Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Introducing the 34th Annual Headwaters Conference Keynote presenter, Erica Nelson! Erica Nelson (she/her) is based in ancestral Ute Territory currently known as Crested Butte, CO. Erica is currently a fly fishing guide in the Gunnison Valley and has over 10 years of outdoor guiding and instructing: whitewater, skiing, rock climbing, backpacking, hiking and snowshoeing courses and workshops. She has served as co-chair for the Access and Inclusion Gap Year Association Committee and is a Board Co-Chair for Women’s Wilderness and former Board member for High Country Conservation Advocates (HCCA). She is an avid whitewater boater, a NOLS instructor, and ambassador for Brown Folks Fishing (BFF), which cultivates community for people of color in fishing and its industry through a lens of equity, justice, and inclusion. Erica’s work in the fly fishing industry has been featured in podcasts and articles such as The New York Times, Field & Stream, and Outdoor Business Journal. In her spare time, Erica hosts the Awkward Angler Podcast, an authentic series on social justice, fly fishing, and storytelling with folks in the outdoor industry.
Learn more about the Headwaters Keynote speaker, Erica Nelson, here.
Introducing the 34th Annual Headwaters Conference Keynote presenter, Erica Nelson! Erica Nelson (she/her) is based in ancestral Ute Territory currently known as Crested Butte, CO. Erica is currently a fly fishing guide in the Gunnison Valley and has over 10 years of outdoor guiding and instructing: whitewater, skiing, rock climbing, backpacking, hiking and snowshoeing courses and workshops. She has served as co-chair for the Access and Inclusion Gap Year Association Committee and is a Board Co-Chair for Women’s Wilderness and former Board member for High Country Conservation Advocates (HCCA). She is an avid whitewater boater, a NOLS instructor, and ambassador for Brown Folks Fishing (BFF), which cultivates community for people of color in fishing and its industry through a lens of equity, justice, and inclusion. Erica’s work in the fly fishing industry has been featured in podcasts and articles such as The New York Times, Field & Stream, and Outdoor Business Journal. In her spare time, Erica hosts the Awkward Angler Podcast, an authentic series on social justice, fly fishing, and storytelling with folks in the outdoor industry.
Learn more about the Headwaters Keynote speaker, Erica Nelson, here.
