Eric Barnard rock climbing in the scenic Mississippi River Valley.
By Joel Badzinski
Eric Barnard had been so busy developing the Winona State University Outdoor Education and Recreation Center (OERC) that he never took time to step back and see what he had accomplished.
Until one memorable evening last spring.
Barnard and a few of his student assistants were hosting a weekly open rock climbing session at Sugar Loaf. Several local families attended, learning the basics of rock climbing. At one point, a small child worked up the courage to give climbing a try.
“We had the parents and staff together cheering on the child,” Barnard said. “It was pretty cool because the community members up there completely trusted their child with our students and didn’t even question it. That kind of hit me — we’re providing experiences here and we have to remind ourselves how important they can be. I feel like the community has embraced us and trusts us,” Barnard said.
Jim Reynolds, who retired from the WSU faculty in 2004 after 35 years as a sociology and criminal justice professor, was introduced to the OERC through the WSU Retiree Center’s Senior University.
Reynolds and wife, Nancy, joined the outdoor adventure class, which offered geocaching around Lake Winona, a ropes course, rock climbing, kayaking and canoeing.
“It was a wonderful experience,” Reynolds said. “Here you have a set of activities that some people were hesitant to try and didn’t know if they could do it, but through encouragement and support, people pushed themselves. We had women 65 and 70 years old climbing up the face of Sugar Loaf and they amazed themselves!”
Barnard built the programming for the OERC from scratch. The center’s headquarters are located at Wabasha Recreation Center, but Barnard and his assistants lead outdoor programs and activities around the Winona area and beyond.
In addition to open rock climbing, the OERC hosts indoor climbing, open paddling, outdoor clinics, day trips, weeklong trips, family and senior adventure programs, and offers equipment rentals and certification classes. Students and community members alike are welcome to participate.
Incoming freshmen may enroll in Warrior Expeditions, a three day summer pre-orientation session that familiarizes new students with outdoor activities in the Winona area.
As a freshman in 2012, Avery Prondzinski was undecided when it came to his major. A Winona native, he tried an outdoor pursuits class and something just clicked. Last year he joined in an OERC trip to Utah. Today, Prondzinski is a junior majoring in recreation and tourism and works for the OERC.
“You don’t necessarily have to be an outdoorsy person to want to go hiking in the bluffs or climb Sugar Loaf,” Prondzinski said. “You can scratch the surface or you can get really involved with OERC. I think there’s going to be a real boom in outdoor recreation here in the next three or four years. It’s already happening.”
“One of the big things is getting people to experience the outdoors,” Barnard said. “We’re trying to use outdoor recreation so people can develop a more personal connection with the environment.”
Barnard, 38, grew up in Baraboo, Wisconsin, near Devil’s Lake State Park, one of the state’s top rock climbing destinations.
Hooked on the outdoors lifestyle, Barnard attended Idaho State University for its outdoor education program. His wife, Amber, is an ’02 WSU graduate. When they returned to southeastern Minnesota for visits, Barnard took note of the natural beauty and its possibilities.
“We’d always come back here for vacation and we noticed that WSU didn’t have anything like what we had at Idaho State,” Barnard said. “Looking at this area, it’s a no-brainer for outdoor programs.”
Barnard and Amber decided to enroll in graduate school at WSU in 2012. His goal was to build up an outdoor education and recreation program modeled after the one at Idaho State.
“I said I wanted to see if I could develop an outdoor program,” Barnard said. “I spent two and a half years working and working and writing business plans to start this from scratch and we finally got it approved with my position. Now having finished up year two, it’s definitely been fast-forward.”
Until recently, when student assistants joined the OERC staff, Barnard ran the facility and the programs by himself.
“It’s been exciting and hands-down the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.
The OERC had 5,000 users last season and estimates 8,000 users in the 2013-14 season, which ran through the summer. About 75 percent of the participants were students and the rest were community members.
Barnard praised Winona State and city officials for being open to the idea of a university outdoor program that would be closely tied to the community.
The OERC is poised to become one of the area’s top indoor climbing destinations when the climbing wall at the Wabasha Recreation Center expands from 2,000 to 6,000 square feet after renovation. The project is expected to be completed by January 2015, at a total cost of $300,000, half of which was donated by the community.
Barnard has no plans to stop there. He wants to establish outdoor leadership classes for credit at WSU, begin hosting “high-end” alumni trips whitewater rafting and mountain climbing, and work with city officials to develop an ice climbing area.
“We’re really just trying to bring outdoor education and recreation to the forefront,” Barnard said.
