ODEL 385: Research in Outdoor Education: Other Resources

The Academy is a national organization comprised of highly experienced professionals and educators dedicated to the advancement of the profession of parks and recreation.

The American Camp Association is a community of camp professionals who have joined together to share their knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. They have a page on camping research as well.

The American Canoe Association was founded in 1880 and is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves the broader paddling public by providing educational programs, supporting stewardship initiatives that affect paddlers, and offering competition opportunities to athletes of all abilities.

The AMGA inspires an exceptional client experience as the premier source for training, credentials, resource stewardship and services for professional mountain guides and climbing instructors in the United States.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s mission is to protect, manage, and advocate for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.

The mission of the Association is to provide opportunities for professionals and students in the field of outdoor recreation and education to exchange information, promote the preservation and conservation of the natural environment, and address issues common to college, university, community, military, and other not-for-profit outdoor recreation and education programs.

Bay Area Wilderness Training envisions a generation of social and environmental leaders, inspired by positive and meaningful experiences in nature, who reflect the diversity of our local community.

Big City Mountaineers provides under-resourced youth with opportunities to have transformative experiences in the outdoors. Through overnight camps and week-long expeditions with supportive mentors, they teach wilderness and life skills to create a more positive future for the youth they serve. They reach thousands of diverse youth annually in 7 cities across the country including Boston, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle.

The mission of BGT is to provide experiences that inspire Black women to pursue outdoors adventures with confidence, establish connections with one another, recreate on the land with care, and rekindle a deep-rooted cultural relationship with nature.

Black Outside, Inc was founded with one simple mission: reconnecting Black/African-American youth to the outdoors. Through culturally relevant programming, inspired volunteers and staff, and passion for connecting Black youth to the powerful history of Black people in the outdoors, we seek to move the needle on diversity in the outdoors and ensure Black/African-American youth have safe and equitable spaces outside.

Get Out Stay Out/Vamos Afuera is a grassroots, Central Coast nonprofit, that invites Indigenous Migrant youth to run, play, and discover themselves in the natural environment.

The Greening Youth Foundation’s (GYF) mission is to engage under-represented youth and young adults, while connecting them to the outdoors and careers in conservation. GYF’s cultural-based environmental education programming engages children from local communities and exposes them to healthy lifestyle choices in order to create an overall healthy community.

Latino Outdoors is a Latine-led organization that supports a national community of leaders in outdoor recreation, conservation and environmental education. With an eye towards celebrating and expanding the Latine outdoor experience and bolstering the broader outdoor movement, we provide leadership, mentorship, and professional development opportunities and serve as a platform for amplifying oft-overlooked cultural connections and narratives.

"So here’s our new goal—to increase the visibility of outdoorsy black, indigenous, people of color, to increase our representation in the media, advertising and in the stories we tell ourselves about the Outdoors."

Native Women's Wilderness was created to bring Native women together to share stories, support each other, and learn from one another as we endeavor to explore and celebrate the wilderness and our native lands.

Collection of research and publications from the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).

Since 1999, Outdoor Outreach has connected more than 20,000 young people with the transformative power of the outdoors. With every opportunity to hike, bike, kayak, or climb, the youth in our programs gain two things that greatly increase their chances of success: First, opportunities to share new experiences, explore their world, and discover what they’re capable of. And second, a meaningful connection with a support system of peers and mentors who believe in them and who show them that they matter.

Outdoors Empowered Network is on a mission to change this disheartening lack of equity. We are a national network of community-led, youth-centered outdoor education groups that are dedicated to increasing access and diversity in the outdoors through gear libraries and outdoor leadership training.

Soul Trak Outdoors is a D.C. based nonprofit organization that connects communities of color to outdoor spaces while also building a coalition of diverse outdoor leaders. We run a variety of programming to serve hands-on, experiential programming.

Professional organization for outdoor educators. WEA publishes JOREL (Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Educational Leadership), and previously published JWEA (Journal of the Wilderness Education Association). Past issues of JWEA are available on the WEA website.