The Wilderness Experience Program Industry in the United States: Characteristics and Dynamics

Abstract

Wilderness experience programs (WEPs) are organizations that conduct outdoor programs in wilderness or comparable lands for purposes of personal growth, therapy, rehabilitation, education, or leadership/organizational development. More than 700 potential WEPs were identified through search of multiple sources and then surveyed, with promotional materials and response forms received from 70 percent of them. From these data WEPs are characterized as to the number of trips offered per year, number of clientele served, kind of areas used, a typology to categorize how they used the wilderness was developed — whether as a teacher or as a classroom, and a directory of WEPs was compiled. Dynamics of the WEP industry are inferred from these data, other studies, and the literature.