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Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) now known as COVID-19 changed the world and the outdoor adventure and experiential education (OAEE) fields were not immune. These changes significantly impacted various OAEE programs in multiple ways and at different levels of intensity. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the OAEE fields and identify how OAEE organizations have responded to those impacts. Methodology/Approach: Using a three-phase study and a multi-method approach to data collection and analyses, respondents from 115 OAEE organizations (N=115) were asked to indicate how and in what ways their organizations have been impacted by the pandemic and in what ways their organizations have responded to those challenges. Findings/Conclusions: Many organizations responded not being ready for the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. Significant impacts were noted from most of the OAEE organizations responding and included closings, staff reductions, and downsizing as well as operational changes. Many organizations reported ways they are attempting to mitigate the pandemic effects. Implications: Important questions were raised in this paper as to how well prepared the OAEE fields might be for the next crisis.

The twofold purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate various moderators that might influence the effect of participation in an outdoor orientation program on first-year college students’ relationships with the natural world and to examine the potential influence of instructors on participants’ biophilic expression. The theory of biophilia was used to understand these human-nature relationships. Eighty-five first-year college students participating in a 21-day outdoor orientation program were assessed at the program’s start and end using the Kellert-Shorb Biophilic Values Indicator (KSBVI). The KSBVI provides a biophilic profile, a measure of how one relates to the natural world on each of nine separate subscales that collectively articulate one’s expression of biophilic values: aesthetic, dominionistic, humanistic, moralistic, naturalistic, negativistic, scientific, symbolic and utilitarian. Moderators of change in biophilic expression were explored using ANCOVA models, including pre-scores as a covariate in each model. The moderators were 1) prior summer camp experience, 2) prior wilderness experience program (WEP) participation, and 3) preference for type of time in the outdoors (alone or with others). Prior WEP experience moderated outcomes on the aesthetic, humanistic, moralistic and negativistic subscales, and prior summer camp experience moderated outcomes on the aesthetic and moralistic subscales. Participants’ preference for time alone or with others in the natural world did not moderate any biophilic outcome. Instructor influence, assessed using a repeated measures MANOVA, was found to have an effect on the extent to which change occurred on the humanistic, scientific, and utilitarian subscales. Replication studies are recommended.

While gender equity appears to be moving at glacial speed in contemporary societal debate, many argue advancement toward equitable outdoor leadership has been stymied. Hearing and responding to lived experiences and stories can be an impetus for transformational change. The experiences of all genders, as well as nonbinary and agender people, attest to the need for a major shift within the outdoor professions. Together, as a unified voice, we explore our diverse perspectives and professional journeys as reflexive practitioners. By sharing our biographical sketches with a particular focus on gender influences, through our philosophical approach we intend to highlight efforts underway to redress gender inequities and promote institutional and cultural adjustments. We detail attempts to raise awareness, gather resources, and promote effective entry points into the conversation. We describe our perceptions of the gendered landscape and pinpoint areas of future focus to elevate understandings of inclusive outdoor leadership. Radical and unilateral progress is needed, and we offer tangible and inclusive pathways to move this critical agenda forward within various spheres of influence. Subscribe to JOREL

Recent dialogue in outdoor leadership has led to the realization that more care and attention is required to ensure the profession receives the benefits of diverse perspectives. In this paper, we report on stories gathered through feminist narrative inquiry via art-based approaches from 32 participants attending one of three outdoor conferences in Australia. The arts-based workshops aimed to provide a safe space for participants to reflect upon how gender may have influenced their outdoor leadership journey. Three key gender-related themes emerged through a thematic analysis of the reflective process: (1) noninclusive practices, (2) inclusive practices, and (3) suggestions to increase equity and inclusivity to embrace and enact. Further exploration of these themes highlighted the value of single-gender environments and the influence of supportive mentors while illuminating the societal privileges, unconscious entitlement, and implicit biases prevailing in the profession. Finally, we draw attention to gender erasure and the imbalance in voice and suggest collaborative efforts that move the outdoor leadership profession forward and ensure the benefits of diverse perspectives are received.Subscribe to JOREL

Embedding a gender-aware and social-responsive culture is one of the many challenges which confronts the outdoor profession. Creative methodologies and feminist research has the potential to unlock new insights and knowledges about outdoor embodiment and embolden change. This paper offers a fresh research approach to interrogate the lived experiences and prevailing injustices encountered by outdoor women. To address issues of hegemony and asymmetrical power imbalance, the authors chose visual arts-based methods to widen their research aperture. Arts-based research disrupts the common use of language and allows participants to creatively communicate thoughts and feelings. Data was gathered from a purposive convenience sample of outdoor leadership professionals at conference workshops and emergent themes analysed. We conclude as a reflective research method, visual-arts provided alternative perspectives beyond the dominant discourse to illuminate blindspots in the outdoor professions.

This is an unusual article in that it brings together the perspectives of many on this journal’s editorial board, around the issue of contending with COVID-19. Twenty statements showcase a range of thoughts and experiences, highlighting the differences and similarities in the way the pandemic is impacting on the educational practice of outdoor and environmental education. The future is not yet written, of course, so it is worth thinking about how the current moment may impact on the months and years to come. The aim of this article is to influence and support such thinking Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Background: Critical examination by adventure educators in North American colleges and universities reveals that students receive messages about the nature of adventure education through both the intentional and hidden curriculum. Purpose: The study was designed to discover adventure education’s hidden curriculum and its potential effect on women in adventure education. Methodology/Approach: The phenomenon of the hidden curriculum was examined using a modified Delphi method. Three rounds of questionnaires solicited knowledge from a panel of experts (21 females and 18 males), who had tenure of at least 15 years in the adventure education field, to obtain a reliable semi-consensus of opinion. Findings/Conclusions: Gender-based hidden curriculum messages were found, including the prioritizing of values and traits perceived to be predominantly male, linguistic sexism, assumptions about outdoor identity, outdoor career messages, gender insensitive facilitation and teaching, and the centering of White men in the field’s history. Implications: The proposed strategies to consciously address sexism and gender role conditioning in the adventure education’s hidden curriculum may benefit women and gender-nonconforming participants and leaders.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of participation in an outdoor orientation program on first-year college students’ relationships with the natural world. The theory of biophilia was used as a lens through which to understand human-nature relationships. Eighty-five first-year college students on a 21-day outdoor orientation program were assessed at the trip’s beginning and end using the Kellert-Shorb Biophilic Values Indicator (KSBVI). The instrument provides a biophilic profile, a measure of how one relates to the natural world on each of nine separate subscales that collectively articulate expression of biophilic values: aesthetic, dominionistic, humanistic, moralistic, naturalistic, negativistic, scientific, symbolic and utilitarian. A repeated measures MANOVA was conducted to assess changes in the KSBVI subscales over time. Paired-sample t-tests were run to better understand the source and direction of change on the KSBVI subscale scores. These t-tests indicated statistically significant change from the pre to post scores in eight of the nine biophilic values. The KSBVI was shown to possess a level of sensitivity adequate for implementation in a pre-post design. Replication studies are recommended to further validate use of the KSBVI on adventure education programs in a pre-post format.

Women leaders in outdoor environmental education (OEE) have begun to discuss the invisibility cloak that seems to envelope us. Women comprise approximately half the OEE professionals; however, women still face gender bias resulting in challenges of recognition and access to the upper echelons of the profession. Data show that implicit prejudice and limitations, arising from systematic hegemony and the gender binary, create an atmosphere that generally silences or ignores women's contributions and voices in media and history. As a collective group, our profession needs to actively challenge and positively change the forms of knowledge and recognition that render women invisible. Authors suggest that feminism and alternative discourses that have historically been marginalized or less visible can be used to replace and challenge current dominant narratives.

Using a mail survey employing 4 connection to nature indicators—Connectedness to Nature, Nature Relatedness, Inclusion of Nature in Self, and Environmental Motives—we determine that conservation gardeners exhibit a strong multifaceted connection to nature. Results demonstrate that individuals have an emotional connection to nature, are pro-environmental, spend time in nature, and are motivated by non-human species and other people, as opposed to benefit for one's self. We conducted research with individuals ( n = 180) who had certified their property through a conservation gardening certification program in 1 of 3 regions in the US: Oregon, Illinois, or Delaware. This research provides information about the people who adopt environmentally friendly landscape practices and incorporate native plants into their landscape. Results of this research may aid in increasing sales of native plants and expanding conservation gardening programs. Cartwright K, Mitten D. 2017. Exploring the human–nature relationship of conservation gardeners. Native Plants Journal 18(3):212–225.

The initial online publication contained several typesetting errors. The original article has been corrected.

Many of the leadership practices frequently employed by women have greatly influenced mainstream outdoor learning environments (OLEs) and have been adopted as common practice. In general, women’s influence in the field of adventure programming and OLEs has brought greater congruency between ethical conduct towards participants and leaders of all genders and towards the environment, as well as recognition of the importance of healthy connections and spiritual relationships. This chapter explores how practitioners can ultimately increase participants’ learning opportunities by updating practices based on locus of control, challenge by choice, stress, co-regulation, tend and befriend, comfort zone, and familiar zone, resulting in and more fun into OLEs’ programming. The author relates experiences from the 1960s and 1970s of Outward Bound and Girl Scouts.

This introductory chapter outlines the initial impetus for the Palgrave International Handbook of Women and Outdoor Learning, along with our quest to be proactive in pursuit of social change and equity. The authors recount a personal and historical perspective about the cultural and structural identity of women in outdoor learning, providing a snapshot of inroads made in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s towards gender equality. Recent advancements appear to have stalled or are becoming increasingly indiscernible or covert. The chapter’s through line is an exploration of the profession’s implicit prejudices and unconscious bias outlining the way women experience gender asymmetry in myriad ways. Re-storying our future from the margins to mainstream offers a critical shift of gender and feminism within (and beyond) the white male academy.

The authors explore women’s representation in adventure education (AE) literature positing the question: what messages about women are manifest in the scholarly literature and during the publishing process in AE? Data were gathered using a feminist content analysis of five commonly used texts and through citation indices created for the Journal of Experiential Education and the Australian Journal of Outdoor Education. Citation frequency was compared between women and men authors. In the journals, women comprise about 25% of published authorships. Texts continue to use masculine normative language and stereotypical gender roles in examples, reinforcing a hidden curriculum. Women were underrepresented as authors and adventurers and in technical and nontechnical photos, whilst being the predominant authors of social justice writings.

In this book inspiring women from around the globe share their outdoor leadership journeys. This chapter seeks to provide support and encouragement for women in outdoor learning environments (OLEs) while at the same time, being realistic about the prejudice and glass ceilings women still face. More information about lesser-known women influencing OLEs, including Marina Ewald, is highlighted. We acknowledge that women from nondominate cultures are underrepresented in the book and reference Harriet Tubman. We encourage people to find more information about women and bring it to light using a variety of media forms. There is hope, as we join in support and solidarity to change the sexism, misogyny, and general prejudice against women in order to make way for women to continue their leadership journeys.

Christy’s story highlights the draw that many women feel toward the outdoors, many times starting as a kid playing outdoors. She traces her path in what she physically did as well as some of the ways that being in outdoor environments and being in them with women affected her. A bit of the behind-the-scenes of Woodswomen is explained after Christy’s essay. Woodswomen’s motto was “adventure is the best souvenir” and its purpose was to teach outdoor living and traveling skills to women and children.

The author provides background about women’s outdoor trips using examples of early women’s expeditions, research, and observation. She describes differences in the aims of men and women as they designed boys’ and girls’ camps, respectively, from the late 1800s into the early 1900s. The author explains how women’s trips designed by women are often different from co-ed trips and why some women choose to go on all-women trips. Stereotypes of outdoor women and women’s outdoor trips are explored, and the concept and effects of lesbian baiting are discussed. The value of giving voice to more perspectives and ways of being in the outdoors is presented.

This chapter examines the benefits of adventure education and of pairing adventure and environmental education in urban environments. By participating in outdoor activities, people learn about their surroundings and places they might not otherwise visit. These group experiences enhance social ties and may promote pro-environmental behaviors, which contribute to ecosystem health and human well-being as well as urban sustainability. Benefits of adventure education include positive relationships with self, other people, places, and the natural world. After explaining what adventure education is, the chapter considers adventure education in urban areas such as metropolitan Hong Kong, Minneapolis (Minnesota), and Japan. It shows that adventure education can be used by educators as a catalyst for urban environmental education.

Throughout our collective experiences in the outdoors, defining moments have helped ignite innovation and provided inspiration for women and men in the outdoor profession. Women’s representation among the ranks of the senior leaders and researchers in the outdoor field is disproportionately low. As such, women in outdoor education today still face challenges being recognized and accessing the upper echelons of the profession and academy. An incident at the 6th International Outdoor Education Research Conference in 2013, where women donned an invisibility cloak provided the impetus for our paper. Significant progress has been made in the past three decades; however an imbalance and gender asymmetry still exists today. At the core of our profession is the development of leadership and individual potential; it is therefore imperative that we examine our indiscernible footprint within the profession. The paper aims to generate practical solutions and strategies for those grappling with ways to improve their leadership impact and attain gender equity in their career goals.

In developed countries many people spend little time in direct contact with the more-than-human world and react with pervasive fear and mistrust of ‘nature’. This chapter explores repairing our relationships with the more-than-human world and enabling us to positively engage with the more-than-human world as we face complex and challenging decisions in the Anthropocene. Our relationships are entangled with all beings and natural systems, and the cosmos as an ecology of relationships. Ecofeminism provides a framework for changing the patterns of violence, which means changing our relationships, in order to heal. Women’s outdoor programming by women has retained a way of being and an attitude towards the outdoors guided by an ethic of care and an understanding of entanglement. Drawing from this history and experience, outdoor leaders, skilled in healthy relationship building, can support participants exploring and repairing their relationships with the more-than-human world including stopping criticism, defensiveness, and contempt. Thoughtfully designed outdoor education programs can provide transformative, paradigm shifting experiences that help participants connect to the more-than-human world from a place of compassion and awe counteracting negative images and fear of ‘nature’ that result from western narratives. Instead of seeing the more-than-human world as something to be controlled, they see it as part of themselves and understand our need for healthy affiliation with the more-than-human world on the visceral level. Appreciative inquiry helps grow a relationship system of fondness and admiration grounded in gratitude and respect, which when done at the individual, family, community, and universal (including the more-than-human) arenas adds to sustainability.

Research has connected sedentary lifestyles with numerous negative health outcomes, including a significant increased risk for mortality. Many health care professionals seek ways to help clients meet physical activity guidelines recommended by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, the World Health Organization, and the American College of Sports Medicine in order to promote active lifestyles and improve overall wellness. Hiking is a cost-effective intervention that encourages people to be physically active while spending time in nature. Time in nature can lead to health benefits through contact with the natural elements, participation in physical activity, restoration of mental and emotional health, and time with social contacts. Benefits may be immediate, such as decreased blood pressure, decreased stress levels, enhanced immune system functioning, and restored attention, or transpire over time, such as weight loss, decreased depression, and overall wellness. Health care providers are ideally positioned to recommend and prescribe hiking to clients. Federal, state, and local natural resource agencies are beginning to partner with health care professionals to promote outdoor nature-related activities. Examples of successful doctor and other health care practitioner partnership programs are described, along with tips for getting started.