Last month, MWGO shared its new membership rates and benefits with members. The revisions reflect over a year of work by MWGO Board Members. In 2023, MWGO expanded member benefits adding pro deals and educational opportunities and hosting remote and in-person instruction on topics such as creating your own pro deals, finding the right insurance, star gazing, etc. Those will occur again in 2024 and additional offerings will be added. MWGO is an all-volunteer organization, but there are costs associated with expanded benefits. This led to a change in membership categories and rates.
In addition, the board did some deep thinking about who is identified as a guide because it is changing and concluded that MWGO should respond to those changes by being an organization that supports diversity, inclusivity and community.
MWGO recognizes that the professional guiding community is much larger than Registered Maine Guides because there is a whole lot of guiding happening that falls outside the criteria for needing a Registered Maine Guide license. According to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website:
“Registered Maine Guides are outdoor professionals who are licensed and permitted to accept any form of remuneration for their services in accompanying or assisting any person in the fields, forests or on the waters or ice within the jurisdiction of the State while hunting, fishing, trapping, boating, snowmobiling, using an all-terrain vehicle or camping at a primitive camping area.”
Please note there are two parts to needing a license: 1) remuneration and 2) guiding one of the activities listed in the description above.
There are many outdoor activities and many professionals who guide people in the outdoors who are not required to have a Registered Maine Guide license. Day hikes, nature hikes, rock climbing, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, wildlife viewing—the list goes on and on and none of these require a Registered Maine Guide license.
There are also volunteers as well as individuals working towards developing an outdoor-based business interested in improving their skill set.
Like Registered Maine Guides, these professionals and professionals in training need business and technical skills to lead people safely in the outdoors while providing an outstanding experience.
In addition, there are new challenges: clients are signing up for the half-day and daylong activities more frequently than the longer excursions of the past. They are intensely interested in a special outdoor experience but also seek cultural knowledge as well. They also frequently have less outdoor experience. This means the industry is changing. Guided offerings, training for guides, and the infrastructure to support outdoor experiences will need to adjust accordingly.
Many professional guides, volunteers, and guides in training are looking for opportunities to interact with other guides; to learn from the experience of others and to join a community of their peers.
Beginning in 2024, MWGO will be reaching out to a more diverse community to encourage participation and membership so we can all learn from each other. In addition to pro deals and educational offerings, social opportunities to interact and network are also in the works!
It is an exciting time for MWGO. If you would like to volunteer to support any of these opportunities, please send an email to info at mwgo dot org.
Everyone is welcome!