COMMUNICATION & EDUCATION
A Pandemic Inspired Research Agenda on the Wilderness Experience by HOWARD SMITH, RICHARD DISCENZA, and ROBERT DVORAK
Some 20-plus years ago the US Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station convened a three-day workshop in Missoula, Montana, that was destined to bear remarkable fruit about visitor use density effects on the wilderness experience (Freimund and Cole 2001). In the years following this conference, United States and global populations grew abundantly, personal digital technology exploded, rural/agrarian lands
Howard Smith
were converted for commercial and housing purposes, and divisive political forces challenged any consensus about future conservation efforts and the protection of wildlands. This tumultuous period was capped in 2020 by a world-wide pandemic (United Nations 2020) that quarantined people inside while simultaneously driving them outdoors, when allowed, to seek recreation and solace. How many wilderness managers
Richard Discenza
and advocates have experienced first-hand the unanticipated perturbations of Covid-19? Visitor use of pristine and beloved natural areas has soared (Rott 2020), especially in urbanaccessible wildlands, and with higher visitor demand comes numerous questions about future wilderness management. This paper explores the implications of these changes through an agenda of applied research. 72
Robert Dvorak International Journal of Wilderness | August 2021 | Volume 27, Number 2
