The Carhart Center's online courses are offered in partnership with the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands at Indiana University.
Free enrollment for the following four courses is currently open. Visit http://carhart.eppley.org or click on one of the Enroll Now icons below to begin the coursework immediately. You will be asked to provide your registration information when you begin any of the course assessments.
 Wilderness Act - FREE
This 2-hour, self-paced course is designed for students desiring an understanding of the 1964 Wilderness Act. It is a pre-requisite for student completing the Minimum Requirements Decisions course.
Course objective(s): After completing the 1964 Wilderness Act module, course participants will be able to recognize how the Act applies to wilderness stewardship issues.
Minimum Requirements Decisions - FREE
This 2-hour, self-paced course is specifically designed for anyone proposing or reviewing management actions within wilderness. It requires prior completion of the Wilderness Act.
Course objective(s): After completing the Minimum Requirements Decisions module, course participants will be able to successfully apply the Minimum Requirements Decision process to wilderness stewardship issues. Note: This module is designed to assist you in the stewardship of Congressionally Designated Wilderness. Depending on how your agency policy addresses other categories of wilderness, such as Wilderness Study Areas, Proposed Wilderness or Recommended Wilderness, the materials may or may not apply.
Wilderness Stewardship Planning Framework - FREE
This 6-hour, self-paced course is targeted to federal employees who are leading or are part of a team that is currently (or will soon be) writing a wilderness management or stewardship plan. It may also be helpful for those seeking to learn more about the components of wilderness planning used to address specific issues. The course consists of eight modules taught by two highly-qualified instructors. Fully-narrated multimedia instruction uses sight and sound to present thought-provoking concepts, relevant and practical advice, and engaging examples. Each module concludes by helping course participants use what they've learned to develop work products. These suggested practical exercises will considerably lengthen the time it takes to complete this course, but are designed to get course participants started on the nuts and bolts of a wilderness management plan.
Course objective(s): After completing this course, course participants will be able to
demonstrate the skills necessary to develop and implement a plan that
guides wilderness stewardship decisions.
Module I: Building a Foundation for Success. Course participants will learn how
to determine a need for change, identify the assessment area and scope
of the plan, establish an interdisciplinary team, develop a timeline
and budget and integrate administrative requirements.
Module II: Describing Desired Conditions. Course participants will learn how to
describe desired conditions and decide if zoning is appropriate based
on those desired conditions.
Module III: Gathering Information. Here course participants will identify what
information is critical to make necessary management decisions.
Module IV: Identifying and Selecting Indicators. In this module,
course participants will learn the characteristics of good indicators and what
criteria should be used to select the best indicators.
Module V: Specifying Standards. Based on the skills learned in Module
IV, students will learn how to develop standards.
Module VI: Zoning Wilderness. This module builds on the concept of
zoning introduced in Module II. Course participants will learn more about zoning
and how to delineate suitable zones.
Module VII: Developing and Selecting Management Action Alternatives.
Course participants will learn what criteria to consider in developing a range of
management action alternatives and what criteria to use in selecting
an alternative to ensure defensible decisions.
Module VIII: Implementing the Wilderness Stewardship Planning Framework.
In this module, course participants will learn to prioritize and implement
management action alternatives introduced in Module VII, monitor
results, and adapt actions to achieve established standards,
introduced in Module V.
Students who are instead interested in "Wilderness Management Planning," a for-academic-credit university-level distance education course that provides an in-depth understanding of wilderness planning theory and methods, examines case studies in wilderness planning, and compares different types of planning processes, should visit the Wilderness Management Distance Education Program website.
Wilderness Visitor Use Management - FREE
This 8-hour, self-paced training course is designed for federal employees who are responsible for management of visitor use or are interested in implementing visitor use monitoring in wilderness. The course consists of 10 modules taught by four highly-qualified instructors. Fully-narrated multimedia instruction uses sight and sound to present thought-provoking concepts, relevant and practical advice, and engaging examples. Each module concludes by helping course participants use what they've learned to develop work products by completing worksheet templates using information from the wilderness they are most familiar with. These suggested practical exercises will considerably lengthen the time it takes to complete this course, but are designed to help course participants apply the course concepts locally.
Course objective(s): After completing this course, course participants will be able to: articulate what visitor use management is and why it's important; identify relevant law and policy; identify visitor use issues and impacts; select and implement indirect or direct management strategies for addressing visitor use issues including implementing a visitor education program, and develop monitoring programs to track progress.
Chapter I: Fundamentals of Wilderness Visitor Use Management. Upon completion of this module, students will be able to: Recall relevant portions of law and agency-specific policy; and, identify the challenges of managing visitor use to address threats to the wilderness resource.
Chapter II Module A: Management Strategies Overview. Upon completion of this module, students will be able to recognize the problems that can result from recreation use of wilderness and determine the magnitude of the problem. Based on this information, students will be able to select management strategies using a decision-making process to effectively address local visitor use issues.
Chapter II Module B: Management Strategies for Biophysical Impacts. Upon completion of this module, students will be able to apply knowledge gained to identify impacts on biophysical resources and select management strategies and tactics to effectively address those impacts.
Chapter II Module C: Management Strategies for Social Impacts. Upon completion of this module, students will be able to identify recreation use impacts to the social component of the wilderness resource and select management strategies and tactics to effectively address the problems.
Chapter II Module D: Visitor Education. Upon completion of this module, students will be able to explain why wilderness education programs are needed, identify components of successful programs, and apply lessons learned to plan and develop a wilderness education program.
Chapter III Module A: Monitoring Overview. Upon completion of this module, students will be able to identify objectives for a monitoring program and utilize criteria to develop a monitoring program.
Chapter III Module B: Monitoring Campsite Impacts. Upon completion of this module, students will be able to develop a campsite monitoring plan and select a campsite monitoring system.
Chapter III Module C: Monitoring Trail Impacts. Upon completion of this module, students will be able to develop a trail monitoring plan and select trail monitoring methods.
Chapter III Module D: Monitoring Visitor Use. Upon completion of this module, students will be able to explain why visitor use monitoring is needed and develop a visitor use monitoring program.
Chapter III Module D1: Monitoring Visitor Encounters. Upon completion of this optional module, students will be able to select indicators for monitoring trail and campsite encounters and collect and use encounter data.
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