Since the Outdoor Bloggers Summit has been kind enough to invite some traffic my way, I thought I would post an answer to Kristine’s question of why I have decided to support the OBS for all those who have the urge to pay a visit.

Originally, the LPRB was a class project born from a return to academia, but it has progressively become more than that.  I have been affiliated with the outdoors industry in one way or another for most of my life, most recently as an employee of the nation’s largest outdoors outfitting retailer where I worked in various locations across the country for nearly eight years.  When I decided to leave that life last August in order to pursue some loftier personal goals, I spent the Fall in a dream season of sorts – hunting or fishing the Fall away everyday.  Although, I had left the “business” of the outdoors behind, I was not ready to sever my ties with the outdoors community.  The LPRB has provided a way to continue to share my passions for the outdoors and redirect my life towards those personal goals I had set so long ago.

This class project has also expanded to include something I would not leave behind, my mentoring responsibilities as a hunter education instructor.  I have started the Hunter Education & Firearm Safety Training blog to enhance the experience of the students in my classes as well as provide a possible resource of information and enlightenment for the hunting and non-hunting communities alike.

I originally came calling upon the OBS, and many sites affiliated with it, in an effort to increase my outdoors resources on the web for my own personal use.  But now the OBS and its members and supporters have become a source for communication, exposure, and building relationships as well as shared information, knowledge and a channel for my voice to be heard by the individuals who share my passions for the outdoors and our outdoors heritage.

I hope the LPRB will continue to evolve into a site the OBS is proud to display on its blogroll.  I have many ideas to continue to improve the site, like a “lake of the week” feature I am hoping to implement with the coming open water fishing season, and I am also learning from all of the fantastically talented individuals I have come across since turning down this new path.

Thank you to Kristine, Othmar, and Tom, who have already stopped by to say hello or link the LPRB into their blogrolls and send traffic my way.  And welcome to those I have not met yet, I hope you enjoy the LPRB as much as I have enjoyed looking around your creations while I’m discovering great new places and friends everyday.