When I grow up, I want to be just like him. He is an inspiration to everyone he meets, and truly a "wild gift" himself. This lean, lanky and humble man has worn many hats in his lifetime.
Bob Jonas spent time working as a fishery biologist in Alaska, US Forest Service wilderness ranger, and a middle school teacher. The author of the Putnam tome, Total Skiing, he worked in Greenland, and later, spent 20 years as an outfitter guiding people in and out of the wilderness areas of Alaska, Idaho and Yellowstone with his business Sun Valley Trekking, which he recently sold. Most importantly, Bob Jonas is an outdoorsman and ambassador for all things in nature, and he is most comfortable in the mountains, forests, deserts and waterways of the open lands that engulf such a large part of our world, and for which we are all stewards.
But Bob Jonas is special. He has a deep respect for the wilderness, nature, and humankind's relationship with its planet, and because of his passion, he has now undertaken a much more powerful mission. A mission so important that it needs to be shared with the world.
It is truly a Wild Gift.
Bob Jonas founded Wild Gift with the belief that exceptional young men and women are needed as leaders, to become better world entrepreneurs who promote the stewardship for wild nature and the development of sustainable communities. Wild Gift supports their projects in industry, the arts, education, the environment and politics, and their professions to build communities whose citizens live in harmony with each other and wild nature.
Wild Gift is working to provide the world with a network of leaders whose work will bring peace to humankind and balance with wild nature.
I had the good fortune to spend time in the wilderness this week with two such leaders, Pete Land and Lauren Bauman, both alumnae of Wild Gift who are now carrying on the work they began in the program through Bob Jonas' mentoring. This week, Bob Jonas took us all out into the Grand Staircase Escalante National Park in Southeastern Utah on a canyoneering adventure where we camped under the stars each night, explored slot canyons, and backpacked through the spectacular Coyote Gulch. During our adventure, we got to know each other well, and we had endless conversations about our goals and ideas for how we can influence others to co-exist more sustainably and peacefully with nature and our planet.
I learned about the projects that have become the life work of these two young leaders I spent time with in the desert.
Lauren Bauman works in the city of Boston to green affordable housing - thus both improving environmental performance while at the same time reducing operating costs in housing projects by using green retrofitting techniques. Lauren is an expert on toilets - and believe it or not, a green toilet can save thousands of gallons of water.
Pete Land is a remarkable and talented young man, and the founder of Tamarack Media, in Vermont. His company works to draw from a network of environmentally invested media professionals to produce websites, videos and print materials for clients that include schools, non profit organizations, foundations and green businesses.
Pete is an artist with a keen eye for details often overlooked. His photographs are spectacular, and I was blessed to have him act as my videographer during our Wild Gift Trip, which you'll see highlights from on The Open next Sunday morning. If you're interested in taking a Wild Gift trip, and supporting this remarkable and important mission, visit www.wildgift.org
And think about taking a Wild Gift trip, it's an awesome way to give back to nature and at the same time, to Get Out in The Open!!!
