Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
The role of education in influencing wilderness values and management
Department
Biology Department
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2014-2015
Disciplines
Life Sciences
Abstract
Managers often use education to influence wilderness users behavior as they strive to provide unconfined recreation. Some managers (particularly those who have wilderness as a collateral responsibility) may not have formal training in wilderness stewardship; thus, increasing their wilderness knowledge can lead to better wilderness stewardship. This study examines five years of pre and post tests of a Wilderness Values test in a wildland recreation management class to illustrate areas where value shifts sometimes dramatic ones are common. In some cases students change from biocentric to anthropocentric, while in other cases they switch from anthropocentric to biocentric. This study helps show that increasing knowledge can affect managers values which can fundamentally shift their efforts to maintain an untrammeled wilderness while allowing anthropocentric uses of wilderness.
Conference Name
GWS Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural
Conference Location
Oakland CA
ScholarWorks Citation
Griffin, Carol, "The role of education in influencing wilderness values and management" (2015). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 593.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/593
