As head of the agency's Bureaus of Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation, he arrived just in time: Connecticut was in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, and state parks and fishing spots were experiencing crowds of visitors the likes of which DEEP had not seen before. Luckily, as an avid outdoorsman and a leader in Connecticut’s outdoor industry, the Deputy Commissioner was able to hit the trail running. His love for the outdoors was developed as a youngster living in Orland, Maine on Penobscot Bay, when his First Impression came about in a very basic way—by playing outside:
Growing up in a small town, there wasn't a lot to do, so naturally I drifted towards playing outdoors. My first memory is fishing at around age six, but I quickly grew to love backpacking, birding, biking, trail running, whitewater kayaking, hunting, or skiing. If it was outdoors and it was fun, I wanted to do it. And, as the oldest of six kids, I had lots of adventure partners from a very early age.
Conservation was a big part of Deputy Commissioner Trumble’s family background, especially taking care of their favorite recreation areas. His parents instilled in him the concepts of respecting the land, leaving the place better than you found it, and fishing in a sustainable way:
Both of my parents are very active outdoors in different ways, so it was more camping, hiking, and coastal exploration with my mother, and more paddling, hunting, and fishing with my dad. My grandparents would tell stories of the amazing salmon fishing on the Penobscot River, but those salmon runs were gone by the time I was old enough to fish, which was an important conservation lesson to learn at a young age.
Public access to recreation areas is a primary focus of the Deputy Commissioner’s mission at DEEP, which directly relates to his First Environmental Step:
Another lesson I learned at an early age is, if you don't take care of something, you can lose it. Whitewater kayaking was the first outdoor sport I pursued individually, so river access was incredibly important to me. To this day, I understand that from an access perspective, if you don't respect the local community, and protect the ecosystem, you can lose access to an outdoor recreation resource or even lose the resource altogether. That was something I really took to heart.
While pursuing a business degree in college, Deputy Commissioner Trumble spent his summers working as a whitewater rafting guide. Not only did he love running whitewater rivers, he also loved that his rafting skills enabled him to share the outdoors with people who might not otherwise be able to experience a whitewater river on their own. His plan after graduation was to apply his business acumen to some aspect of the outdoor industry:
I knew I wanted to apply my business skills together with sharing the outdoors with more people, and I thought outdoor education would be a good way to do that. So I went to the University of New Hampshire for a Master's Degree in outdoor education.
He also juggled his graduate school responsibilities with a full-time job at REI:
Pursuing a brick-and-mortar Master’s Degree in a different state from where I was living and working did have its challenges, so it took me longer than two years to earn my graduate degree.
The unfettered access to outdoor recreation Mason enjoyed as a kid fueled his passion while at REI, when he took on a role providing grants to local community and non-profit organizations to promote and improve public access to outdoor recreation throughout New England. Some of those grants improved access to Long Island Sound in Bridgeport and New Haven:
Diving into these projects gave me a first-hand view into the fact that, growing up, I was incredibly privileged to have access to the outdoors with no restraints. Not everyone has that privilege. In fact, I would say it’s pretty rare. This is especially important as I think about my career related to equitable outdoor access and environmental justice. I have a lot to learn in that regard, and I am always trying to grow.
With respect to a Behavior Change, the Deputy Commissioner can’t really put a finger on one particular experience. It’s more based on decisions that have come at random times throughout his life:
When I was younger, conservation was connected to my immediate environment -- clean up your campsite, fish in a sustainable manner, etc. As I grew in the outdoor industry, conservation become more connected on a global scale, especially related to environmental justice and climate change. Thinking about these issues and my role in contributing to them are bigger and larger lessons that I am continuing to learn.
Which is why Deputy Commissioner Trumble continues to make every-day choices on a small scale to support large-scale initiatives to combat climate change. For example, he lives within bicycling distance of 79 Elm Street, and joined Blue Earth compost in an effort to make a big difference in a small way. While working at REI, Mason also founded the Connecticut Outdoor Recreation Alliance (CORA), a coalition of organizations focused on protecting and promoting Connecticut’s outdoor recreation resources:
CORA is a nonprofit that engages the business community around increasing outdoor recreation opportunities. There are quite a few recreation-based businesses in Connecticut, including REI, Cannondale, and LOWA hiking boots. Connecticut has ski resorts, and boating and fishing both inland and on Long Island Sound, and it has a robust recreation economy, the second largest in New England after Massachusetts.
And Connecticut has a variety of recreational experiences, from the coast to rivers, to hiking forest mountains, and they’re all very accessible, which is something I’m really passionate about. We have over 140 state parks and forests crunched into a tiny state, so if you live in Connecticut, chances are good that you live close to one. When you add municipal parks on top of that, there are lots of opportunities to get outside. And with the state’s "Passport to Parks" program, you don’t have to pay every time you go to a state park. So that allows you to swing by your favorite spot after work and take the dog for a 20-minute walk or go for a run. You might not do any of that if you had to pay a fee every time you wanted to visit a park.
When considering his experience at REI and with CORA, coupled with his outdoor experiences, Mason Trumble has been preparing his entire life for his ultimate Big Environmental Step: Becoming the Deputy Commissioner of a state environmental agency. Little did he know that all of those days of being dropped off at the lake by his parents to play outside with his five siblings were actually on-the-job training! And he has first-hand knowledge of the co-benefits of just being outside in nature, not only the physical and mental health benefits, but the link to protecting the natural resources that are important to us:
At its most basic level, if you don’t enjoy being outside, you may not care as much about preserving the outdoors either. So the way that I can best focus on climate change and environmental issues is to share my love for the outdoors with other people. Hopefully give them a love for the outdoors. And once people realize how amazing the outdoors is, in whatever form that they choose to enjoy it, they’ll start to think a little bit about how to take care of the places and resources that they love so much.
At the same time, Deputy Commissioner Trumble recognizes that outdoor resources that are accessible can also be used very heavily, which can also create conflict. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a significant increase in outdoor use, as being outside became one of the only safe entertainment options available to residents. Trying to balance sustainable use with increased access has been a challenge, but it’s a topic with which the Deputy Commissioner is extremely familiar:
It all goes back to being respectful. We have to use the outdoors sustainably. A lot of folks who were playing outside during the pandemic might not have ever done so before. So we have to educate the people who might be new to the outdoors and encourage them to take care of their new “playground.” And maybe they will turn into environmental and conservation advocates.
With the wide variety of outdoor recreation opportunities available in Connecticut, chances are you’ll run into the Deputy Commissioner this winter on a ski slope or a trail or ice fishing, or maybe in the spring you’ll find him on a river in the canoe he’s building himself in his spare time. No matter where you find him, Connecticut’s outdoor recreation spaces—and the people who use them—couldn’t have asked for a better advocate than Mason Trumble.
