Rambling On

The spring meeting (not to be confused with the gts), was an informal gathering held on the lawn behind the old Marble Canyon Lodge. As usual, only the hard-core true believers showed up. What was unusual was that the weather was actually nice, verging on hot and sunny. We all sat around on the lawn and picnic tables and reminisced a little and discussed what gcrg should do next. The oft-repeated question of how to increase guide membership was raised again, as was the issue of how best to advocate guide concerns through gcrg. As most of you probably know, since we are a 501(c)(3) organization, our primary emphasis has to be preserving and protecting the Grand Canyon and the experience it offers. In that vein, we serve as guardians of the experience against the onslaught of ever-increasing demand and bureaucratic regulation. This is and must remain our number one priority. But how can we combine our role as “canyon experience protectors” with our desire to also serve as advocates for guide-related issues? While our very visible presence already benefits guides in more ways than we get credit for, we could do more. One option for addressing these complementary issues is to establish a Guides' Advisory Panel (gap) in each company. The panel, which would consist of guide members acting in concert with their particular outfitters' management, could function as a liaison between guides and management,

serving as a non-confrontational means of conveying guides' concerns to management on issues ranging from trip quality to pay and benefits. While creating an effective gap takes a lot of time and energy, we all benefit, and as our Moms always told us, we get out of it what we put into it. From the standpoint of gcrg, we could facilitate this process by being a vehicle for the collection and sharing of ideas between gaps, thereby “filling in the gaps.”
Moving on, or back to the meeting, the remainder of the discussion centered on the concept of taking stands on various issues, for example, wilderness, motors versus oars, privates versus public allocation issues, dam decommissioning, etc. The general consensus was that we really didn't need to take a stand, but rather served our members best by presenting all sides to issues, polling our membership and simply reporting the results. Sounded good to me. So basically, the meeting boiled down to a fairly loose and informal chat session and to me that's what gcrg is all about, a chance to get together with old friends, make new friends, share ideas, and make a little history.
After the meeting we regrouped at Hatch land for the first of many fantastic meals, served up by Emily, Lydia, and Mark. The beer flowed, stories were told, and the Northern Lights glowed, slowly fading as guitars and songs lulled us to sleep.
Kenton (Factor) Grua