MOA Fest, offered at locations around the country by TRCP partner Minority Outdoor Alliance, teaches hunting, fishing, and conservation skills and ideals

Earlier this month I was able to join one of our partner organizations, Minority Outdoor Alliance, for their annual MOA Fest. This festival has been held in various states throughout the country, including Texas, Alabama, and earlier this month, Pennsylvania.

The event is designed to allow college students who have had limited or no exposure to hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation the opportunity to explore activities and careers in the outdoor and conservation space. Students are given the freedom to try new activities such as mountain biking, clay shooting, and rappelling. This year I watched as students from Temple University and Bucks County Community College kayaked, drew compound bows, and cast fly rods for the first time. Students were also able to participate in a community service project – planting and caging native trees in a local park. The setting was ideal to talk about conservation issues in Pennsylvania, where TRCP unifies the voices of hunters, anglers, and conservationists around key initiatives and works to ensure clean water, enhanced fisheries, and better public access and opportunities.

Husband and wife team and co-founders, Durrell and Ashley Smith, started the Minority Outdoor Alliance in the summer of 2020, and soon after offered the first MOA Fest.

“We are incredibly grateful to our dedicated sponsors and partners for making MOA Fest a reality each year,” said MOA President Durrell Smith. “The goals of the festival are unity and expanding the capacity of the host agency by serving as a bridge to connect younger and broader audiences with recreation opportunities and career opportunities in the outdoors.”

“Watching students ask questions about how their current educational paths could intersect with the conservation industry was exciting to see.”

While it is always thrilling for students to watch a bird dog demonstration or to learn to cook wild game, MOA also expands participants’ ideas about what it takes to work in conservation and the outdoors. Many of the students who attend MOA Fest each year are from urban areas where spending time in the outdoors may not have been a focal point of their childhoods. When asked what types of careers they think are available, many are surprised to hear that they do not have to be park rangers or biologists to succeed.

The career fair portion of MOA Fest is an opportunity for the local state agencies and partner organizations to let students know about the various professional options available to them. Watching students ask questions about how their current educational paths could intersect with the conservation industry was exciting to see. Law majors discovered there is plenty of work to do in policy at all levels of government and communications majors heard about the teams at various agencies that are dedicated to sharing information across every platform. Facilitating conversations about their ability to protect our environment in diverse ways, early on in these students’ degree paths, may lead some to careers in the outdoors that they may never have considered if not exposed to an event like MOA Fest.

“The unity and diversity we witness at MOA Fest are reminders that the outdoors is a place for all to cherish.”

Durrell Smith, MOA president

What truly makes MOA Fest unique is the focus on underrepresented communities in the outdoor space. Students who have spent their lives in urban areas, with no regular exposure to all the great outdoors have to offer, are often shocked at the number of careers that are available. Being able to actively and effectively interact with this community of students is an asset to the outdoor and conservation space. Their unique perspectives and experiences will do nothing but enhance our collective ability to think nimbly and critically about issues central to our mission as we move into the future of conservation.

MOA has created a space where students are free to ask questions, try new things, and network with industry professionals across the conservation and outdoor industry. Their dedication to making the outdoors accessible to everyone and their goal of “Uniting Communities for Joy and Conservation” is truly embodied in this important event.

“MOA believes in the unity of humanity and in fostering authentic connections through shared experiences in the natural world,” Durrell shared with me. “The joy of seeing individuals connect with dogs, sporting traditions, and conservation leadership reaffirms our mission and fills us with pride. The unity and diversity we witness at MOA Fest are reminders that the outdoors is a place for all to cherish and a place for collective care and stewardship.”

For more information about MOA and events it offers, click here.

Banner image of Durrell Smith with bird dog credit MOA.