Annual Board Meeting Highlights-Membership Update, Hess New President
Sunday, November 2, 2014
TO: AMGA Membership
FROM: AMGA Leadership
RE: AMGA MEMBERSHIP UPDATE – Annual Meeting Conclusion
AMGA Membership:
The American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA), a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit that inspires and supports a culture of American mountain craft, concluded its Annual Meeting on Sunday, October 26, 2014.
The AMGA is the premier source for training, credentials, and resource stewardship for professional mountain guides and climbing instructors in the United States. The AMGA Annual Meeting, which took place in Boulder, Colo., from Thursday October 23, through Sunday, October 26, 2014, celebrated the progress of the organization and the community of the guide membership.
News from the AMGA Annual Meeting ranged from the announcement of new American Mountain Guides joining the ranks and Outstanding Guide & Lifetime Achievement in Mountain Guiding Awards. A blog post with the full list of recipients can be found here 2014 Awards. Congratulations to all of our members who are setting such an amazing standard for our organization!
The AMGA Board met during the Annual Meeting as well. The meeting began with Executive Director Betsy Winter reiterating to the Board the purpose, mission, and vision of the AMGA, with the intention of setting the stage for discussions and voting on key issues for the organization. The structure and function of the AMGA is as follows:
The AMGA is:
- A 501 c 3 educational non-profit
- Recognized by the IRS as a charitable organization
- Here to serve the public good
The AMGA is not:
- A 501 c 6 trade organization
- A guide union or a guide-service union
The AMGA:
- Has a responsibility to serve the public good
- Serves through our training, education and credentials
- Conducts outreach and marketing, creating both awareness and demand for the importance of hiring trained and credentialed guides and businesses.
- Functions through collaborative advocacy efforts on a national level.
The Board also announced new leadership and members, and directional votes were taken on pivotal issues affecting the AMGA Membership. A summarization of key progress made at the Board Meeting follows:
I – The Board unanimously voted to elect Rob Hess as President of the Board. Hess, owner and Chief Guide of Jackson Hole Mountain Guides (JHMG) and an American Mountain Guide
UIAGM / IFMGA licensed guide, is a well-known and respected guide within the AMGA membership. Hess has served the AMGA for over 14 years. During this time he sought and completed certification and attained IFMGA status, served as a board member for two terms and served as technical director for eight years. Once Hess’ term finished as board member he continued on as a technical member of the board. He retired from the technical director position and again ran for the board and was elected to VP. In addition to this position, Hess currently works for the AMGA as an examiner and instructor in all three disciplines. In his new role, Hess will serve as chair of the executive committee, serve as liaison for the AMGA membership to the Board, ensure seamless communication and a strong working relationship between the Board and the AMGA office, and seeking to represent the membership while concurrently balancing the direction of the organization and its Board.
II – A major focus of the Board meeting was the consideration of and voting on the accreditation-based access issue and the big-picture ‘road map’ for the AMGA’s Advocacy work.
The discussion and voting process that took place on Sunday was preceded by a lengthy information-gathering effort led by the AMGA’s Advocacy Committee.
In this gathering process, information was brought together and considered from multiple spheres throughout the outdoor industry. These included the following:
- Information from ISSW 2014 regarding the panel discussion surrounding the self-regulation in both the Canadian and Alaskan avalanche worker industries, concerning agreement on standards across the industry.
- Information from AMGA Board member Dan Nordstrom, who presented an update from the newly formed Outdoor Access Working Group. This organization came into being because a need was identified for an umbrella organization that represented the spectrum of commercial and educational public land users, with the goal of presenting a unified and stronger voice for the outdoor industries in working with land-management agencies.
- The results of a carrying capacity analysis of AMGA programs (conducted as a result of board direction at the June 2014 meeting) and a report from the AMGA Risk Management Committee.
- A review of all the input the AMGA has received from stakeholders and membership, including letters and statements from Accredited businesses, AMGA guides, and the Certified Guides Cooperative.
From this information gathering process and research, the AMGA Advocacy Committee created recommendations to the Board, which were reviewed and discussed at the Board meeting. From there, a thorough examination of this issue occurred within the meeting, as well as a lengthy guide-led discussion, which led to the Board vote, which is a snapshot of where the AMGA stands today on this issue. Specifically:
It is (The Board’s) recommendation that the notion of mandating AMGA accreditation-based access at the federal level should not be pursued in the near future, and the advocacy focus should be shifted toward unifying the community through the following support and leadership:
- Involvement in big picture access issues, working to improve access for all
- Gaining broad support for the development of industry standards and competencies
- Ensuring that the AMGA remains the benchmark for American guiding standards by continuing to strengthen our training, certification and accreditation programs
- Continuing to educate the public and land managers on the value of professional training, certification and accreditation through outreach and marketing
Going forward, the AMGA Advocacy Committee is dedicated to working on the larger advocacy issues (both in land access and standards) by working with broader coalitions and seeking collaboration both within guiding and across industries. There is no direct path for an organization of the AMGA’s size and it is important the AMGA work to build alliances within the greater outdoor industry. Additionally, this committee is actively reviewing carrying capacity and will continue to examine our ability to support this important issue of the Terrain and Supervision Guidelines and the 2017 Accreditation standards deadline. We will be reporting on progress on directional issues monthly in the AMGA newsletter.
Board President Elect Hess had the following to say regarding the decision:
“The AMGA is holding off on the issue of accreditation-based access for now, but we are committed to upholding the new Terrain and Supervision Guidelines. I do not favor an open-ended process on this important issue, but will advocate for looking closely at the issue on an ongoing basis. When, and if, a time presents itself that allows us to push hard based on an analysis of where our trained and certified numbers stand, I feel confident that we will act in a way that best serves our membership. With regards to the 2017 Accreditation standards deadline, the advocacy committee has been tasked with evaluating options for keeping the Accreditation standards on track for implementation. We will look to hear from the Advocacy Committee at the January meeting as we consider the best way to move forward in the coming months.”
The meeting concluded on a very up-beat note and both the Board and the AMGA leadership are very excited to step toward the future and serve the public while supporting the membership in the best manner possible.
The AMGA has spent over three decades setting the standards for American guiding instruction, protecting the guiding environment, and organizing a powerful, unified community of guides, climbing instructors and clients. We are committed to spending the next 30 years supporting our membership as they pursue their passions and their careers as professional guides and or climbing instructors.
