National Wilderness Conference Track Sessions Speakers, poster presenters and panelists interested in presenting at the National Wilderness Conference, October 15-19, 2014 in Albuquerque, NM, must complete the online request-for-proposals by December 1. In addition to submitting other required information, submitters must identify both the track and the session that their program best falls under. Below are descriptions of each track and the sessions within each track. History Track Sessions In this track, scholars will relate the inspiring history of the wilderness concept and passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964. Sessions will describe the social forces, the ideas and idealism, the hopes and concerns for the future that shaped the wilderness movement. Discussions will explore diverse interpretations of our wilderness heritage and its continuing role in our national character and identity. Cultural and Political History of the Wilderness Act. Presentations within this session explore the actions of key people, organizations, and agencies that worked for and against passage of the Wilderness Act, the political actions, and the social and environmental milieu in which they occurred. The Romantic and Transcendental Traditions-Their Role in Wilderness Perception and Experience. This session explores the eighteenth and nineteenth century Romantic and Transcendental movements and their historic and continuing influence on the perception and experience of Wilderness. It includes the major ideas of both the European and American writers. Historic Wilderness Figures and Classic Literature. A number of historic wilderness proponents - in the post-romantic, post-transcendental era - also wrote some of our classic wilderness literature, starting in the early 20th century. These figures include Aldo Leopold, Bob Marshall, Olaus and Mardy Murie, Arthur Carhart, and Sigurd Olson, all of whom produced significant writings on wilderness. This session will focus on these wilderness literary giants and their influence on the wilderness movement. The Values Underlying the Concurrent Campaigns to Enact the Wilderness Act and Establish the Arctic Refuge: How They Coalesced to Form our Notion of Wilderness. This session describes the evolution of a set of experiential, ecological, aesthetic, spiritual, and symbolic values that during the post-wwii era led to establishment of the Arctic Refuge, and four years later, to enactment of the Wilderness Act. The History of Wilderness in Alaska. Alaska contains 57 million acres of designated Wilderness, more than half of the National Wilderness Preservation System acreage. The 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) designated these lands as Wilderness, but took the better part of a decade to pass Congress after extensive planning by federal agencies in
the 1960s. ANILCA also contained new approaches to native peoples and subsistence living in Wilderness. This session will examine the history of passing ANILCA, the new approaches to Wilderness it contained, and the outlook for the future. Wilderness in the East. While much attention focuses on Wilderness in the western states and Alaska, Wilderness in the East deserves our attention as well. New York's Adirondacks, for example, provided the place "Where Wilderness Preservation Began." During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Wilderness in the East also provided the focus for the so-called "purity" debate among the Forest Service, conservationists, and Congress as to whether any areas in the East qualified for wilderness designation. Passage of the Eastern Areas Wilderness Act of 1975 also helped shape how we view wilderness in the East. This session will delve into Wilderness in the east, its history, and status and outlook today. History and Evolution of Wilderness Legislation since 1964. Beginning about 20 years or so after the 1964 Wilderness Act passed, new trends developed in the passing of wilderness bills. These trends have included greater numbers of bills with special management provisions or exceptions, and a growing trend for quid pro quo wilderness bills (bills that couple a wilderness designation with undesirable provisions like legislated land exchanges). This session will focus on this history and its implications for the National Wilderness Preservation System. What Future for Wilderness? A exploration of the role of Wilderness in the Future. This session will make some projections into the future based on trends, conditions, limits, and desired ends. Stewardship Track Sessions When the Wilderness Act passed, managing wilderness often meant just leaving it alone. But today, new threats require more proactive approaches, the field of wilderness stewardship has grown and become more professionalized, and faces unprecedented challenges in today's evolving physical and social environments. In this track, leading agency practitioners, researchers, academic scholars and partners will all share perspectives, expertise, and case studies in this field. Stewardship of the National Wilderness Preservation System at 50: The Pinchot Panel and Beyond. The NWPS is, by almost all measures, declining in quality and in jeopardy. The Pinchot Panel issued a warning 13 years ago. Almost nothing has changed since that time. Whether a new ethic is needed, new agencies, or better citizen engagement, it is a daunting task. The National Wilderness Preservation System depends on it. Is it time for a Wilderness Service? Do we need a bifurcated NWPS or alternative designation category to ensure that some areas will be administered as wilderness in perpetuity? Should agencies designate wilderness? The Two Faces of Wilderness Stewardship and Citizen Engagement. Wilderness stewardship has usually meant the broad way in which wildernesses are administered. For the agencies,
everything from trail work to policy implementation is stewardship. Traditionally, the conservation organizations that have been engaged in wilderness stewardship issues (a minority, to be sure) have followed the normal public involvement processes, watch-dogged the implementation of policy, and offered help in data collection or other on-the-ground work in wilderness. In recent years, stewardship groups have emerged. These groups, rather than engaging in policy of public involvement opportunities, act at the direction of the agencies in doing on-the-ground work, usually trail work. These are very different approaches that can be complimentary or, on occasion, contradictory. The relationship between the two kinds of citizen groups and the agencies are also very different. Wilderness Character Monitoring: Fifty Years in the Making. Only recently have the agencies developed a wilderness character monitoring protocol and its implementation has been considerably delayed. At the same time, many wildernesses have monitored key items. What is the future of this key stewardship issue? How is the monitoring protocol working? The Challenges of Cultural Resources in Wilderness. In recent years, the management of cultural resources, particularly those buildings or structures originally constructed by European Americans, has come under increasing scrutiny by the federal courts. In several recent instances, the courts have ruled against agency plans to rebuild trail shelters, dams, or lookouts, or for the agency to conduct motorized van tours through designated wilderness to reach historic buildings outside the Wilderness. What are the requirements of the Wilderness Act and the National Historic Preservation Act? Do they conflict or mesh? The Challenges of Wildlife Management in Wilderness. The management of wildlife in wilderness, especially by state agencies, remains contentious today. While most agree that the States retain the authority to manage fish and wildlife in federal wildernesses, HOW those agencies manage them remains less clear. Some argue that States can manage fish and wildlife in wilderness in any and all ways they wish, including using motor vehicles or constructing large water retention structures (i.e., "guzzlers"). Others argue that state agencies must follow the restrictions of the Wilderness Act (such as prohibitions on motor vehicles and structures) in managing fish and wildlife in wilderness. The Challenges of Special Provisions and Stewardship. For the first 20 years after the 1964 Wilderness Act passed, the subsequent wilderness designation bills typically did not contain special provisions for management and stewardship, except to say the new wildernesses would be administered under the Wilderness Act. For the past 30 years, however, more and more wilderness bills have contained special provisions that typically weaken stewardship from the standards of the Wilderness Act. And often these special provisions have been replicated or expanded in future bills. Some advocates fear that the proliferation of special provisions has not only weakened protection and management of the areas designated by the bills, but has also led to a general decline in standards and stewardship for the entire National Wilderness Preservation System. This session will delve into this topic, examine the nature of special
provisions, and whether/how special provisions have created problems for wilderness stewardship in specific areas and across the nation. The Challenges of Wilderness Stewardship and Climate Change. As climate change continues to affect the National Wilderness Preservation System, all four federal wilderness agencies struggle with the implications of climate change on wilderness stewardship. What actions can or should federal agencies undertake in wilderness to deal with climate change? Can these actions still maintain wilderness as an unmanipulated "untrammeled" place? The Challenges of Recreation Impacts. The impacts of recreating visitors and developments to accommodate them can negatively impact wilderness character. Some heavily visited wildernesses have designated campsites with fire grates and latrines. Some wildernesses must deal with concentrated human use and human fecal management. Other wildernesses overbuild trails or facilities to accommodate recreation use. All of these come with a cost to wilderness character. What Future for the Wildness of Wilderness? This presentation explores the emerging conflict between the Wilderness Act's two primary mandates: to perpetuate a designated area's wild, untrammeled condition and to also preserve its "natural" condition. Increasingly, climate change will confront us with situations where maintaining one would compromise the other. As well, many Wilderness units also have mandates to protect current conditions or preferred species that would require wildness-compromising management interventions to enable them to resist or adapt to climate change. Education Track Sessions To succeed, wilderness management must prevent impacts, prepare future stewards, and raise public awareness and support of wilderness. This conference track offers field-tested information for wilderness education and interpretation program development, implementation, evaluation, and fundraising strategies in difficult economic times. Real-life education and interpretation success stories will be offered to build new, or enhance existing, wilderness education and interpretation programs. Wilderness Education for Youth. Programs under this broad session might include: Underserved Youth, Wilderness Awareness in Public Schools, Working Wilderness Into After School Programs, Youth Groups Scouts, YMCA, boys and Girls Clubs, Partners, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, etc.; Wilderness Education Materials: What s Out There?; Wilderness Youth Programs Wilderness Explorer, Natural Inquirer, Wilderness Investigations, Others?; Developing, Implementing, Evaluating, and Funding Wilderness Education Programs; Using wilderness to teach many subjects; Best Practices what works and what doesn t?
Wilderness Education for Diverse Audiences. Programs under this broad session might include: Wilderness and Civil Rights; Wilderness Education for People with Special Needs; Wilderness Basics for Diverse Adult Audiences: Bringing Wilderness Messages to Veterans and the Military Community; Wilderness Education for Mature Audiences Only Road Scholars, University Programs, Faith Communities, Outfitters and Friends Groups Wilderness Interpretation. Programs under this broad session might include: Wilderness Education and Interpretation: Is there a new media connection?; Wilderness Education vs. Wilderness Interpretation: What s the difference?; On the trail wilderness interpretation: How to be prepared for user questions and other Informal Interpretation challenges; Wilderness Interpretation: How much is not enough and how much is too much?; Signs, Waysides, and Bulletin Boards Best Practices; Planning Wilderness Interpretation; Artists in the Wilderness Interpretation Through Expression Wilderness Education for Internal Audiences. Programs under this broad session might include: Wilderness 101 for Internal Organization Audiences; Wilderness Users and Basic Wilderness Education Leave No Trace, other topics; Wilderness Training for Staff; Wilderness Competencies What are they or what should they be?; Wilderness Character Assessment - How and Why Experience Track Sessions This track will provide a forum for those who participate in, study, or manage recreation in wilderness to explore a full range of motivations, perspectives, and behaviors that need to be understood to maximize wilderness experiences and protect wilderness resources. Discussions will also address the symbolic values of wilderness experienced by millions of people who will never set foot in wilderness. Inspiration. When considering the concepts of self-reliance/awareness, what makes wilderness and the wilderness experience unique for an individual or small group? What is the role (if any) of technology in promoting self-reliance/awareness? Is there an opportunity in wilderness for an individual to truly be on one's own and experience all that nature has to offer? Solitude/Alone. As our world became smaller, the opportunity to escape from fellow humans became more and more challenging. Fifty years ago America decided that places should be set aside where individuals could experience solitude. How did the concepts of self-reflection and solitude influence the establishment of wilderness? Self-Reliance/Self-Awareness. When considering the concepts of self-reliance/awareness, what makes wilderness and the wilderness experience unique for an individual or small group? What is the role (if any) of technology in promoting self-reliance/awareness? Is there an opportunity
in wilderness for an individual to truly be on one's own and experience all that nature has to offer? Connect with Nature. How do connections with Nature differ in wilderness and non-wilderness areas? Will a strong connection with nature through wilderness influence personal behaviors in a person's daily life? Global Citizen. What are the global implications of American wilderness? If a person supports a strategy of wilderness preservation and the set-aside of millions of acres of public land, does this demonstrate a commitment as a global citizen? Does the protection of 1/4 of all national public land as wilderness demonstrate to other countries that America is serious about global conservation? Challenge. Does the risk associated with wilderness travel outweigh the challenging benefits of self-reliance/awareness and survival? How do individuals perceive challenges, risks, and opportunities that come with a wilderness experience? Youth in wilderness: Changing lives through discovery of self and wild places. Is a wilderness trip early in the life of a young person important to their development? What are the lessons that come from wilderness? Is self-discovery an important opportunity to promote in wilderness? Does exposure to a wilderness experience as a child cultivate long-term awareness, appreciation, and stewardship of wilderness into the future? Tribal Perspectives on wilderness Today. Native people have a unique connection to wilderness. Their historic presence on the landscape is much different than the notion of virgin wilderness. Native people influenced the landscape with the use of fire and lived off the land for centuries. Possible presentations may include: How has the long-term residence of Native Americans on wilderness influenced our contemporary concept of wilderness? What opportunities exist to be more inclusive of Native American perspectives on wilderness in the future? The Power of Stories in Preserving wilderness. Wilderness experiences that are shared through story telling have influenced generations of Americans to consider preserving wild landscapes. What are the most powerful methods for telling wilderness stories? Art and wilderness. Artists have played a major role in influencing popular opinion about the need to preserve Wild America. Recognizing the challenges the art community faces today, can art still inspire generations to preserve and protect wilderness? Economic Benefits of wilderness. Studies describe quality of life and economic impacts of proximity to and exposure to wilderness and protected areas. What does the latest research indicate about the benefits or impacts from 50 years of wilderness preservation? Making a Difference: The impacts of photography on our perceptions of wilderness recreation. Wilderness images flood the internet, line the airport walkways, and decorate restaurant walls.
Individuals collect images of places visited and places remaining on bucket lists. How does photography influence our perception of wilderness recreation? Civic Engagement Track Sessions This track contains sessions that encompass traditions and innovations of activism through individual volunteerism, organizational involvement, and electoral participation. Youth Engagement. Presentations within this session could include but are not limited to: All Encompassing Youth Panel; Youth Conservation Corps Panel; Utilize National Youth Leadership Scholarship Winners in Track. Multicultural Engagement. Presentations within this session could include but are not limited to: Multicultural Panel, followed directly by individual cultural break-out sessions for Hispanic, Native American, African American, Asian/Pacific Islanders and under-represented Anglo groups - that discuss and identify how to better include/not exclude under-represented groups; Presentations specific to under-served audiences and communities. Political Engagement. Presentations within this session could include but are not limited to: How to build relations with local politicians, presented by, local politicians; How to engage with and maintain relations with local politicians, also presented by local politicians; Success stories of successful political/ wilderness collaborations. NGO Engagement. Presentations within this session could include but are not limited to: NGO success story panel; Panel on the importance of NGO's supporting wilderness "stewardship" and management of wilderness study areas, and not solely designation; How to develop and build a successful wilderness NGO organization; How to successfully raise funds for a wilderness NGO. Veteran Engagement. Presentations should address returning warriors, guides, leadership, and the disciplines that accompany the benefit our veterans bring to our mission as well as the validation and values that wilderness affords them. Wilderness Therapy. Presentations within this session could include but are not limited to: Mental health regimens; Therapeutic effects of wilderness encounters. Emerging Adulthood and Nature Value Formation. 18 to 25 yr. olds develop and assimilate differently into society and develop morals and values as it relates to wilderness, themselves and each other in different fashions than once where the norm. Presentations should address the psychological and social development of young adult and their development of attitudes toward self, nature, society etc.
The Role of Environmental Well-Being in Human Well-Being. Presentations should address quality of life issues as they relate to the wilderness and our interaction with it. Engaging the Baby Boomers, How and Why? A growing segment of society is retiring with free time and disposable income. Presentations should address how this will reflect on wilderness use and stewardship. Science Track Sessions The science track is seeking presentations on a state-of-knowledge on major issues around the science for wilderness stewardship for the below sessions. Following the conference the presentations from the science sessions will be drafted as publications and then submitted for peer review. The peer reviewed papers will be compiled into either a book for publication or a series of journal articles for publication. Our goal is to have the products from the science session result in a peer reviewed publication. Past: The Development and Maturation of Wilderness Science. This session focuses on how research needs were initially identified, what those needs were, and how the science developed. Examples could include: Early Science (up to 1985 first science conference); Recent (since 1985). Present: The Application of Science to Contemporary Stewardship (or Management) Issues. Topics that are facing wilderness managers today are the emphasis here. Examples for contemporary issues include but are not limited to: Fire Management; Provision of Quality Wilderness Experiences; Minimizing Recreation Impacts; Scientific Approach to Backcountry Management; Visitor Perceptions; Restoring Damaged and Impacted Areas. Future: Emerging Issues. Population is rapidly rising and the demographics of the U.S. are changing. How will increasing population pressures and changing demographics alter the way individuals and society at large value and wish continue protection of wilderness? Also, more and more people in the U.S. are living in cities and becoming more disconnected with the land. How will this disconnection and the urbanization affect how people value wilderness? Along with these changes the largest threat to the globe will continue to be climate change, how will it impact wilderness and wilderness management. Examples could include: Changing Social Values and Technology; Climate Change; Restoration and Re-wilding; Maintaining and Prioritizing Wilderness Management Budgets; Overcrowding and Solitude; Maintaining and Valuing Ecosystem Services.