Wilderness Education and Partnership Plan
National Park Service. 2002. Wilderness Education and Partnership Plan. Wilderness Program Ranger Activities Division, National Park Service. Washington, DC
The Wilderness Act of 1964 requires the National Park Service to manage wilderness lands within the National Park System. NPS management philosophy includes education as an important aspect of managing all resources. Educating NPS staff and the public about wilderness and its management helps the National Park Service fulfill the congressional mandate for preserving wilderness m perpetuity. The goal of the NPS Wilderness Education and Partnership Plan is to broaden awareness, understanding, appreciation, and support of wilderness in an increasingly diverse population. Such an initiative must reach beyond National Park Service audiences. Because of this, the NPS Wilderness Education and Partnership Plan is designed to connect with efforts involving all agencies within the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) and a variety of non-governmental participants. In preparing this document, the NPS Wilderness Education Work Group used the comprehensive interpretive planning process from The Effective Planning of Parkwide Interpretive Programs as developed by the Interpretation and Education team of the NPS Intermountain Support Office. The group also used the work already accomplished by the Arthur Carhart Wilderness Training Center. The result is a comprehensive interpretive strategy that includes significance statements, interpretive themes, and numerous interpretive program plans featuring specific objectives for addressing NPS audiences.