Connecting federal employees, scientists, educators, and the public with their wilderness heritage

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Research Institutions

Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute
While many scientists conduct research relevant to wilderness, the Leopold Institute is the only Federal research group entirely focused on wilderness. The Institute is dedicated to developing the knowledge needed to protect and preserve wilderness and the ecological and social values derived from Wilderness and similarly managed lands, and to communicate and apply this knowledge to the Wilderness management agencies and other user groups.

Forest Service Southern Research Station: Recreation, Wilderness, Urban Forest, and Demographic Trend Research
The station provides up-to-date information on public demands, perceptions, values, and benefits from outdoor recreation, wilderness, and urban forests and describes how local community conditions and demographic shifts will affect these resources.

University of Idaho, College of Natural Resources, Wilderness Research Center
The mission of the Wilderness Research Center is to study the human dimensions of wilderness ecosystems. The Center conducts research and teaches courses on the use of wilderness for personal growth, therapy, education, and leadership development.

University of Minnesota, Hubachek Wilderness Research Center
The Wilderness Research Center operates from Ely, Minnesota, as an interdisciplinary facility focused on social and biophysical values associated with wilderness and wildland areas. It has been financed by the Wilderness Research Foundation and a private donor for more than 30 years, and it is closely involved with The College of Natural Resources.

University of Montana, College of Forestry and Conservation, Wilderness Institute
In the past 28 years the Wilderness Institute has initiated numerous wildlands related projects and programs. WI has continued to play a role in bringing people together by co-sponsoring the 1993 Limits of Acceptable Change Conference, the 1999 National Wilderness Science Conference, and the 2000 Visitor Use Density and Wilderness Experience Workshop. In 2005, WI partnered with four NGOs in Western Montana to study volunteers and their experiences on volunteer trips with hopes of better understanding the motivations for and outcomes of volunteering for wilderness.

Conferences/Meetings

• 2011 George Wright Society Biennial Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites
• 9th World Wilderness Congress, Mérida, Mexico: November 2009
• 2009 George Wright Society Biennial Conference
• A Dialogue...Wilderness and Climate Change: Impacts, Challenges, and Opportunities: August 2009
• Workshop - Beyond Naturalness: Defining Desired Future Conditions for Protected Area Ecosystems
• 2007 George Wright Society Biennial Conference
• 8th World Wilderness Congress, Anchorage, Alaska: September 2005
• 2005 George Wright Society Biennial Conference
• 2003 George Wright Society Biennial Conference
• 7th World Wilderness Congress, Port Elizabeth, South Africa: 2001
• Wilderness in the Circumpolar North: Searching for Compatibility in Traditional, Ecotourism and Ecological Values: 2001
• World Congress on Adventure Travel and Ecotourism: 2000
• Wilderness Values Workshop, Washington, DC: 2000
• Visitor Use Density and Wilderness Experience: 2000
• Wilderness Science in a Time of Change Conference: 1999 (see articles above)
• Sixth World Wilderness Congress: 1998
• Fish Stocking Workshop: 1998
• Limits of Acceptable Change and Related Planning Processes: Progress and Future Directions: 1997