It has been 22 years since the day I founded Fishpond under the towering peaks of the Gore Range in the mountains of Colorado, and while the original vision of creating the most innovative fly fishing products in the world has come true, the most important gift of our success has been something far greater than the products we design and manufacture. Ultimately, what we stand for as a brand and the positive impacts we strive to achieve for conservation are more powerful than the products we create. There is power and energy to the tribe that aligns themselves with our brand and products that also care deeply about the planet and the natural resources that we embrace together. We are one as friends of wild places far away and those in our own backyard, speaking with vibrant voices that are heard across the halls of congress, classrooms, and ultimately to the species that desperately need our support.
Although we did not begin our journey with the specific focus on how our Fishpond brand could help carry a voice of change for conservation, our company has evolved into a call for action. As a certified B Corporation, our mandate to work for the common good includes how we work with our community, the use of our recycled materials used in our products, and how we seek positive change for the world. We are in love with our land, our waters, and the species that depend on their health. We give a damn, and it has become clear that our mission and goals as a business are full of spirit and soul with the clear intention of also creating a company that defines our responsibility and obligation to create a sustainable planet through clean water, healthy habitat and wild places.
Through an invitation to a CEO Climate Change Summit in Telluride, Colorado in the spring of 2017, I had the fortunate opportunity to meet with Dr. Max Holmes, Deputy Director and Senior Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Woods Hole, MA, and the world’s #1 climate change research institute. As an avid angler and river specialist from the Arctic to the Amazon, our mutual passions for water culminated with Woodwell Climate asking me to join their board of directors, and ultimately, with Max and myself co-founding Science On The Fly, which seeks to further our understanding of changing watersheds around the world through long term, world-class river science. With a growing list of partners and supporters, we aim to bridge the gap between science and public policy and to activate and inspire a broad community of river stewards to take ownership of that process.
Science On The Fly harnesses the enthusiasm, geographic reach, and conservation ethic of the fly fishing community to strategically increase the number of rivers globally that are subjects of long-term studies of water quality and watershed health. Our community of anglers, guides, dealers, and lodges across the world have a far-reaching influence on issues relating to climate change, the most pressing environmental challenge before us. In collaboration with dedicated scientists, Science on the Fly is a voice that powerfully connects the heartbeats of a community that deeply cares about our global future.
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