My research seeks to provide wildland recreation managers with social science to improve the experiences of all visitors while preserving the ecosystems that support those experiences. This agenda focuses broadly on research concerning visitor use management in parks and protected areas. More specifically, I'm interested in guiding innovation across conservation communication, wilderness management, recreation allocation, and the nexus of visitor use and health.

As the head of the Wildland and Recreation Management Research Laboratory at the University of Montana, my research seeks to inform the management of shifting demand for wildland recreation in parks and protected areas. Core questions within the research agenda include:

• What factors drive visitor demand?

• How does shifting demand influence the ecosystem services attained by visitors? 

• How can we change visitor behavior in the face of increasing visitor use to meet management objectives and limit visitors’ ecological impacts?

• How can wilderness managers best navigate trade-offs between wilderness character qualities in the face of changing use levels?

• How can we fairly ration recreation in the face of use limits?

• How are visitor norms changing across time and space?

In service of this research agenda, I frequently collaborate with interdisciplinary teams of conservation social scientists, resource economists, wildlife biologists, recreation ecologists, tourism and hospitality scholars, designers, and agency partners.

PTRM 150: First Year Seminar in PTRM
PTRM 217: Outdoor Recreation Management
PTRM 300: Recreation Behavior
PTRM 391: Wildland Messaging and Communication
PTRM 482: Wilderness and Protected Area Management
PTRM 485: Recreation Planning
PTRM 582: Concepts in Parks and Protected Areas
PTRM 591: Applied Wilderness Management