2026 Wilderness Risk Management Conference

Main Conference: Tuesday October 20 - Thursday, October 22, 2026

Preconference: Monday October 19 - Tuesday, October 20, 2026

*Schedule subject to change.

8:30am PDT

Creating a Just Safety Culture in Your Camp

Wednesday October 21, 2026 8:30am - 10:00am PDT

Child protection policies are essential, and to be effective they must become a living part of your camp culture. This workshop will discuss how to incorporate safety policies into your organization from the ground up and create a safety culture that is ingrained in every part of your camp culture.

Speakers

Tom Rawlings, J.D.

Member, Chalmers, Adams, Backer & Wallen, LLC

For more than 30 years, Tom Rawlings has served as an attorney, juvenile court judge, child rights ombudsman, and director of Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services. He currently works in child welfare as a member of Chalmers Adams Backer & Wallen, LLC, in Atlanta.Tom... Read More →

Debbie Ausburn

Attorney, Chalmers Adams Backer & Wallen LLC

Debbie Ausburn is a social-worker-turned-lawyer who has worked with youth-serving organizations for more than 40 years. She has served a a criminal prosecutor, member of the governing board of the Georgia Department of Human Resources, and a volunteer and Board member with non-profit... Read More →

Wednesday October 21, 2026 8:30am - 10:00am PDT
Weyerhaeuser 909 N Hayden Island Dr, Portland, OR 97217

Program Administration, Breakout Session

10:30am PDT

Balancing Inclusion and Compliance: Strategies for Meeting AEE Standards Amid Political Change

Wednesday October 21, 2026 10:30am - 12:00pm PDT

Clark

Expanded research into human dimensions of risk management has revealed that psychological safety and a sense of belonging are central to improving program learning outcomes and strengthening an organization’s safety culture. AEE has integrated these insights into its accreditation framework, which includes seven standards that address psychological safety, diversity, and inclusion. AEE also requires accredited organizations to comply with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations. The current sociopolitical climate has created some conflict for organizations and their ability to comply with and report on the applicable standards. This workshop will review the seven standards that address inclusion, diversity, and psychological safety and will discuss various approaches organizations are taking to navigate them within their local contexts. Attendees will consider how to implement prudent legal strategies that continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of staff and participants

Speakers

Margaret Kelso

Risk Management Director, Cornerstone Safety Group

Teresa Jennings, LCSW, LAC, is based in Durango, Colorado, and serves as the Program Director at La Plata Youth Services, a nonprofit supporting youth through mental health, mentorship, and diversion programs. She is also a Mental Health Advisor & Community Wellness Manager with Cornerstone... Read More →

Amy Smallwood

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs; Affiliate faculty, Colorado Mountain College

Amy has worked in outdoor education for over 25 years primarily as an outdoor education professor and administrator. She also teaches wilderness medicine courses for Desert Mountain Medicine, avalanche courses through AIARE, and is an active member of her local search and rescue group... Read More →

Wednesday October 21, 2026 10:30am - 12:00pm PDT
Clark 909 N Hayden Island Dr, Portland, OR 97217

Program Administration, Breakout Session

1:30pm PDT

Vini, Vedi, VUCA, Pura Vida – Navigating Health & Safety for International Programs

Wednesday October 21, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Weyerhaeuser

We’ll provide an overview of the most salient challenges for operating/managing overseas programs in our current VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) World. We’ll also look at the challenges of melding local competence (culture, language, sensibilities) with U.S. standards for health, safety and security. Where disruption is one of the few certainties, translating uncertainty into equations of risk becomes critical for decision making with implications for info acquisition, flexibility and resilience. We’ll initially present a macro-overview of navigating health, safety and security abroad, and then look at how the principles and the realities play out in an Outward Bound program in Central America.

Speakers

Tim Barker

Director of Operations & Safety, The Hurricane Island Outward Bound School

Tim serves as the Director of Operations & Safety at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School. He helped build a strategic partnership between Outward Bound Costa Rica and HIOBS, co-founded the Sundog Outdoor Leadership Initiative, and serves on the Colorado College’s Ritt Kellogg... Read More →

Bill Frederick

Director, Lodestone Safety International

Bill Frederick - Bill is the founder of Lodestone Safety International. He spent 20 years in outdoor ed (Outward Bound) and international education (SFS and Dartmouth). Bill also teaches for Wilderness Medical Associates International and designed their Travel Med curriculum. He holds... Read More →

Wednesday October 21, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Weyerhaeuser 909 N Hayden Island Dr, Portland, OR 97217

Program Administration, Breakout Session

3:00pm PDT

Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response: developing comprehensive practices, navigating awkward conversations, and responding to incidents

Wednesday October 21, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm PDT

Washington

In this interactive workshop, participants explore the Socioecological Model—a harm reduction framework for assessing and strengthening organizational approaches to sexual misconduct. Together, we’ll assess your team’s efforts to set expectations for appropriate conduct and their readiness to prevent and respond to incidents of sexual misconduct and related encounters. The session covers key legal considerations, with practical, adaptable policy recommendations tailored to your unique work in outdoor education settings.

Speakers

Deidre Loftus

Consultant and Sexual Misconduct Prevention Educator

Deirdre is a consultant with over a decade of experience dedicated to ending sexual misconduct within and beyond the outdoor industry. She specializes in developing strategies to interrupt and prevent sexual misconduct in traditional education and outdoor education settings. Her work... Read More →

Frances Mock

Frances Turner Mock, Attorney

Frances Mock is an attorney specializing in risk management and claims management for wilderness and experiential education programs She is counsel to NOLS, Outward Bound, SCA, LL Bean’s Outdoor Discovery School, and other organizations, providing advice about: responding to incidents... Read More →

Wednesday October 21, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm PDT
Washington 909 N Hayden Island Dr, Portland, OR 97217

Program Administration, Breakout Session

8:30am PDT

Creating Influence as a Safety Leader

Thursday October 22, 2026 8:30am - 10:00am PDT

Clark

Safety leaders in outdoor programs are often accountable for safety outcomes, yet they have little positional authority to direct decisions or set organizational priorities. This is a structural challenge, not a personal one, and it's commonly faced by risk managers, program directors, and anyone who wears a safety leadership hat as part of their role.

Speakers

Stuart Slay

Independent Risk Advisor, Slay Risk LLC

Stuart Slay is Director of Slay Risk, a safety leadership consultancy and coaching practice for outdoor programs and schools. Stuart previously led risk management at the SCA and spent a decade directing an outdoor education program at an international school in South Korea. His background... Read More →

Thursday October 22, 2026 8:30am - 10:00am PDT
Clark 909 N Hayden Island Dr, Portland, OR 97217

Program Administration, Breakout Session

10:30am PDT

Outdoor Classrooms In Transition; Navigating the Risks of a Changing Federal Landscape

Thursday October 22, 2026 10:30am - 12:00pm PDT

Clark

In the turbulent period since January 2025, agency management of the public lands and waters that serve as our outdoor classrooms has changed, and more changes are in the works. A few of these changes will create new opportunities for outdoor programs. However, most of these changes will shatter management norms that have existed on public lands for many years. In their place, the Administration will establish new norms that prioritize mining, logging, and energy development, and increase access for motorized vehicles. Inevitably, this shift will impact outdoor programs that take place on public lands, as extractive activities and motorized use become visible in areas where we have historically provided programming or conservation work. This session will update previous presentations on the agency policy changes currently underway and consider how these changes will impact the risk profile and program effectiveness of outdoor programming that makes use of nearby landscapes. After we have laid out the current state of public lands, we will shift into a discussion of how to apply risk management models to proactively assess these dynamic risks and allocate resources accordingly, and invite participants to apply these models to their own organizational situations and programs.

Speakers

Paul Sanford

Director of Equitable Access Policy, The Wilderness Society

Steve Smith

Founder and Lead Consultant, Experiential Consulting, LLC

Steve Smith has worked in the outdoor industry for over thirty years, including leadership roles in the field, in the office, in the board room, and in national conferences, specializing in risk management. Since founding Experiential Consulting in 2008, the team at EC has worked... Read More →

Thursday October 22, 2026 10:30am - 12:00pm PDT
Clark 909 N Hayden Island Dr, Portland, OR 97217

Program Administration, Breakout Session

1:30pm PDT

Hire Better: Discussing An Outdoor Education Hiring Norm

Thursday October 22, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Multnomah

Many employers hire new staff at the base of their organizational framework, with more advanced roles being filled by internal applicants. We will discuss pros and cons of this practice, strategies for applicants to better present their experience when applying for leadership roles, how administrators can be more open to skilled external applicants, and ways to support your own staff in carrying their value forward when they go somewhere other than your organization.

Speakers

Lucas Wade

Wilderness Risk Director, Camp Manito-wish YMCA.

Lucas Wade is the Wilderness Risk Director at Camp Manito-wish YMCA in Wisconsin, where he supports more than 200 staff each summer in leading trips 3-45 days in length all across North America.

Thursday October 22, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Multnomah 909 N Hayden Island Dr, Portland, OR 97217

Program Administration, Breakout Session

3:00pm PDT

The Information Gap: Using AI to Deliver the Right Answers at the Right Time in Outdoor Programs

Thursday October 22, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm PDT

Weyerhaeuser

Most preventable issues in outdoor programs don’t start in the field—they start with missing, unclear, or inaccessible information. Participants arrive underprepared, families misunderstand expectations, and staff spend valuable time filling gaps instead of focusing on leadership and safety.

Speakers

Michael Nesbitt

Owner/Managing Director, Naturalists at Large

Mike is an owner of Naturalists at Large and has worked in outdoor education for over 25 years. With a background in adventure education and natural history, he has spent his career with Naturalists at Large, contributing in roles ranging from field instruction and program development... Read More →

Thursday October 22, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm PDT
Weyerhaeuser 909 N Hayden Island Dr, Portland, OR 97217

Program Administration, Breakout Session