Responsible Recreation: Pathways, Practices and Possibilities
- Start Date: May 09, 2023
- End Date: May 10, 2023
- City: Revelstoke BC
- Venue: Revelstoke Community Centre & Online
- Proceedings document available.
Image credits in the order they appear: H Ross, Wet Planet, R Darvill, A Chance, P Garbutt, CMH
Conference description
Recreation and adventure tourism opportunities and activities are expanding globally, with the Columbia Mountains region being no exception. From hiking, mountain biking, snowmobiling, dirt biking, cross-country skiing, to motorized and non-motorized watercraft use, all activities can have an impact on wildlife and ecosystems. However, empirical measures of impacts are often difficult to obtain, with unknown thresholds that ultimately affect the viability of wildlife populations and ecosystems. This limits policy development and impact management. Furthermore, the cumulative effect of multiple overlapping recreational and industrial activities on the landscape are seldom considered or addressed.
This two-day conference was timely as an increasing number of people are pursuing outdoor activities, and there is growing recognition of the limited information, tools, and resources for managing and monitoring the impacts of these pressures on wildlife and habitat. It was an excellent opportunity for scientists, managers, business operators, students, and the interested public to network and learn about current thinking on increasing outdoor recreation activities and the effect on wildlife and ecosystems. The event will addressed key questions regarding effects of current and future development and showcased best practices of established commercial and community managed recreation and adventure tourism tenures. The conference will included speakers, posters, and various opportunities for dialogue on aspects of baseline monitoring, measuring disturbance, accessing cumulative impacts, understanding best practices, success stories, and field trip opportunities. It was a place to learn about, and immerse oneself in, the emerging field of recreation ecology.
All event presenters are asked to respond to this guiding question: What are the lessons learned that can inform our collective work to reduce impacts to wildlife and ecosystems?
Event recordings are available here for all registrants
A password to access these recordings will be provided to all registrants. If you are registered and cannot find your password, email office@cmiae.org
Want to access these recordings but you didn’t register? At a discounted rate, you can register for recording access here.
Proceedings document available here
Schedule & presenter list
See the detailed event schedule here.
Community keynote
A free evening event that was open-to-the-public accompanied this conference. We looked at responsible recreation through the lenses of climate and culture with outdoor recreation researcher Natalie Knowles, a screening of the film Beyond Begbie, and a panel discussion that also featured Sinixt cultural facilitator for the Colville Tribes Shelly Boyd, Beyond Begbie film producer Nat Segal, and others. See this event webpage here.
Event partners
Columbia Mountains Institute is pleased to work with these agencies in hosting this event:
Selkirk College, BC Parks, Recreation Sites and Trails BC, Golden + Area A Trail Alliance, Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, Shuswap Trail Alliance, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, Outdoor Recreation Council of BC
Event sponsors
We extend our thanks for financial assistance to the following event sponsors:
Revelstoke Tourism, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, Real Estate Foundation of BC, the Province of British Columbia’s Resort Municipality Initiatives Funding Program, RC Strategies, McElhanney, and Revelstoke Credit Union.
