Context

In our efforts to define the scope and programs of the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, we examined a number of societal trends with relevance to wilderness and wilderness research. We feel the following trends have the most relevance to wilderness research:

1. The population of the United States is continually expanding, introducing greater development pressures on undeveloped lands and making opportunities for enjoyment of solitude and natural surroundings more scarce.
2. The size of the undeveloped land base is shrinking, leaving wilderness and other natural areas as isolated fragments of increased importance for scientific study, education, recreation, and protection of natural systems.
3. We expect to see continued shifts in cultural diversity, with accompanying shifts in the perception of and social meanings attached to wilderness.
4. Established wildernesses face increasing threats to their naturalness due to such factors as air pollution, exotic species, and recreation use.
5. Recreational use of wilderness is increasing in many places.
6. Society is increasingly divided on issues regarding appropriate uses of natural resources.
7. Increasing demands for increasingly limited resources have magnified the importance of scientifically sound data on which to make management decisions.
8. There is increasing recognition that the preservation of wilderness values and attributes requires active management actions to mitigate or reverse effects of anthropogenic influences such as fire suppression and the spread of alien plants and animals.
9. Management agencies and professional scientific societies are recognizing the importance of improved communication between scientists and managers regarding the application of research to management and policy questions.
10. Demands to decrease Federal expenditures in all areas will place increasing pressure on the wise and effective use of fiscal resources.

Vision

The vision of the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute and its supporting agencies is to be recognized as the focal point for the development and application of information necessary to understand and manage wilderness ecosystems. It provides a national center for scientists from different disciplines and backgrounds to address the wilderness research needs of land management agencies and organizations. We are dedicated to providing the quality, peer-reviewed research necessary to develop policy guidelines and management practices that assure that sustainable wild ecosystems and their benefits and values endure for generations to come.

Mission

A number of programmatic-level issues present challenges to full development of the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute and its programs. These challenges generally involve the balancing of conflicting demands and priorities.

Core Values and Guiding Principles

We hold the core values of quality, credibility, integrity, and responsiveness as the basis for all of our activities. We will be guided by these core values as well as the following principles:

1. Be responsive to the spirit and letter of the Wilderness Act and to the laws and policies governing wilderness management agencies.
2. Strive to meet the needs of wilderness managers, scientists, and interested publics by obtaining their views on high priority issues and by reaching out to them with our technology transfer and application efforts.
3. Maintain high professional standards and credibility for the research that we conduct and facilitate.
4. Maximize research productivity by using diverse and creative approaches, emphasizing research with broad applicability, and focusing on high priority issues.
5. Provide regional, National, and international leadership to wilderness research and to the application of that research to management.
6. Encourage further communication, coordination, and collaboration among wilderness management agencies and among scientists who study wilderness values and attributes.
7. Provide a creative and supportive work environment where dignity, respect, trust, and fairness encourage a team approach to all activities.

Unique Assets

The programs of the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute are shaped by our core values and guiding principles, and by our strengths for identifying and exploring complex, long-term natural and social resource problems in wilderness and related natural areas. We have:

• A multidisciplinary staff of scientists and collaborators who are recognized leaders in their fields.
• An established reputation as national and international leaders in wilderness recreation and its management and in understanding human use and values associated with wilderness.
• Responsibility for knowledge about diverse natural ecosystems, ranging from hot deserts to high mountains, including aquatic and terrestrial systems.
• Support and participation from five Federal wilderness agencies - U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Geological Service.
• Cooperative working arrangements with universities, Federal agencies, and non-government organizations.

Goals

The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute is guided by the following goals:

• To develop the knowledge needed to protect and preserve wilderness and the ecological and social values derived from wilderness.
• To communicate and apply this knowledge to the wilderness management agencies and other user groups.

Implementation Strategies

Implementation of the programs and functions outlined in this plan depends on the full involvement of each of the wilderness agencies. In signing the Interagency Agreement, each agency agreed to "cooperate in the development" of the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. Forest Service and Institute staffs have developed a program structure and objectives that assume the full cooperation, including shared staffing and funding, of each of the signatory agencies. However, in recognition of the tight fiscal atmosphere under which all Federal agencies expect to operate in coming years, it is recognized that optimal funding may not be realistic for all agencies. Thus, rather than lay out a detailed scenario or strategy for implementation of the various program components and objectives, we have chosen to leave the details of programs and scheduling to be developed as funding levels and sources become clearer. The Steering Committee, Institute staff, and contributing agencies will all be involved in setting priorities and making decisions.

Strategic Challenges

A number of programmatic-level issues present challenges to full development of the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute and its programs. These challenges generally involve the balancing of conflicting demands and priorities.

Strategic Versus Tactical Research

The Leopold Institute will strive to achieve a balance between short-term tactical and longer term strategic research. There will always be pressure to emphasize short-term studies that have immediate management application. Yet such research is often too late and too little to help in resolving the immediate problem. In developing its research programs, the Institute will balance the demand for results requiring immediate application with longer term, strategic research on understanding of processes and mechanisms.

Breadth Versus Depth

The Leopold Institute strives for a balance between breadth and depth in our research programs. In an effort to maximize productivity and applicability, much of the Institute’s efforts and resources will be concentrated on a selected number of priority issues for which we will strive to provide leadership in developing interdisciplinary research programs. This will include individual staff research, cooperative or contract studies, and leadership in formulating teams of scientists to address the selected issues. At the same time, we recognize the importance of maintaining a certain amount of both breadth and opportunism in Institute programs. To accomplish this we will continue to support individual projects beyond the priority issues that address priority wilderness information needs.

Applied Research Versus Basic Research

We believe the distinction between basic and applied research as it relates to wilderness is largely artificial. We are committed to assuring that all research supported by the Institute will be applied in the sense that it addresses either short-term, immediate management or planning applications or longer term, anticipatory understanding of basic wilderness attributes or threats to those attributes that may have application potential.

Local Versus Regional Versus National Emphasis

We are very much aware of the temptations of focusing research efforts on site-specific issues because they are more convenient and often less expensive. The Leopold Institute will give priority to addressing research questions that have national or regional applicability. International application of programs will also be considered.

Stability Versus Flexibility

One of the most important attributes of agency science is its ability to encourage interdisciplinary, team approaches to natural resource issues. Such an approach forms the basis of our concept of priority issues. It enables multiple, integrated projects to address complex issues. However, while beneficial in developing long-term, continuous data sets, such an approach can also tie up funds, making it difficult to be responsive to new issues and needs that are impossible to anticipate. The Leopold Institute is committed to balancing the support of multiple projects on a limited number of priority issues while maintaining flexibility to initiate new projects or to be responsive to creative ideas.

Research Versus Applications

The research mandate that led to the establishment of the Leopold Institute is paired with the goal of developing an "Applications" function that will advance communication between wilderness research and management. Although Leopold Institute scientists have long been recognized for the time they give to the application and transfer of their research, it is understood that the applications function of the Institute can only be fully developed as new staff and funding are provided. As new funding becomes available, the Institute will strive to balance its research program with an equally active and effective applications branch. At the same time, the Institute is committed to maintaining and improving the quality and credibility of its scientific research program.

Expectations Versus Capabilities

Establishment of the Leopold Institute as an interagency entity to conduct and coordinate research, as well as apply research findings to the management issues faced by five wilderness agencies, has created a significant gap between expectations (of both scientists and research users) and the capabilities of the Institute to meet expectations. Expectations that the Institute should be responsive to needs and inquiries must be tempered by the realization that to date there has been little expansion of capabilities beyond those for a typical Forest Service Research Work Unit. Anticipated increases in funding and staff will enable the program to gradually overcome these limitations.

Role of the Scientist

The research scientists on the Leopold Institute staff will need to continually balance conflicting demands on their time. These conflicts include designing and conducting research, brokering or administration of research, facilitation of information exchange, applications of research findings (through technology transfer and other science-management interface activities), and involvement in other professional activities (for example, conference, committee, editorial, and society activities). Each of these demands is critically important to the success of the Institute and to the stature of the scientist. And whereas it is impossible to provide strict guidelines for allocation of the scientist’s time between such activities, it is recognized and expected that the successful scientist will be actively involved in all of them. The effective balancing of these often conflicting demands will be a goal of each Institute scientist. Scientific quality and professional credibility must be the paramount goal.

Acknowledgments

The strategic planning process that led to development of this Strategic Plan was carried out over the better part of a year. Beginning in late 1994, we solicited suggestions, input, and advice from a variety of individuals both familiar with and interested in wilderness research, the Leopold Institute, and the strategic planning process. This input was then used by the Institute staff to develop multiple drafts of this document. Draft versions of the plan were reviewed by the Interagency Wilderness Steering Committee as well as other interested individuals. We thank all of those who provided input, whether it was in the form of stimulating ideas or detailed review comments.