It’s no secret that wildfires in the U.S. are getting bigger and more intense.

Even if you haven’t personally been affected by a fire, you’ve probably seen the haunting photos and devastating reports on the news. Demolished homes, displaced families, firefighters risking their lives to contain walls of flame. These stories are evidence of a deadly, and growing, threat.

Topics: risk management, education, NOLS Risk Services, trip planning, Wilderness Safety Training

Going to the backcountry or rural communities fosters growth, transformation, and opportunities for learning. But, often these experiences have inherent risks, like being far from medical care or in places where communication is difficult.

That’s why anyone, from solo adventurers to expedition leaders in these settings, needs skills in risk management. Strong risk management makes it more likely you will achieve individual and group goals for learning and recreating.

Topics: risk management, Trip Leader, education, NOLS Risk Services, trip planning, Wilderness Safety Training

NOLS Risk Services offers consulting to organizations seeking to proactively manage risk in their outdoor programs. Risk Services, like the Wilderness Risk Management Conference (WRMC), emerged in response to a growing need across the outdoor industry for collaborative risk management and from the philosophy that every organization in the industry shares both stake and responsibility in this effort.

Topics: risk management, education, Wilderness Risk Management Conference, NOLS Risk Services, consulting

NOLS Risk Services caught up with Julie Barnes to find out why she values risk taking, risk management, and wilderness-based experiential education. Julie is the Director of Outings at Marin Academy (MA), an independent high school in San Rafael, CA, with a big focus on immersive experiential education & engaged learning. Many of these experiences take place in wilderness areas, which invite challenge, exploration, and the opportunity, for students and faculty alike, to be fully present.

Topics: Behind the Scenes, WRMC, risk management, education, Wilderness Risk Management Conference, NOLS Risk Services

After years spent churning around the corporate buzzword blender, the phrase “risk management” has too often become associated with lengthy legal documents filled with useless jargon and stale policies. For the thousands of organizations in the outdoor recreation industry, this perceived norm is not acceptable. Neither lingo nor blanketed universal procedures are suitable when peoples’ well-being and, in many cases, lives are on the line.

Topics: NOLS, GNS, Training, RMT, Glenlyon Norfolk School, risk management, Educators Notebook, Nate Ostis, NOLS Risk Services