Owyhee River has Soul

Story & Photos by Larry Moore, BLM

Vale, Ore. – As Chad Brown takes a look at the Owyhee River in southeast Oregon, he points to places up and down the river.

“When I look out there I see fish, fish, fish.”

It should come as no surprise that Brown is an enthusiastic fisherman. What is more interesting, is how that enthusiasm came to be.

“I came from a broken home,” Brown said. “I ended up going down a bad path, I got involved with gangs.”

He credits a police officer from the Big Brothers and Big Sisters Program with putting him on the right path to college and service in the military.

After his service concluded and his education was complete, upon entering the workforce, the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) began to manifest themselves.

“I started suffering from depression, I hit the bottle, I lost my home—it was a bad time,” Brown said.

Then, Brown said, a friend took him fishing. He was hooked instantly.

“At the time, I was living out of my car. The only thing that gave me food for my soul was fly fishing.”

That discovery led to Brown becoming one of the founders of Soul River Runs Deep, a company that sells fishing gear, accessories and apparel.

From that company, Brown got the idea to start a non-profit.

Having grown up in the inner city and suffering the challenges of PTSD, Brown resolved to do for others what had been done for him.

Soul River Inc. was born—an organization that seeks to employ U.S. veterans as mentors to inner city youth and to connect them both with the outdoors.

“The Owyhee [River] is a wild space and part of our organization is doing deployments in off-the-beaten-path spaces throughout the northwest.”

Brown and his colleagues call these outings “deployments,” harkening back to a military term describing tours overseas.

The Owyhee River is Eric Mcomie’s first deployment with Soul River Inc.

“It’s been a blast, it’s been unreal to immerse in this environment, this wonderful unique place,” Mcomie said. “Most people think the kids are doing the learning, but it’s actually the other way around.”

17 year old Kolby Cantue-Cliette does not feel the same way. “This has been a really good experience,” Cantue-Cliette said, “I’ve learned a lot.”

This is her first deployment with Soul River Inc. Of her veteran counterparts she says that they are “awesome.”

This is 16 year old Araceli Briseno’s second deployment, making her a veteran of sorts among her peers. Being a native of far lusher and greener western Oregon, she was not sure what to expect.

Still, both she and Kolby say the area is captivating in its own unique way.

“I’ve never been out to the desert,” Briseno said, “I thought the water would be hot, I was surprised there were so many fish.” Briseno managed to hook two brown trout out of the Owyhee, which were then released.

Cantue-Cliette wasn’t so lucky.

“I didn’t catch anything, the fish kept toying with me,” she said, “but I’m having fun.”

Fun it may be, but to veterans like Brown, this deployment and his organization is far more.