Grasstops Collective Application is Now Open!

American Whitewater and our partners at the Outdoor Alliance have been training community leaders for the past several years through the Grasstops Collective program. The Grasstops Collective is a leadership and advocacy development program that trains fledgling advocates to build relationships with policymakers and raise their voice for our stewardship priorities from an authentic, local perspective. Grasstops leaders are unique because of their meaningful place in their communities, whether they are in business, nonprofit, or local government. They are the unofficial mayors—the ones who know everyone at the put-in, trailhead, or crag. Once trained and educated on the basics of outdoor policy, advocacy, and congressional operations, these Grasstops leaders bring their local perspective to positively inform conservation, recreation, and climate policy at a national level with local authenticity.

The Grasstops Collective program trains these community leaders on conservation-based advocacy skills, like building meaningful and trusted relationships with decision makers, including lawmakers and their staff, identifying opportunities for others in their community to advocate for public lands and outdoor recreation, and legislative terminology and process. Advocates that graduate from the program will go on to advocate for conservation and recreation policy for years to come.

The application for the next cohort is now open! We’re looking for people who are stoked to play the long game in river stewardship with us. This network of trained advocates enables all of us to protect more public lands and waters, pass stronger conservation and recreation policy, and fund the outdoors, helping advance the mission of American Whitewater, Outdoor Alliance, and all the other OA member organizations. For more information, check out this program overview, and if you’d like to sign-up, please complete this application and optional recommendation by November 2, 2025.