through this commitment, we also meet inspiring folks from across the globe. One such individual with whom we recently met and have subsequently begun supporting is U.S. Navy Veteran, Chad Brown. Chad founded Soul River Inc (SRI) as a way to offer US veterans and at-risk youth a pathway for healing and leadership through outdoor education.

Chad uses fly fishing as a vehicle to tackle environmental and social justice issues through mission-driven, educationally rich trips which he has termed "deployments." These deployments bring together Veterans and inner-city youth in the context of the outdoors. Veterans serve as mentors, teaching the youth life skills, conservation education, and leadership development in threatened wild spaces.

In Chad's words:

Soul River’s goal is to engage disadvantaged youth and U.S. Veterans as champions for some of the most environmentally threatened habitats in the world. We do this by mobilizing youth and Veterans through educational deployments into these landscapes, combined with mission driven build projects, social media, documentary films, art, and direct meetings with public officials. We empower SRI Veterans and youth with platforms to share their experiences in these threatened environments with their communities and on a larger scale.

Chad and a team of youth and vets traveled to the Arctic last year and will be returning again this June. Again, from Chad:

This deployment is the pinnacle of joint efforts, combining Veterans and young leaders of tomorrow into a partnership with the Gwich’in community. In addition to cultural immersion and environmental engagement education, SRI will lead a joint effort infrastructure project based on the predetermined wishes of the Gwich’in community.

At the same time, this deployment offers education about this Arctic tribal community’s reality due to global warming. Faced with climate change and extractive development and drilling, traditional life among the Gwich’in Nation is at threat. We'll implement an interactive, non-traditional classroom in the village where SRI will learn from community elders about the gross impacts both environmentally and socially. SRI will partner with conservation and environmental justice influencers, such as members of the Wilderness Society and USFW allies, to build a bridge between SRI youth leaders and congressional leaders. Together, we will be a voice in the Lower 48 for the Gwich’in community in order to support the efforts of protecting the Arctic and its refuge system.

As we noted in a previous Field Note, the Arctic is a place in need of our immediate and strong support. We're grateful for people like Chad who are dedicating their lives to empowering underserved populations and protecting important wild places. Find out more about Soul River's work and how to get involved here.