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Wyoming Rivers Cooperative is a for-profit river company with a mission: to reconnect individuals and communities to their waterways through experience-based river trips and cooperative partnerships. Founded by Landon Blanchard and Elyse Guarino in late 2019, WRC aims to fill a niche in the outdoor recreation sector by combining our decades of professional guiding experience with our backgrounds in conservation, partnerships and non-profit organization.
We don’t have a building. We bring all our gear and food to our put-in’s in local Wyoming communities or at known public access points and areas we are permitted. Our participants meet us there and off we go. As long as we have or can get access, we’d love to meet you somewhere in our beautiful state!
Most Americans live within 1 mile of a river or stream. Those that don’t are usually tapped into a ground water supply that they aren’t super familiar with. We all rely on water and are rarely aware of not only how dependent we are, but how fragile and affected by us those waterways are. Sure we hear about disasters on the news, but what about the river in your backyard? Where does that water start? What happens to it as it moves from source to your community? Why is one of our most precious resources used to flush toilets? We all use water and as the population continues to grow and communities continue to develop there are and will inevitably be more and more interest in controlling these resources.
It has been normalized to recreate on rivers, knowing full well you can’t drink the water, and not question this. Why? A paddle trip with Wyoming Rivers Co-op offers the opportunity to experience and interact with these questions first hand while enjoying some of the most pristine and beautiful scenery our state has to offer. We don’t aim to answer these questions but do aim to help folks who love water and backcountry travel ask better questions, bring their first hand experience to future community conversations and personal life choices. When you are having a kick-ass backcountry experience on a wild river, these questions are part of your daily life, not some contrived conversation we are forcing participants to have. Anyone who has traveled on rivers or along remote trails knows, identifying water sources and how you will clean them is a part of everyday life on these types of trips. Agriculture, extraction, city and town use, peace and quiet and recreation. These are just some of the many uses our waterways wind downstream toward. Understanding how to better manage them starts with reconnecting to our rivers and waterways where they start. Whether planned as part of the trip or not, traveling a waterway in Wyoming leads to conversation about current local issues, human impact on climate, economies, and how to be involved in creating sustainable, collaborative solutions.
We want Wyoming communities, visitors and everyone using the water that flows downstream to have healthy, vibrant, enjoyable and drinkable rivers from now until forever. Understanding our rivers, thinking critically about what sustainable use looks like for all users (including us) and imagining the future of the places and people we love is all part of making that happen. We are dedicated to learning, teaching and protecting Wyoming’s life-giving rivers and streams. And, inspiring our participants to ask these critical questions when they return to their communities or visit other rivers in the states and abroad. Our trips will always be small and as low impact as possible.
Landon was born and raised in Cody Wyoming where he worked for and was the Operations Manager of Wyoming River Trips for 11 seasons. He explored his interest in people's and cultures studying Anthropology and Human Behavioral Ecology at Boise State University. He developed a passion for conservation while working for First Lite and diving deep into the bow and rifle hunting cultures of Idaho and Wyoming.
During his time at Wyoming Wildlife Federation coordinating community events and conservation efforts he decided to blend his passion for rivers and waterways with his passion for people with the goal of becoming a catalyst for meaningful conversation, experiences and action in the lives of others and in his own life. Wyoming Rivers Cooperative was born.
Landon spends his days researching water issues in the west, planning advocacy outreach, working for OARS and AZRA in the Grand Canyon, facilitating learning experiences through Wyo Rivers and running the river outfitting business he grew up in—Wyoming River Trips.
Elyse came to Wyoming from NJ by way of Arizona and Utah and has worked as a professional outdoor guide and educator for 13 years. She became quite adaptable and built a high tolerance for uncertainty during those years, working various jobs while growing her passion for the outdoors and the personal growth it facilitates. She has worked as part of a maintenance crew, construction worker, solar array technician, researcher, graphic designer, bar tender, cook, marketing consultant and more all while moving over 13 times and living long periods of time in a local city park and on various plots of BLM land in the southwest.
Elyse took her passion for people and facilitating experiences to The Central Wyoming Climbers Alliance, running the organization and the International Climbers Festival for 4 years. After a stint at WyoFile, an investigative journalism outfit she began full-time freelancing as a small business advisor and marketing consultant. In 2019 she launched Wyo Rivers with Landon and in 2021 they purchased an existing business—Wyoming River Trips, in Cody Wyoming.