Advisory Board
The Wilderness Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) was formed to introduce youth to wilderness venues and provide location-relevant education. Our mission is to inspire and help educate the next generation of environmental stewards. We will begin by offering a wide variety of classes to senior high students, undergraduates and high school teachers. We will ask the teachers to incorporate their lessons learned in their curricula.
WILD’s curriculum will be broad. We hope to encourage our participants to think about the complex systemic scientific, ethical and socio-cultural issues surrounding land and resource use issues. Our objective is to encourage our participants to be responsible stewards who consider how we can live in sustainable harmony with our natural environment. We want to provide our participants the foundation for leading these discussions in a variety of forums.
WILD’s ultimate impact will be measured by the degree to which our students and teachers form their resource use perspective around the issue of sustainably managing our interdependence with our natural resources. Ethical leadership requires broad and deep knowledge, courage and a conviction of belief. We hope to provide knowledge, encourage a passion for continual learning, inspire courage and thereby augment our participant’s conviction of belief.
Perhaps most importantly, we want our participants to have fun. Being in the wilderness, enjoying all that you are a part of, listening to and learning from others…this is really what WILD is about.
JOHN BLAUSTEIN - A photographer and former commercial river guide, John Blaustein learned to row dories down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon from renowned environmentalist Martin Litton. In 1970, after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in anthropology, John joined Litton’s new company, Grand Canyon Dories. Having rowed more than sixty trips during his 35+ years on the river, John still rows the Grand Canyon once or twice a year on an O.A.R.S. Grand Canyon Dories trip.
John documented the magic of the Grand Canyon in his classic book, The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey, which includes a journal by Western writer Edward Abbey and an introduction by Martin Litton.
John is deeply committed to sharing his passion for the outdoors with a whole new generation of youth and their teachers and helping them discover the value of preserving these natural treasures. He is enthusiastic about WILD because he believes in the simple pleasures and thrills awaiting those who are willing to venture beyond the pavement and into the wilderness.
KELLY BRICKER - Dr. Bricker completed her Ph.D. research with The Pennsylvania State University where she specialized in sustainable tourism development. She has special research interest in sustainable tourism, natural resource management, outdoor recreation, and community and heritage tourism development, ecotourism, sense of place and incentive travel programs. Dr. Bricker has worked all over the world, employed as guide, tourism manager, wilderness instructor, scuba and sailing instructor, professor, and researcher. She has taught at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, West Virginia University, and Sacramento State. She is currently Associate Professor at the University of Utah in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, and serves as Senior Scientist in recreation with Devine Tarbell & Associates, part-time. Dr. Bricker is Chair of the board for the International Ecotourism Society, and a co-director of Rivers Fiji, located in Pacific Harbour, Fiji Islands.
NATE BRICKER - Nate is the co-coordinator of the Natural Resources Learning Program at the University of Utah. Prior to his position at “U” he was the General Manager for O.A.R.S. Inc. Nate completed his Masters Degree at West Virginia University in 2003 where he focused on the continued development of the Upper Navua Conservation Area (UNCA), and the creation of West Virginia’s W.I.L.D.U. - T.R.A.I.L.S. program (the prototype for WILD). Nate also developed Rivers Fiji, a whitewater rafting and sea kayaking company that has become the primary economic contributor to the UNCA through its commercial river trips.
Nate’s commercial guiding experiences with O.A.R.S., World Heritage, Australian Himalayan Expeditions, and Sobek Expeditions have provided him with numerous first hand experiences in the adventure and sustainable travel arenas as well as a solid background in the skills required to lead groups safely. Nate has led groups in over 20 countries and holds instructor certifications with the Wilderness Education Association (WEA), Leave No Trace (LNT), Special Rescue Services (Swiftwater Rescue), and the American Canoe Association (ACA).
MICHAEL GEORGE - My early years were spent living on a farm in south-central Pa. This is where I began to wander and explore. Now, some 50 years later, my wife and I are sustainable farmers in Sonoma, CA. In the interim, I was trained as an anthropologist, journalist and marketer. I spent the bulk of my career as a global technology executive. This increased the scope of my travels and explorations. I’m still exploring. The distances and locales have just become greater, more remote and more meaningful. For the past decade, I’ve spent a great deal of time exploring the high desert of the American southwest.
I am a student of North American history, languages, Native North American cultures, paleoclimatology and living sustainably. I’ve had a passion for learning and education for as long as I can remember. Life is a continual journey. Now, I hope I can inspire others to follow the uninhibited journeys of their dreams, to continually learn and to develop a deep reverence for the biosphere upon which we all reside and depend.
DEANNA KAVANAUGH-JONES - Deanna went on her first OARS trip 9 years ago and has been working on rivers ever since. Deanna has been a white water rafting guide in California, Utah and Arizona. She currently lives in Lotus, a small town in the Sierra Foothills of California that is located on the South Fork American River.
Deanna serves as the Universal Associate at The Forest Group, an executive search firm that works in the outdoor industry. Prior to her work at The Forest Group Deanna was a Program Manager at Junior Achievement, a not-for-profit program designed to assist youth in preparing for their future professions.
Deanna attended University California Santa Barbara where she studied International Relations. While at UCSB she served as the Vice President of the student body. Deanna is currently back in school working on her teaching credential. Her involvement with WILD allows her to combine her two greatest passions, education and the outdoors.
GEORGE WENDT - Founder and president of O.A.R.S. and recent recipient of the Adventure Travel Trade Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, George is a true pioneer in the adventure travel industry. His passion for running rivers was born in the 60s, when he became one of the first 1100 people to descend the seldom-traveled Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. In the decades since, O.A.R.S. has set the industry standard for first-class rafting as well as environmentally and culturally responsible travel on over 35 rivers and coastlines worldwide.
"I gain my greatest satisfaction from hearing clients tell us that the trip they recently did with O.A.R.S. was the best vacation they’ve ever done! We hear that often enough that this continually reinforces our commitment to provide the best possible overall experience for passengers -- with the right mix of passengers, the right guides, the best equipment, in the perfect venue. I know how much I enjoy standing at the side of a river as the evening fades into night and thinking of the simple joys of life and the canyon's beautiful scenery that enhanced that day, knowing that all of the days of the trip blend together as a wonderful unit -- with a definite beginning and a definite end -- that is truly magical and quite unique in life."
PRIDE WRIGHT - Pride Scott Wright is an activist, entrepreneur, publisher, and award-winning environmental journalist. He is or has been the publisher of the Harbinger Magazine, the Green Steps Journal, and the Brushwood Chronicle, and has contributed articles to publications as diverse as ripples, Gear Trends, the Sentient Times, and Skiing, among others. He has worked with numerous environmental groups, and was a founding board member for Forest Watch.
"As an activist, I'm looking specifically for projects that offer a high ceiling in terms of the capacity to effect change, and I truly believe the potential exists to do something extraordinary through WILD. There’s an urgent need to cultivate and nurture the next generation of environmental stewards. From the moment I was approached with the idea for WILD, I began to imagine the various ways a sustainability 'curriculum' would be enhanced and the experience intensified by being presented in a spectacular (and imperiled) natural setting. The whole experience becomes so much more immediate. I can't even imagine a student going on one of these trips and coming away unchanged, and I know the WILD experience is going to change me. And I'm humbled to be part of such a diverse and talented board."
