5 Asian American-Led Outdoor Groups You Should Know
Image 1: Bengali American Tazin Khan (L) and Korean/Taiwanese American Caroline Hsu (R) enjoy a hike in the Wasatch mountain range of Utah. Image 2: Tazin walks towards the Lower Bell Canyon Reservoir in the Salt Lake City area. Image 3: Caroline (L) and Tazin (R) smile while taking a break from hiking in the foothills of Mt. Olympus. All images were taken on Eastern Shoshone, Goshute and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land.
The Asian American experience is marked, at least in part, by erasure. Hollywood producers cast white actors as AAPI characters, taking opportunity away and erasing our narratives that could give cultural depth to movies and TV. Asian Americans hit the bamboo ceiling across industries and are passed up for leadership positions. In tech specifically, this struggle is erased: one report shows Asian men grouped into a “non-underrepresented” category with white men, and Asian women grouped with other women.
The model minority myth lumps all Asian American folks together, erasing differences in culture, experience, and struggle. People make judgments of AAPI individuals that are based on offensive cultural stereotypes. The Chinese Exclusion Act that was signed in 1882 barred Asian people from immigrating to the US until the 1940s. And yet, many of us didn’t learn about this in US history. Though things are arguably changing, history often repeats itself. It doesn’t help that the US education system has gaps that prevent us from meaningfully course correcting.
The Asian American experience outdoors isn’t that much different. We're erased, seen as consumers but not active participants and leaders, and mistaken for other AAPI people in our sports. But the truth is, AAPI folks have been in the outdoors for a long time, and for some of us—generations. Nirvana Ortanez, co-founder of Soy Sauce Nation says it best: “we’ve always been here.”
In a time of undeniable anti-Asian sentiment and violence, it's more important than ever for many AAPI to heal through community. To help AAPI folks connect with each other outdoors, here are five outdoor groups for and/or founded by AAPI.
1. Brown Folks Fishing
Founder: Tracy Nguyen-Chung grew up fishing with her Vietnamese family in Portland, OR.
Their mission: To cultivate community for BIPOC in fishing and its industry, build together, and expand access.
What they do: Established the Angling for All pledge, maintain a scholarship fund to support new anglers in their projects that intersect with fishing and conservation, maintain gear libraries to increase access and alleviate barriers to entry, host community-focused educational events, create content, and provide communications services.
Where they work: Across the United States
More information: website, Instagram
Brown Folks Fishing (BFF) reimagines fishing as a gateway to conservation through storytelling, grassroots organizing, events, and community-building. In their own words: We reclaim and lift up the narratives that Black and Brown people have with deep roots in fishing, and connection to land, water, and community. By reclaiming these roots, we can shift the narrative around who is, can, and should be on the water; whose full selves can be brought to the water.
In addition to hosting community events and effecting change through their Angling for All pledge, BFF provides direct support to anglers. Their fellowship program, Brown Folks Fishing Lab, provides anglers focused on community-based environmental justice work with one-on-one support, workshops, gear and resources, and networking opportunities.
2. Climbers of Color
Founder: Vietnamese American climber Don Nguyen is on a mission to train the next generation of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) climbing mentors.
Their mission: To promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the climbing and mountaineering community by developing leaders of color.
What they do: Provide supportive mentorship, technical training, and access to key resources including gear and scholarships.
How to support them: Make a 100% tax deductible donation
More information: website, Instagram
Climbers of Color (CoC) develops leaders of color in the climbing and mountaineering community. They provide multi-day workshops in mountaineering, ice climbing, and ski touring leadership, rock climbing, and AIARE avalanche training. They also expand access by offering sliding scale tuition and scholarships. For more background, CoC's statement on diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice explains intersectionality, anti-racism, and allyship through the lenses of history and their own work.
In the words of co-founder Don Nguyen: “As a mountain guide I see people for a few days and they move on. There’s this limiting factor to time as a commercial guide. You’re not really a friend or mentor. So for climbers of color to enter that mentorship scene I sought out folks who are already mentors in outdoor education.”
3. Here Montana
Founder: First-generation Korean American Alex Kim is passionate about making the outdoors safer and more accessible for Black, Indigenous, People of Color in Montana.
Their mission: To increase access to the outdoors by creating a community centered on education, confidence, identity, and getting outside.
What they do: Host outdoor programs for the BIPOC community that include backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, and rafting through the City of Missoula Parks and Recreation department.
Where they work: Missoula, Montana
More information: website, Instagram
Here Montana hosts outdoor programs for the BIPOC community that include backpacking, biking, hiking, mountain biking, and rafting through the City of Missoula Parks and Recreation department. They work to expand access to the outdoors for BIPOC, removing barriers by providing transportation and gear for the trips they host. Founder Alex Kim is a first-generation Korean American who loves the outdoors despite not having grown up doing all the activities he now shares with other BIPOC in Missoula.
4. Outdoor Asian
Founder: Christopher Chalaka is a medical student at the University of Washington. He identifies as South Asian and Taiwanese American.
Their mission: To create a diverse and inclusive community of Asian and Pacific Islanders in the outdoors.
What they do: Outdoor Asian hosts locally-based trips, outings, and workshops, creates a platform to lift up stories and histories to reflect on our ever-changing relationship to ecology and nature, and connects people to create API leaders in the outdoor recreation and environmental sectors.
Where they work: Across the United States including Colorado, Los Angeles, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and online
More information: website, Instagram
Outdoor Asian is creating a diverse and inclusive community of Asian and Pacific Islanders in the outdoors by hosting trips and workshops, sharing stories about their members’ relationships with ecology and nature, and creating API leaders in outdoor recreation and environmental work.
Central to Outdoor Asian’s mission is understanding ancestral histories with nature and the environment, while honoring multiple parts of it: labor, art, spirituality, recreation, and diaspora. They acknowledge Indigenous land and respect intersectionality, and their values span equity, advocacy, representation, stewardship, education, and community.
5. Soy Sauce Nation
Co-founders: Snowboarders Nirvana Ortanez and Andrew Kelly were used to being “the only one” before they locked eyes across the room at a staff meeting on Mt. Hood in 2012.
Their mission: To show you that you’re not the “only one”, even if it feels like it.
What they do: Soy Sauce Nation (SSN) connects Asian snowboarders who want to ride together at different mountains.
Where they work: Across the United States
A fun recent project: SSN recently held their inaugural Soy Sauce Nation’als, where Asian snowboarders from across the U.S. and as far away as Japan convened at Mt. Hood, Oregon to ride together and celebrate AAPI representation in the sport.
More information: Instagram
Soy Sauce Nation (SSN) is a network of Asian people in snowboarding that facilitates community building, discovering new friendships, sharing stories. They do this by connecting people who want to snowboard together, through Instagram and their own personal networks. SSN has been a way for friends of friends across the country to connect, make laps together, and host each other while celebrating their shared heritage.
Co-founders Nirvana Ortanez and Andrew (AK) Kelly started the group to “riff on that moment when you think you’re the ‘only one’ but actually aren’t”—that even though POC in the outdoors have only recently started to be given more visibility, we’ve always been here.
Do you love the outdoors? Do you have a lot of outdoorsy friends? Are most of them White? Well, you might relate to the following experiences. Eugene Pak lays out ten things he wishes his outdoorsy White friends knew about him..