Wilderness Orientation Program Resources

Welcome to the Wilderness Orientation Program Resource Guide, a collection of articles and other resources at OutdoorEd.com of particular interest for those of you who are involved in operating Wilderness Orientation Programs. If you have information about your program that you'd like to share, please submit your article, protocol, curriculum, best practices, etc. Go to the Submissions section for more information. We are particularly interested in Research on wilderness orientation programs which document the impacts and effectiveness of these programs.

Schools with Wilderness Orientation Programs

Activity Protocols

• Dealing with Participants with Special Dietary Needs on Outdoor Trips

Equipment

• Backpacking Trip Group Equipment List

First Aid

• Anaphyllaxis Protocol
• Backcountry First Aid Kit
• First Aider's Guide to Acute Alcohol Poisoning
• Guide to Hypothermia & Hyperthermia
• Guide to Water Purification in the Outdoors

Health History

• Assessing Physical Fitness of Participants and Staff using Non-Exercise Screening Techniques

Leadership Training

• Guide to Backcountry Navigation using Map & Compass
• Training College Wilderness Leaders
• Training College Wilderness Leaders for the New Millennium

Program Development

• College Wilderness Orientation Programs for the New Millennium
• Guide to Running a Wilderness Orientation Program
• The Effects of the Outdoor Action Frosh Trip on Freshmen's Adaptation to Princeton University

Risk Management

• Conducting Internal Incident Reviews A process for developing wilderness incident case studies
• Guide to Backcountry Emergency Procedures
• Guide to Developing a Safety Management Program for an Outdoor Organization
• Guide to Planning a Safe Whitewater River Trip
• Outdoor Safety Management
• Whitewater Paddler's Decision Tree
• Reducing the Risk of Rollover Crashes in 15-passenger Vans - NHTSA Recommendations
• Risk Management Briefing: The 15-Passenger Van Controversy
• Risk Management for Organizations: Keeping the Ship Afloat
• The Wilderness Incident Investigative Interview: Mitigating Memory Challenges Utilizing the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI) Technique

Technology

• Dynamic Menu Planning with Spreadsheets
• Managing Trip Routes and Logistics with a Database

Bibliography

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• Davis-Berman, J. & Berman, D. (1996). Using the wilderness to facilitate adjustment to college: An updated description of wilderness orientation programs. The Journal of Experiential Education, 19, 22-28.
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