Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Bass

Hi Adam, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

It is a pleasure to coordinate with Canvas Rebel since it gives time to sit down and collect some overarching thoughts as the Designated Agent of Boise River Outdoor Opportunities (BROO). Thank you for the opportunity! Professional Outfitting has been the reason why my story has been of interest to Canvas Rebel so I will attempt to stay in that lane.

The start was after receiving a degree in Civil Engineering from Boise State University with a focus on the discipline of Transportation Engineering. In my free time I kayaked whitewater in many places but primarily on the Payette River system. With engineering, there was diligent studying of how to coordinate the many disciplines it takes to design and construct highway infrastructure projects. It is important to take note of the massive undertaking the construction and maintenance of the nations infrastructure is. There are numerous tasks and personnel to undertake it and the COVID pandemic has had similar staffing issues like your local restaurant. Understanding the best way to expedite these projects while including the incorporation of design criteria and stakeholder input is really an artform of patience and due diligence. I commend the peers that I have worked with while performing Professional Engineering duties alongside them. It is my opinion that the high regard of Professional Engineers should be translated as the same value as those done by a Professional Outfitter. Both Professional Engineering and Professional Outfitting balance the safety and wellbeing of the general public. To best consider the safety and wellbeing of the public, categorizing benefits and dis-benefits into economical, environmental, and social aspects works best. It allows for a more thorough review to clarify understanding of the impacts decisions might have. An example is during the creation of the outfitting business; what should be included in the trip? how do we encourage a positive experience between groups of strangers? what is our impact on the ecosystem? what is an adequate cost for the trip?

The question that I find most interesting after operating for four years is “What is the TRUE COST of these trips?” After all, our price point is based on a model that includes many variables like changing overhead costs, acquiring/replacing equipment, and a best assumed projection of tour demand. These already have a sense of being difficult to quantify and maintain consistency of as a startup. There is the additional aspect of what resources are being used in a way that will detract from future generations and lead to the ever present scenario of the tragedy of the commons. This tragedy is present in all occupations that relate to natural resources, and natural resources are a form of “the commons.” Every guide sees this and is cognizant of the potential for damage or tragically, the loss of “the commons.” It adds to the difficulty of being a guide and why mental fortitude is necessary to be a river guide. Us guides are on the front lines of observing the natural resource change.

Having experience as both a Professional Engineer and a Professional Outfitter is unique to say the least but the 10 years of Engineering compliments the Outfitting through the significant amount of paper pushing needed to receive the numerous amount of permits, licenses, and insurance for an outfitting business. It is similar to the amount of paper work needed to reconstruct a highway over a river. Juggling both of these occupations is not for the faint of heart but they are both critical occupations for the proper function of a community.

The reason I took on the mantel of being a Professional Outfitter is because I know SOMEONE NEEDS TO DO THIS. The toiling and heavy workload is for the benefit of the public and the community. I had the experience as a Professional Engineer to act in the best interest of the public and knew that I could achieve a quality standard of care as a Professional Outfitter. Additionally, I had experience volunteering with a local non-profit, Boise River Enhancement Network, which gave me an understanding of the processes, organizations, communication paths, and actors in the Boise River valley. It gave me a foundation of the best place to foster positive outcomes as it relates to the Boise River.

BROO was created in 2020 to establish fundamental access to a positive experience on a river. The business is unique to the area that has little appreciation for the work guides do. The lack of appreciation is odd considering that the State of Idaho has a predominant history of guides through Lewis and Clark using the guide services of Sacajawea to successfully complete their expedition. The Oregon Trail was also a place of many guides providing services to settlers. Us guides will continue to provide positive experiences on the Boise River and hold space that fosters a better understanding of this beautiful natural resource.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

It has not been a smooth road to say the least. Starting a normal business is difficult and requires a significant amount of non-paid hours as an owner. Additionally with outfitting, there is added tasks to obtain a significant number of permits, licensing, and insurance. It is often necessary to petition different organizations and can be on annual basis, decade basis, or weekly basis. These tasks can be successful and they can have failure. The outcome can be viewing further degradation of the Boise River ecosystem or successfully achieving housing for wildlife, elimination of invasive species, and improved quality of guest experiences. After four years of operation, I did not think leaders in the community would have such disdain for an outfitting service like this local startup.

The main struggle, probably for most “Canvas Rebels”, is to find appreciation and inclusion by decision makers and leaders within a particular field. For outfitting here locally, the community sees one way to recreate on the river when there is much more. The community is told two extremes when it comes to river recreation here. If a business is not in alignment with this narrative of two extremes then it is excluded and silenced. I believe it leads to further “black and white” thinking in other areas because the narrative of river recreation is based on “black and white” thinking. Boise River recreation is paramount to our understanding of the natural environment here in Boise and is a reflection of who we are as a community.

On one side, there is the traditional rental season where it is promoted to take pool toys on the Boise River and the river is described as a “lazy river”. These pool toys are thin vinyl floats that pop very easily. The Boise River has angular rock in parts, tree roots/limbs sticking out, and fishing lures. All three can easily tear through watercraft not Coast Guard certified to be on rivers. The City decimates the ecosystem by removing the tree roots/limbs which are sanctuaries to fish. The rationale for such decimation is so pool toys, not Coast Guard approved for rivers, can be used on the river. The decimation also allows for the City to exclusively promote a private business to provide raft rentals to the public. This private business is the subsidiary of a hedge fund and has large revenues from the exclusive promotion it receives.

On the flip side, there is the no rental season where it is promoted that no one should get on the river because it is “unsafe.” This includes licensed outfitters like BROO. After attending meetings, talking to officials, filing paperwork, and leading by example, there is still no success in having officials receive the message that this bipolar narrative is not to the benefit of the community, the river, or local business. They would rather gaslight me by saying things like you didn’t word that correctly or why didn’t you reach out this way. Recently, I was denied inclusion because a request to be a stakeholder was made to the City but it should have been a request to be a party. Such exclusion based on semantics is lame and unethical. Because of this, the business was excluded and stands to lose guest experience quality.

So, it is bipolar when it is declared that you absolutely shouldn’t get on the river during medium-high river flows but anyone can paddle it in pool toys at low river flows. This bipolar thinking leads to similar bipolar thinking in other areas. The correct view of river recreation is that people should be able to float the river however they please; but the safest way to recreate on the river is to use a licensed outfitter and watercraft certified for rivers; the rivers should not have the ecosystem decimated to aid those without proper equipment or knowledge to recreate on the river.

The result is that because BROO provides guided rafting services at medium-high flows, the City of Boise and Ada County condemn it rather than supporting safe uses such as a guided raft trip. I fit as a “Canvas Rebel” because of the solidarity I hold with the rafting community as it relates to navigation of our public rivers.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Boise River Outdoor Opportunities, LLC?

BROO is a community based business that provides a place to have a positive experience on the river through professional outfitting services. We are most known for our Boise River Guided Rafting, Swimming, and Wildlife Tours. The tours are a way to be immersed in nature without the difficulty of figuring out logistics and equipment to properly do so. It reduces the overall impact on the environment for the number of people that use the services. I have seen many rentals cause significant damage to the environment while the BROO operation does not because of the professional guides on the raft. I have also seen many rental experiences ruin a persons potential lifelong appreciation for the river because of a mental or physical injury they sustained. The trauma leads to them becoming scared of rivers and of water which is unfortunate because I know the lasting impacts a positive river experience can have.

By being small and local based, we provide trips to groups of people during many times of the year. We have all the gear needed to be on the river for many situations. We cater the best we can to groups that have unique situations such as physically and cognitively disadvantaged. It is also a very positive thing to have professional guides on the river at different times of the day. They can aid other groups as well as document certain things going on. I remain hopeful that one day local leaders will provide incentives for the business to document the wildlife along the river because it is too time consuming and thus costly to complete such a task currently. Such documentation can aid in further understanding of the natural resource and how we can manage the community’s built environment to better coexist with the natural environment.

I’m the most proud of owning and managing this business while cutting against the grain that is the Boise River recreation narrative. Local municipalities do not recognize the benefits of the local outfitting business similar to how past leaders didn’t recognize why the community shouldn’t dump slurry and oil into the Boise River in the 1950’s. Those leaders would have despised a local outfitter just like the current ones do today because the local outfitter would have pointed out to the community leaders that dumping slurry and oil in the river isn’t a best management practice. Similar topics of best management practices must be presented to current leadership.

In Spring 2024, I observed the City remove an island from the Boise River when it was not permitted to. The rub is that this island was a tremendous halfway point for our tours that added to trip quality through guests being able to swim, rest in nature, and take amazing pictures. It is now gone and the City continues exclusionary practices to answers of why this occurred. Other State and Federal entities are aware of the violation also and there has been no quality updates or coordination regarding why this island was removed when it was not permitted.

BROO is raising awareness to local leaders that we must be good stewards of our Boise River similar to those that raised awareness in the past. It is not a matter of if but a matter of when will the City leaders dampen this bipolar approach.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?

What matters most is upholding respect and integrity of our institutions through proper interpretation of the rights of the public. I have recently seen many instances where our institutions do not uphold the rights of the public because it will impede and infringe upon private rights. If this continues then the decisions will impede on the sustainability and passing on of a quality Boise River to the next generation. The Boise River has been deemed a navigable river by the State of Idaho but then decision makers allow private parties to impede those navigating the river by constructing structures in the river making it more difficult to navigate. It is the 21st century and we can engineer structures to allow navigation while achieving whatever the structure is intended to do. Actually, we could have done that in the 20th century or even the 19th century to. Navigation of the river is a beneficial use of the river for the community. It is why First Nations like the Shoshone, Bannock, and Paiute appreciated the gift of navigation from the Boise River. Without this business based on navigation of the river, the community will be more susceptible to lose navigation of the river.

BROO is critical for the integrity of the Boise River because it can quantify a beneficial use of navigation better than any other organization. If a navigational beneficial use is not quantified, then right to navigate will be lost. I have paddled the river as a private citizen and I have led raft trips on behalf of a non-profit organization prior to starting BROO. I have learned that neither the private citizen or NPO use can be quantified as a substantial beneficial use for decision makers to consider. If a decision maker or elected official has the potential to impact a beneficial use, then they will be more likely to consider mitigation or stop the impact… At least that is my theory and is part of the reason why SOMEONE NEEDS TO DO THIS.

My main concern is that the undermining of the business by local leaders and decision makers will be successful through the use of questionable exclusionary practices. It is intended to maintain the status quo and future generations will lose because of the lack of progress in our community as it relates to river recreation on the amazing Boise River.

Pricing:

• Around $50 for Standard 3 hour Ticket
• Some discounts for Seniors and Youth

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.BoiseRiverOutdoor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boiseriveroutdoor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BoiseBROO

Image Credits

Boise River Outdoor Opportunities, LLC