Basecamp is a regional conference and workshop focused on sharing ideas and collaboratively creating a path forward for outdoor recreation management and gateway community planning in the American West.
The gathering offers an opportunity to share new insights into how to improve outdoor recreation opportunities and protect the communities that enable them. It also includes dedicated workshop sessions for collaboratively addressing existing and emerging challenges faced by outdoor recreation managers, gateway community leaders, state and local officials, and others who value outdoor recreation in the West.
For 2024, we will be convening in Moab, Utah. One of the world's foremost outdoor recreation destinations and gateway communities.
**All proposals should focus on outdoor recreation management and/or gateway community planning in the American West.**
PRESENTATION TYPES
TOPIC AREAS
1 - Collaboration & Partnership
Managing outdoor recreation resources and planning for tourism-related challenges in gateway communities requires collaboration and partnership. Sessions submitted to this topic area should focus on building collaborative relationships or more formal partnerships to manage outdoor recreation resources and/or destinations. The specific purposes of the collaborative or partnership being presented on can vary widely (e.g., workforce housing, waste management, hazard response, shared communication/education efforts, etc.), but the content of the session should focus on why and how collaboration can be used to support outdoor recreation management or gateway community planning.
Example sessions could include:
2 - Visitor Management
Improving or managing how visitors access outdoor recreation resources is essential to providing high quality experiences while also mitigating impacts on natural resources and local communities. Sessions submitted to this topic area should focus on efforts to expand, improve, or manage access to outdoor recreation opportunities or mitigate the impacts of visitation to natural resources and/or destinations. Sessions could focus on efforts to expand or improve access to underdeveloped outdoor recreation opportunities or to monitor and manage access in heavily visited destinations. Sessions must showcase lessons learned and provide practical guidance to either outdoor recreation managers or gateway community planners.
Example sessions could include:
3 - Visitor Education & Destination Stewardship
Efforts to meaningfully connect outdoor recreationists and tourists to the communities they are visiting while also educating them on safe and responsible participation can be critically important to delivering satisfying experiences, protecting recreation resources, and preserving the identities of gateway communities. Education efforts can also instill a desire and willingness from visitors to steward outdoor recreation resources and support local livelihoods. Sessions submitted to this topic area should either highlight successful efforts to educate outdoor recreationists and tourists about safe and responsible participation or showcase novel destination stewardship and volunteerism programs used by outdoor recreation managers or gateway community planners.
Example sessions could include:
CONTENT TYPES
DATES
Abstract Submission Opens: April 4, 2024
Abstract Submission Deadline: June 14, 2024