Some of you may have been to Ecuador to paddle. Some of you are planning to go in the future. Things are changing down there and help is always needed. If you are inclined to do so, contact Matt Terry who heads ERI (Ecuadorian Rivers Institute). Matt is a great contact and source for paddlers down there and I cannot recommend enough to let him know if you are going to Ecuador to paddle. It is an absolutely great destination. Many of you will not need tour guides, but just get there. We used to have to take our boats, but it is possible that you can get hooked up with Equipment now while down there.

Below is an email I received this morning from Matt which clearly defines ERI, who is involved, and the issues confronting it. ( Yes, I am discussing with Matt joining his Board and donating services). If you are interested in International Paddling in very remote wilderness places - like the Amazon, this is an amazing place to go to. If you have resources or time, this is as good a group doing this kind of work as you will find.
Brent



Hi there, Brent.

When did you get married? I missed getting a wedding invitation. Maybe I am just out of touch.You have to keep me in the loop. Who is the lucky lady? Have we ever met?

I can understand if you can't make it down here this winter. I would like to make it to the Russell Fork and even paddle the Cheoah or the Caney Fork that I haven't seen yet, but sometimes it is hard to fit it all in.

When is your GC trip, Brent? I have been looking at a Grand Canyon trip in 2010 as well. Unfortunately, every time I have requested dates or participated in a lottery, I have not been selected for the dates I requested which usually fall into a very few days in September after motor boat season, with nice weather and timed to get the moon cycle just right and not be too late to get caught with short days and long nights.

I imagine your GC trip is booked out and set, but if I can't land a cancellation date that I want, I guess I would be forced to beg you for mercy for a space for me and a couple of friends. Let me know if you have any room. Don't forget that I know how to row a boat. In any case, I wish you all the best on your Grand Canyon odyssey in 2010.

Luis Sr. is doing well. Getting gray, but still loading the rig up top, and just replaced the back bed of the Toyota Stout truck and gave it a new paint job. That vehicle is 100% dedicated to rafting and kayaking trips.

Gynner is off the map. He sold everything in Ecuador and is trying to settle down in Hood River permanently and get US citizenship. That is about all I know about Gynner. Seems to have lost interest for Ecuador. Steve Nomchong still owns Yacu Amu/Rios Ecuador and lives in Australia. His absence is notable and Rios Ecuador quality has reduced substantially but they still do fun trips on the Jatunyacu and Gary Dent has been taking the lead with their River People company and running a lot of Jondachi/Hollin trips.

As far as joining the ERI board is concerned, things are very critical right now in Ecuador and with the ERI as an organization. I am trying to re-activate a new ERI board to address organizational growth and sustainability, receive more feedback, debate and direction about organizational strategy and issues, as well as improve fundraising capacity and efforts.

The ERI board has diminished its activity especially since Laurel Zaks, who lived in Atlanta and was a Section III Chattooga paddler passed away in March 2008. She had served as the board secretary. I have minimized all reporting and administration in the USA and strive to keep the paperwork to a minimum and use an online environment for all business transactions. Ken Ransford, who is a CPA in Basalt, Colorado, is the board treasurer and has helped by doing the ERI's reporting with the IRS pro bono, but has never been to Ecuador. He started up Futafriends and is mainly helping out b/c he is an awesome person and b/c I beat him in the Gore Canyon Race the last time I competed. He has family and pretty much splits his time between the office and the gym these days and it does not look like he will be to visit Ecuador any time soon.

Duncan Eccleston will be joining the board. He is my age and lives in Fort Collins and is a field biologist. Duncan did a number of first descents with me, and is featured on the home page of www.kayakecuador.com. Bruce Farnsworth is a photographer who lived in Tena for a number of years and who married an Ecuadorian and now is in North Dakota working on his PhD. He still has a house in Tena and hopes to return to Ecuador when done in North Dakota. He expressed interest in being on the ERI board, and could help with some networking for watershed research. Monti Aguirre is Latin American campaigns director for International Rivers and has good contacts but is primarily a human rights activist type of person and does not necesarily understand environmental or recreational issues. John Clark was a Smithsonian boatanist who has spent 8+ years in Ecuador doing research and investigation and now teaches at Univ Alabama in Tuscaloosa and was a founding ERI board member but is busy as hell and raising a family. Carey Ballard lives in Alaska and helped me create the ERI logo which is cool, but has never visited Ecuador and is into things in Alaska. Monti and Bruce are not confirmed yet for the board, since they are not paddlers and therefore have questionable intent and interpretation, despite well-meaning intentions. I am still looking for and considering other people, but you would add some good depth to the board. To me, putting an organizational board for a river conservation organization to represent recreational river interests is about like trying to put together a group for a Grand Canyon Trip.

Brent, I was just remembering that you were one of the first people to go to Ecuador and to publish something about it. Your efforts on the RFR were highy inspirational for the Napo Festival. It is actually very hard to find people who want to contribute strategically and administratively to the ERIs mission in Ecuador, and also hard to find people who have any experience in Ecuador who want to contribute. Most of the tour companies donate a couple hundred bucks a year or so, but most do not have the time to get involved, or politically it is difficult to include one of them without another. You are a neutral player and have a lot of powerful insight and experience to share, as well as a big voice when it comes to getting the word out about something and can relate personally to the places and rivers in Ecuador.

Anyway, if you were game to help out the ERI and join the board, I would hope you could spend a few hours a month thinking about Ecuador and getting the word out about the ERI's initiatives and campaigns by maybe contributing a writeup for a quarterly newsletter based on information that you could be provided with a general overview and writeup. A scheduled phone call each month (I have the VOIP line at 970-626-6022, or there is Skype) could be all that it takes to have some sort of feedback loop and update session. You would have to see what is realistic for you, of course. I know that you have helped send out e-mails for ERI campaigns in the past, and that has helped out a lot. I would have to check with Ken Ransford for any paperwork details, but basically all that is necessary is documenting some meeting notes and resolutions confirming the updated board member status. You were one of the people who turned me onto Ecuador in the first place, and proves your strength in connecting people and places. If you were able to help identify other key players who could help the ERI and be good to have on board, that would be huge as well. Let me know what you would be willing to do.

The ERI has been 100% volunteer driven so far and can not continue as such. The ERI needs to be able to have operating expenses covered and some salary base, even if it is just cut back to 2-3 people, an organization can not grow with people and can not attract or keep people working on ERI interests without money. The ERI board would be voluntary unless someone can make it work otherwise, and I would hope that we could have an annual board meeting in Ecuador or elsewhere, but hopefully on a river, and perhaps we could try to have the ERI cover those expenses as an in-kind benefit to board members for helping the ERI grow. I have generally been able to raise up to $20000 per year on individual contributions and small grants from local governments and other organizations. We need to up the anny.

Here are the ERI's basic budget goals for 2010 at a glance:

Salary base or paid positions for 6 full and part time staff: 75000
Operating expenses: 15000
Equipment: 10000
Projects: 50000

Total: ~$150,000 USD per year for 5-10 years.

Here are our project priorities:

Website design and development
Membership-based fundraising drive
Educational materials and outreach
Watershed management / Instream Flows and Hydro Reform / Conservation and Recreation Strategies:
*Coca Codo Sinclair Hydro Project
*La Merced de Jondachi Hydro Project
*Topo Hydro Project
*Jondachi-Hollin Ecological Corridor Proposal
*Jatunyacu / Upper Napo Ecological Corridor Proposal
*Misahualli Canyon Recreation Area Proposal
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alternatives to Hydro
Control of Extractive activities in areas that are have recreational use:
*Mining: Instream gravel mining + Gold Placer mining
*Pungarayacu Tar Sands development
Napo watershed water quality monitoring and investigation

Ok. Well, this is more than enough for one message. Hope I am not stressing you out, Brent. I know you don't like to be stressed. But now that you are married, it is good to take on more responsabilities, you know.

Take care,

Matt

Oops. His email address is:


Ecuadorian Rivers Institute [info@kayakecuador.com]


Brent

Check out these pictures of environmental damage due to mining and logging in Ecuador. If you haven't been, it is going to be "going, going, gone" for some pretty cool runs. A sad reminder of the once spledid Bio Bio in Chile. Anyway, Matt Terry has been a loud voice for paddling interests there (and has done a number of cool first descents there). Don't go without getting in touch with him.

Brent