Three changes are afoot at One Great River!

First: One Great River is changing how we provide wilderness experience programs, from self-guiding groups to contracting with professional outfitters. We are doing this to best meet emerging changes in regulations governing the use of public lands and to meet requirements of liability insurance in a cost effective way.

By contracting with professional outfitters, we will also reduce our annual operating cost, such as liability insurance, equipment storage, EMT training for staff and other overhead expense.  In the future, One Great River staff and volunteers will supervise youth during travel to wilderness locations and the contracted professional guides will lead the wilderness activities, such as rock climbing, river rafting and backpacking.

Second: One Great River is  also in the process of updating our on-going prevention programs to be more responsive to current data and emerging community needs, such as the need for effective approaches to the prevention of youth vaping and opioid use. We took an “in-breath” during this past June, July and August to design a new prevention approach for at-risk youth and to complete grants planning for this new effort.

Third: One Great River will increase it’s historical role as an advocate for science-based prevention programs and practices.  In doing so, we will support the effort by The Society for Prevention Research which is  underway. It is  titled, “Prevention Works: A Call to Action for the Behavioral Health System”.  The national goal is to increase prevention research science and the application of proven prevention practices.