Mission

Our mission is to provide high quality, credible science that responds to the priority needs of wilderness managers, planners, and wilderness organizations—while also advancing scientific scholarship. We work with managers and other scientists to address the big issues in wilderness stewardship. Our knowledge of wilderness law and policies, and resource planning, aids collaborations between the Leopold Institute and the wilderness community.

Leopold Institute staff regularly partner with scientists from around the country and the world, to address diverse topics through research, inventory and monitoring, science syntheses, and decision support tools. We also convene ad hoc panels of scientists and managers to address particularly complex or controversial topics. We welcome collaborations with researchers and managers from all levels of the wilderness agencies, as well as scientists in the academic and non-governmental organization communities.

Current emphases:

• Fire and other Disturbances
• Wilderness Character Monitoring and Mapping
• Ecological Restoration and Intervention in Wilderness
• Wilderness Recreation: Visitor Use and Management
• Ecosystem Representation
• Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative
• Social and Economic Values and Benefits of Wilderness
• Fish and Wildlife
• Climate Change
• Ecosystem Services
• Water Quality and Quantity
• Non-Native Species
• Management Effectiveness
• Data Archiving

To maintain our research agenda on the highest priority needs, we continually seek feedback, as well as funding, to leverage partnerships and resources that facilitate wilderness science.We invite you to submit your input on future projects through a short questionnaire.