Mentor helps others find connection and empowerment outdoors

By Cheryl Allen
Posted 8/9/22

Friends and relationships are good reasons to move to a new place.  For Stephanie Lane, the fact that Wellman had a coon hunting club was a bonus.

A life-long Eastern Iowan from the DeWitt …

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Mentor helps others find connection and empowerment outdoors

Posted

Friends and relationships are good reasons to move to a new place.  For Stephanie Lane, the fact that Wellman had a coon hunting club was a bonus.

A life-long Eastern Iowan from the DeWitt area, Lane relocated to Wellman a year ago.  She immediately got to work building connections to other outdoors lovers like herself, from turkey hunters to beekeepers.  She is one of the lucky ones who has managed to merge her avocation with her vocation.

“I grew up hunting my whole life.  When I was building my career, I was extremely busy and I made time for hunting, but not to the extreme that I would have wanted to, and I realized that, yeah, I was building a career, but I wasn’t taking time to do the things that I love and I was really missing it,” Lane said. 

She had been working as a recruiter, but when she started responding to requests to take kids camping, help hunters with their shooting, or teach women archery, she felt something wonderful: joy.

“I taught women archery for the first time, and I seriously found so much enjoyment out of it.  They were so blown away with what I knew.  And them being blown away with what I knew blew me away, because I’m thinking, if they only knew how much there is to know, and that I’m constantly learning all the time.  But it felt really good to help these ladies get on that path, and that kind of just started mentoring for me,” Lane said.

Today Lane works full-time for Pass It On! Outdoor Mentors, a nonprofit that matches children with mentors who will help them learn traditional outdoor activities like fishing, camping, hiking, and hunting.  The organization began in 1999 when the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks wanted to bolster the ranks of hunters and fishers; it recently expanded into Iowa and hired Lane as the Iowa Coordinator.

“My job is to work with Iowa youth and get them out hunting and fishing as much as I can.  In 2022, we’ve already gotten over 100 kids out hunting and fishing, and have plans for easily 100 more hunts, getting 100-plus more kids out hunting and fishing this year,” Lane said.

Lane grew up hunting waterfowl, deer, and turkey with her dad, uncles, and younger brother. But she understands many kids don’t have family members with outdoors skills to pass down, thus the need for mentors in the community.  And learning those skills, whether as a child or as an adult, can be life changing.

“It’s a little empowering.  It has nothing to do with shooting an animal.  At the end of the day, it’s about having the skills and having something that’s yours,” Lane said.  “I don’t think that they’re thinking about going after that deer.  I think they find some sort of accomplishment and are proud of themselves and may not have felt that way for a while.  And that, for me, is what I love about mentoring.”

Lane also appreciates her unique position as a woman with outdoors skills to pass along.  She finds that many women favor learning from other women, and being able to build a community of women who share an interest in the outdoors is something she deeply values.

“I don’t think I knew one girl growing up that hunted to the level that I wanted to,” Lane reflects.  “I used to have this really strong sense that I had to be better and prove myself.  If there was a room full of people talking about hunting, no one was talking to me about it because it was a bunch of dudes.  I always felt like I had to be like, ‘Hey, I’m over here.  I want to talk about this stuff, too.’”

“I feel like that’s changed and shifted for me.  I love ladies who want to talk to me about that stuff.  [They tell me] ‘Oh my gosh, I got my first turkey,’ or ‘Oh my gosh, look how well I shot today.’” That brings me so much joy because, as much as they need someone to talk to, I’ve always wanted that too.  Now I’ve kind of built that for myself between the podcast and work.”

Woods and Waters project is Lane’s podcast, in which she interviews extraordinary outdoor writers, trappers, fly fishers, archers, and outdoors entrepreneurs, most of whom are women. The companion website brings together a community of those who share a passion and a lifestyle.

At the end of the day, Lane believes the outdoors is for everyone, and she aims to include all who want to be their best self, whether that is as a landowner granting access to one’s land, as a mentor to those who want to learn, or as a student of the outdoor world. 

“If you can love the process and the journey, that’s just a good life, right?  I think, especially nowadays, everyone is so busy.  [Outdoor activities are] just a good way to escape, or a good, heathy activity to do with your family.  I think everyone needs that.”

Get Involved:

Pass It On! Outdoor Mentors brings landowners, mentors, and learners together.  

Outdoormentors.org

Woods and Waters Project features podcasts and events for outdoors lovers.

Woodsandwatersproject.com

The Iowa DNR provides resources for learning how to hunt, fish, and more.

IowaDNR.gov