The 2025 MWGO Annual Meeting was held at Evergreens Campground and Restaurant along the Kennebec River in Solon on Sunday, October 26. There were 12 MWGO members and special guest Jeff McCabe – past MWGO board member and Director of the Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation (MOOR) participating.
The morning skill sharing started out with a quick introduction for Forest Therapy Guided walks led by Jeanne Christie certified through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs. Next — soon to be MWGO board member — John Mathieu shared what is in his emergency kit for kayaking on the ocean and the modifications he made for inland canoe and land-based guiding. Other participants shared some of the gear they found most useful for medical emergencies, broken equipment, and communicating with search and rescue. The last skill session was led by Sean McCormick sharing knots and their applications for fly fishing and other forms of outdoor recreation. Everyone agreed that knowing knots that tie and untie easily is an essential skill.
Next was a roundtable conversation where participants talked about issues, challenges, ideas, and any areas that MWGO should focus on in the future. Conversation was wide ranging and included that a goal for the coming year should be to increase membership for MWGO by providing basic business and skill building for new guides as well as existing members. Another topic was what level of training and competency a registered Maine guide license should require including where the step of achieving the Registered Maine Guide license is along the journey to becoming a competent and experienced guide. There was agreement that a RMG license is not the end of the journey. For example, MWGO has always supported up to date certification in Wilderness First Aid for all guides. Participants explored the possibility of raising funds to host WFA training in the coming year for guides at no cost to the participants. This would require some fundraising, but there was agreement removing the cost barrier was worthwhile.
In the early afternoon, special guest Jeff McCabe led a discussion highlighting trends, partnership possibilities, resources and more in outdoor recreation. He recognized that while Maine Guides have traditionally been very independent; there are opportunities to work together in new ways and partner with each other to achieve common goals. The Outdoor Recreation Economy Roadmap is published and implementation is underway with partners that include University of ME and Maine Outdoor Brands (MOB).
On social media, MOOR is promoting “Hire a Maine Guide!” Guides build the brand of the state as part of forged by nature; which includes outdoor rec/arts/culture. In addition, visitors hiring guides reduce safety concerns; there are more people recreating outdoors and there has been a noticeable increase in the number needing assistance i.e., more rescues. As the number of people getting outside continues to climb; overall people have less experience. To address this; the Lookout for ME toolkit was created. Leave No Trace principles are included and incorporated into an approach tailored to Maine geography, land use, and resources.
The 2025 Annual Membership meeting topped off the day with updates on finances, a summary of activities of MWGO committees for the year (Advocacy, Membership/Communications, Education, Development and Events), plans for the coming months, and the election of board members. MWGO welcomes Mathieu as a new board member! In the coming months virtual training on star gazing, purchasing insurance, negotiating individual pro deals, and more are planned. While we have trivia nights and a selection of online training opportunities coming up, the next major event will be a booth at the Sportsman’s show again this year in March. MWGO is in need of volunteers for events such as the Sportsman’s show as well as joining the board and/or committees. If you are interested in exploring opportunities; please contact us at info@mwgo.org