93
Let’s hear the story of Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry Agriculture, and the people who make it happen. Sponsored by Nebraska's Law Firm® - Rembolt Ludtke.
93
Elijah Riley - Big Gumdrop Outdoors
Nebraska's habitat is diverse—Nebraska is filled with grasslands and wetlands with over 81,000 miles of streams that support a rich diversity of wildlife.
With so much to offer outdoors, why would a Nebraska kid spend time in front of a screen rather than exploring all that Nebraska has to offer?
In this episode we are joined by Elijah Riley, founder of Big Gumdrop Outdoors and a self-described “Conservation Storyteller.” Elijah is passionate about educating urban youth about nature and inspiring them to get off their screens and to explore the great outdoors in Nebraska and beyond.
Guest host for this episode is Pete Wegman, a longtime partner at Rembolt Ludtke partner and an avid outdoorsman and occasional duck hunter.
Nebraska, it's not just a place, but a way of life. It's 93 counties that are home to innovative individuals, caring community, and a spirit that runs deeper than its purple story. It's a story that should be told.
SPEAKER_03:Welcome to 93, the podcast. Welcome to 93, the podcast, where we talk about Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the people who make it happen. I'm Mark Folson, your host for today's episode, brought to you by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Lutke. Nebraska is the crossroads where the East meets the West and where the North meets the South. Its habitat is diverse. Nebraska is filled with grasslands and wetlands with over 81,000 miles of streams that support a rich diversity of wildlife. With so much to offer outdoors, why would a Nebraska kid spend time in front of a screen rather than exploring all that Nebraska has to offer? Today we're joined by Elijah Riley, founder of Big Gum Drop Outdoors and a self-described conservation storyteller. Elijah is passionate about how to educate urban youth about nature and inspiring them to get off the screens and to get explore the great outdoors. We're also joined by my colleague Pete Wegman, a longtime partner at Rembolt Luxe, who leads our catastrophic injury and wrongful death team here. Pete's also an avid outdoorsman and an occasional duck hunter. So uh Pete uh Pete and Elijah, thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, thanks for having me. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03:Elijah, give it give our listeners a little background about yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I'm Elijah Riley, born and raised here in Lincoln, Nebraska. I have six older sisters, one older brother, and altogether I have about 18 nieces and nephews. So I have quite a big squad behind me, and I've spent my whole life in Lincoln. I grew up fishing with my dad, and I always wanted to get more into the outdoors. And as I got older, I found a bow on Craigslist. I found a random piece of public land outside of N uh Lincoln and I started hunting. And that was really my origin story to the outdoors. I didn't have much knowledge about how to do some of those things beforehand, and I just watched a whole lot of YouTube videos and kind of have figured my way out and over here.
SPEAKER_03:You didn't have an actual mentor when it comes to hunting? No. Did it all on your own?
SPEAKER_00:Yep, YouTube University.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, without revealing to our listeners your favorite fishing hole, do you have a favorite lake or place to go fishing here in Nebraska?
SPEAKER_00:Honestly, there's quite a bit of places around Lincoln that I think are slept on. There's probably about like 28 ponds within a 45 minute drive of the Capitol. And a lot of people don't know about them. One of my favorites is probably Stagecoach, just because there's probably a wide variety of things you can do out there. If you're just on a kayak or a paddleboard, or even just fishing from the shore, there's quite a bit of places that you can go. And that's one of my favorite areas of Lincoln to go hunting to just because there's quite a bit of diversity and a lot of water, so it keeps wildlife around.
SPEAKER_03:What's your favorite Nebraska fish to catch?
SPEAKER_00:Largemouth bass, because they can put up a fight. But favorite to eat for sure, crappie. I love how those taste.
SPEAKER_03:So uh your dad taught you how to fish, right? Yeah. So my mom taught me how to fish. Uh it's probably not normal for most kids, but my mom was an avid fisherwoman, and she would take my brother and I when we were kids uh out fishing at Nebraska's public lakes. And my brother and I always used to fight over who had the best tackle box in the lures that were in there. Do you do you have a tackle box? Yeah, I have a backpack tackle box. Okay. So do you have any particular lures you're quite fond of?
SPEAKER_00:Chatterbaits for the win. I love black and blue chatterbaits. Um I've probably caught the most amount of fish on those just because I have it rigged up on my bait caster and I never take it off.
SPEAKER_03:Have you ever been down Nebraska's Niobrara River?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, there's no that is such a hidden gym. And if you're uh in Nebraska or live in Nebraska or driving through, I highly recommend that everyone go check out the Niobrara. It's absolutely just a hidden gym for the state of Nebraska. Have you ever floated down it?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's what I did too.
SPEAKER_00:Uh-huh. Yeah, Smith Falls is beautiful, and there's just so many waterfalls out there. And I didn't realize that there was waterfalls in Nebraska until I went on that float trip. And every like five minutes you'd look off on the shore and there'd be waterfalls coming in, and then Smith Falls is just one of the coldest and one of the coolest experiences that I've ever had. We went up there on a school trip, and I just like found my way up into one of the coves and just sat underneath it and let the water fall on me for like five, ten minutes, and just unlocked my brain and went into like my own little reality. It was really cool.
SPEAKER_03:So I hunt. I'm not as avid of a hunter as Pete Wegman is, but uh Pete Elijah, tell me what's so great about duck hunting. I've ever ever I've never been duck hunting.
SPEAKER_01:Well, the best part of duck hunting for me is walking to your spot in the dark and the anticipation and being with friends and watching the sun come up.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'd for sure say the camaraderie is for sure high on my list. Just being able to sit out there with some friends and catch up, especially with just how busy life can get, being able to be out in nature with your friends and share some stories and catch up and watch as the world comes alive and see some birds buzzing by, and sometimes you can hear some golden eyes flying on top of you, and it sounds like the whistle coming off of their wings. It's just a very unique and awe-striking type of hunting.
SPEAKER_03:So, again, displaying my ignorance, what types of ducks are you or do we typically find in Nebraska and what do you enjoy shooting the most?
SPEAKER_00:I'd say my favorite is a mallard, a Drake Mallard, just because growing up I always saw pictures of greenheads and they just are a very beautiful bird, plus they're one of the best eaten birds. I would say next to that, some of my favorite to go after are teal, like blue wing and green wing teal, because those taste really good and they fly super fast, so it's kind of like you really have to know what you're doing and lead them and know how the birds are going to fly. So it takes a little bit more skill to chase teal.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, the gold standard is a Drake Mallard, nice green head, uh, and teal eat as well as a mallard do, but they're so hard to shoot.
SPEAKER_03:So, Elijah, I I was already familiar with you and your family, and my daughters uh knew you as well, but we reconnected recently when I was out at the Ingler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program. Uh, how did you get involved in that program?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I learned about Ingler when I was working at Shields. Um, there was a couple of my buddies, Cade Ludwig and Hunter Schuschland, who were involved with the program, and they went through this course called$50 Business, and they were given$50 and they were able to work on whatever business they wanted, and they came up with a lure company. And through building that company, they actually are now in Shields and they're in multiple retailers across the company. Seriously? Yep. And through hearing their story and them just encouraging me, like, hey, you need to come check it out. If anything, there's free food, and you get a chance to just hear from some entrepreneurs that are out in the world actually doing some cool things. So they twisted my arm. I went and I talked with uh, I believe Tom Field, and then I also talked with Dave Lamb on one of my first visits, and they really told me about what the community of Ingler was. And at the time I had been working on, I wouldn't really call it a business, it was more of a storytelling company. It's called Big Gum Drop Outdoors, and I was using Instagram and YouTube to tell stories about my adventures into nature, whether it was hunting or fishing, and I was really trying to do that so then other kids that looked like me, specifically here in Lincoln, would feel comfortable and confident that they too could go into nature or they too could go hunt and blaze new trails, and they didn't necessarily have to have someone that looked like them. Because kind of like I mentioned, I learned how to hunt off of YouTube or watching like Animal Planet and Discovery Channel, and I never really saw people that looked like me within that industry, and I wanted to kind of shake it up and bring a new face. And through working with Engler, um, they showed me a lot more opportunities that I could take rather than just doing social media storytelling. And I was given a chance to really grow my business, work on my business, and do things that I would have never thought I could. I met a lot of cool people, made really great connections, and I'm super thankful for everything that program is because Paul Engler has left behind one heck of a legacy, and I'm very fortunate that I'm able to be a small part of that.
SPEAKER_03:So, what you're saying is you'd recommend the Engler program for anyone who wants to uh attend or join.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, 10 out of 10 Engler program is all that in a bag of chips.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, I know you mentioned Tom Field, uh who's the director of Engler. Every time I am with Tom, uh and I try to find as many reasons to sit down with Tom as I can. I always come away like I just had a meeting with someone who is an inspirational speaker. You can't help but leave a meeting with him without just feeling sort of energized and jazzed about what's going on.
SPEAKER_00:He has just so much energy, so much experience and knowledge. And there's times that I'll just ask him a random question and then he'll start pulling quotes and he'll start referring me to books and podcasts, and I don't know how he does it, but I swear he figures out a way to put 40 hours into a 24-hour day, and he is chipper every time I see him, and he's just just full of excitement. So yeah, he is an inspiring person.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, I gotta ask big gumdrop outdoors. Where's that come from?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I was in like a math class with a couple of my buddies over there at Lincoln High, and we were probably like sophomore and junior year, just messing around, giving each other goofy nicknames, and I got stuck with gumdrop, and for some reason I put it on the back of my football jersey that next year, and it kind of just stuck. And I started big gumdrop outdoors afterwards just because some of my friends were calling me gumdrop, and I was like, okay, well, that works. Let's just see how it looks, and it has been pretty unique. And a lot of people have asked me, like, where's that name come from? It like doesn't correlate with the outdoors, especially when you see other outdoor organizations that has some type of attachment, but this one is not. And actually, we were just running an after-school program last week, and there was a kid, he was like, you know, I was really mad that I didn't get put in soccer club because I wanted to be put in soccer club, and I don't like gumdrops. I think gumdrops are disgusting. So, like, I don't, what are we doing? Is this like a science or a nature club? Or like, what are we doing? And we're like, Yeah, we're gonna teach you guys about the outdoors, about nature, and try to just give you some skills that you can use later in your life. He was like, Okay, sweet. I'm excited, let's do it. So I think our name is unique, it's kind of different than anything else you'd see, and especially we really try to focus on working with youth here in town, and I think gumdrop just gives it enough of that kiddie type of a feeling that parents are like, okay, well, that seems like something fun, that seems like something out of the box. Let's see what they're about and if my kid could gain any experience from it.
SPEAKER_03:So, one thing I've learned about Ingler grads is that uh you're often taught to identify a problem, and what is the problem you're trying to solve? Uh, what is the problem that big gumdrop outdoors is trying to solve?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so one of the biggest problems we're trying to solve is screen time. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, kids spend on average of seven and a half hours a day on a screen, which adds up to 114 days a year. And that is for entertainment purposes alone, that has nothing to do with schoolwork that they're doing, um, stuff they're doing on the computer, whether they're at school or at home. And this is detrimental because we know that this increase of screen time is causing um higher levels of depression and um lower self-esteem, lower mental health, and all sorts of stuff because the Department of Health and Human Services came out with a 2023 social media and youth mental health advisory, which basically means that they see these trends are having serious effects and that it can have a lot more harm if we don't identify it now. And that's kind of right where we're trying to focus. We're trying to meet these kids where they are, try to get them off the screens, try to show them that there's so much around them in nature and in the world that they can be engaged with and they can use their hands rather than just sitting on a screen and being fed all this information like we want them to get out in the world and to take some stake in what their life is and not just be constantly fed all this media and using all this social media.
SPEAKER_03:So those issues you described, does that cut across and apply to, I mean, regardless of race, regardless of your socioeconomic conditions, does this affect all kids?
SPEAKER_00:This affects all kids for sure. I would say to get a little bit more specific, um, we really try to focus on kids in underprivileged and underserved areas, and typically they rank higher on like social vulnerability index, which means that they come from like a single parent household or they come from a lower level income household. And why we want to focus with them is because I feel as though those are the kids that have even more barriers put against them and they have a less likelihood of learning about the outdoors because most of the time their parents didn't grow up fishing or grow up hunting or grow up learning about nature, and then therefore they don't have the skills to teach their own children about that, as well as most of the time those kids or those parents don't have the time or the energy that they can put towards those kids, and we really want to work with those youth that are statistically proven to have less resources and to not have as many opportunities, and we just want to kind of balance the playing field.
SPEAKER_03:So I was taken by this statement on your website. At Big Gum Drop Outdoors, we believe in the transformative power of nature. By supporting our mission, you are helping to build confident, creative, and responsible young leaders who will carry these values into their communities. Does that kind of summarize what your mission is? It's all just great stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. We really want to create the stewards of the land. We want to create kids that are gonna become the next change makers and the leaders of the world because we know we're losing wildlife in wild places at alarming rates. And if we don't do anything about it now, in the future, we're gonna continue to lose it. And we know that in order to really make those changes in the future, we need to give kids the tools and the resources and the knowledge so then when they become the leaders, it's not something that they have to go out of their way to learn. It's something that's already been instilled in them.
SPEAKER_03:So I noticed uh Big Gum Drop Outdoors recently held the fundraising event. Tell our listeners how that went and what your next big event is.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so that event was amazing. It was our first ever. We had over 75 people in attendance and we raised over$1,400. And I'm just over the moon. We were hoping that we would get at least 50 people there, and we were hoping that everyone would just cover the expenses of the event. We could just start off um at a net zero and then we could go forward from that. But having all that support and all of the community just outpour of love and um support for what we're doing, I'm really excited to see what's going on in the future. We have our first ever fun rack fundraising gala.
SPEAKER_03:Sounds fancy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Sit-down dinner. You know, we're gonna do the whole get served by plates and stuff, and we're gonna be doing that April 25th, which is a Friday. We're still trying to figure out the details as far as like the location and the prices per tickets. But if people want to learn more about that, they can go to biggumdropoutdoors.com and on the homepage, there is a little Google form that you can fill out, and from there you can get added to the list so we can keep you updated as we're planning more of those details and as more details come out for that event. And we're just hoping that we can get as many people there as possible so then we can help provide this programming at a lower cost to the community centers that we work with, and we can try to just get out in the community and work with as many kids as possible.
SPEAKER_03:So, can you give an example or two of the programming that Big Gum Drop Outdoors provides uh to local communities and the kids?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so one of the favorites is just fishing because every kid loves to go out and fish, especially kids that have never gone fishing before. We've had a lot of first. Um so, for example, last year we hosted our first ever fishing clinic, and at the fishing clinic, we partnered with the Nebraska Walleye Association. We talked to the kids about casting, we talked to them about different types of bait, how to tie knots, water safety as far as wearing um some type of flotation device when you're on a boat just in case you fall out, and then also just how close you get to the water, and then we also briefly talked about ice fishing and about how you need to make sure that the ice is safe before you go out. But being in this part of Nebraska, we typically only get ice for about two weeks. Actually, this year we have ice for a little bit longer. So I'm hoping that I can get out if the weather cooperates with us. But then after that, we spent an hour of actually fishing. All the kids got their own tackle box and they got their own fishing rods and rails, so then they were able to go fishing after that clinic and have all the tools and resources so they can take that ownership and do it themselves.
SPEAKER_03:So the only five fish, or excuse me, ice fishing that I'm familiar with is the kind where you sit in a heated thing with a bunch of your buddies. Pete, I think you've done that once or twice before, haven't you?
SPEAKER_01:Many times it's a really good time. We don't let kids in there though.
SPEAKER_03:So Elijah, uh, we all have heroes or people who we look up to or who inspire us. Who are your heroes? Who are the people who inspire you to be your best self?
SPEAKER_00:My biggest hero is my mom. And she always has been, and she probably always will be. Um, she has always showed me like servant leadership. She has had a in-home daycare my entire life, and I've seen her make sacrifices for the people around her and the people around her that are going through less fortunate times. She's always sacrificial with her love and she's very um giving. And I think just seeing that, that's been something that I've always tried to mirror and I've always wanted to like achieve and do in my life. Um, because if we don't have that servant leadership, if we don't show that love to other people, then really where are we in the world? And I think this world love makes the world go around, and that's something that we've been losing a lot in recent times. And I just want everyone to feel like they have a place and everyone to feel like they belong and they have a community or they have a place to call home. And um, outside of my mother's house, the outdoors is the place to where I call home and that the place where I can run to when life gets hard or life gets fast and busy, and I just need a place where I can calm down. And that's also why Big Gum Drop Outdoors is so important to me and my passion project, because I want these kids that are going through difficult times to understand that they can just walk outside, sit and stare at a tree, and maybe they'll see a butterfly land on it, or a squirrel run across a branch, or maybe there will be a bird that's feeding its kids or feeding the little birdies in the nest, and just tapping into that love for the environment and love for things around you, I think is something that is very important to me.
SPEAKER_03:So, what's next for Elijah Riley? You recently graduated from UNL. What's the next chapter, Reed?
SPEAKER_00:Um, the next chapter is I just got a job with Ducks Unlimited, which is a conservation organization, and through that I'm the youth and engagement coordinator for Region 2. So I have seven states: Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. And in those seven states, I'll be helping them get youth numbers up basically. So helping them with high school programs, helping them with college programs, trying to get people using more of the trap program, which is like um fundraising help for trap shooting teams and fishing teams and stuff like that. And through working within that organization, I'm gonna learn a lot about how nonprofits are ran at a national and international level. I'll learn about how people are able to really recruit volunteers and create a good um following behind them so then they can make change and they can go and do bigger things. And I hope with all of that knowledge and those resources, I'm able to then also help big gum drop outdoors at the same time so we can grow and scale. And right now we're only in Lincoln, but from Lincoln we want to go to Omaha, and from Omaha we want to go to Kansas City, Des Moines, Denver, Denver, Chicago, and ultimately I want this to be everywhere. I want to be in the places where kids spend more time on concrete than they do on dirt and Really give those kids a chance to experience something that they've never had a chance to before.
SPEAKER_03:So Elijah, one thing we ask all of our guests, and you only get one word, so there's no cheating. What is one word that to you best describes this place in which we live, in which you were raised, in which you're currently operating big gumdrop outdoors in Nebraska? What's what's your one word?
SPEAKER_00:My one word for Nebraska would probably be peace. Can you explain? First time I ever went to western Nebraska, I drove out there in the w in the dark, and I woke up in the middle of the night and I saw just stars like I've never seen before. And um as the sun came up on that next day, we were out there mule deer hunting. I saw just vast expanses of sand hills and rolling hills and bluffs and mesas and things that I've never seen before. And I found a a crazy feeling of just peace and of acceptance being there. And all of most of my outdoor adventures has always been in Nebraska. And every time that I've ever gone into nature in Nebraska, there's like an overwhelming sense of peace. And I think that also just being born and raised here, I've always called this place home, and I always will call this place home. Um, and I think there just has to be a little bit of peace in your home, and I think that's why I chose that word.
SPEAKER_03:Elijah, uh, I'm inspired by you and your mission. I know uh that I want and everyone wants big gum drop outdoors to be very successful. Hey, if folks want to learn more about you and big gum drop outdoors, how do they get a hold of you?
SPEAKER_00:Yep, if you look up big gum drop outdoors on Google, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, anything like that will pop up. Um you spell it B-I-G-G-U-M-D-R-O-P and then O-U-T-D-O-O-R-S. Um, we would love for people to get involved. If you go to our website, you can go to our Get Involved tab and join our newsletter to see upcoming events because we do monthly community events just to try to help get some kids outside. Um, you can also join our volunteer pool if you are so called to help us out and you want to join us in this pursuit of getting more kids into nature and um ending this era of screenagers. We would love to have you guys join on board and um either help us out with some of like our operational needs or our actual programming and going out and working with kids. So if you want to reach out to us on any social media platform, um, you can also contact me via my phone number. It's 402-875-2474, and I'd love to have a conversation and figure out how we can work together.
SPEAKER_03:If you enjoyed today's episode, please give me a five-star rating and sharing it with your family and friends. Elijah in big gum drop outdoors or bright spots in the world that needs to hear more about the good things that are going on and happening around us, building community, one person at a time. Elijah, thank you so much for coming in.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_03:Listeners, please keep on listening as we release additional episodes on Nebraska. It's great communities, it's number one industry agriculture, and the folks who make it happen. Thanks.
SPEAKER_02:This has been 93, the podcast, sponsored by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Ludke.
