ABOUT

The Wildlife & Wilderness Recreation Lab is located at the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming in Laramie (formerly the Conservation Governance Lab at Auburn University founded in 2019). The PI is Dr. Kelly Dunning, the Timberline Professor of Sustainable Outdoor Recreation and Tourism. Dr. Dunning holds a PhD from MIT in Natural Resources Policy, an MS from Oxford University in Environmental Policy, and a BA from the University of Florida. Dunning was granted tenure at Wyoming in 2023. Our lab studies global environmental change and its impact on ecosystems and people with implications for public policy. Our focus is on participatory research where people impacted by decision-making are invited to have a seat at the table to shape the direction of our research. This ensures our findings can be used by policy makers. Our lab is working to make nature, ecosystems, and wildlife, particularly in settings that draw significant amounts of tourism, more sustainable, and we do so by working with partners in governments and in NGOs. The Intermountain West is our home and our focus, but our research has global implications and numerous partnerships all over the world.

The lab has the following priority research areas:

• Public policy that responds to global environmental change and enhances resilient outdoor recreation and conservation.

• Sustainable wildlife tourism and recreation on public lands and waterways such as national parks and national forests

• Wildlife tourism including hunter and angler experiences, R3, and the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation

• Human dimensions of wildlife (CWD, human wildlife conflict)

• International biodiversity conservation including treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity.

• Public policy for improving hunter and angler access and diversifying the hunting and angling community

The Wildlife & Wilderness Recreation Lab is equally committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Innovation and creative problem solving comes from individuals of different races, ethnicities, genders, people with disabilities, varying nationalities, religious affiliations, sexual orientations and socioeconomic backgrounds working together. It is only by stepping out of our comfort zone that we are able to better understand the skills we each embody and utilize our shared experiences to voice unique perspectives.  We are committed to inclusiveness and providing opportunities that will assist students in having a global impact. We aim to fulfill our mission of cultivating culturally competent policy experts by attracting, developing, and retaining the best and brightest individuals from a diversity of backgrounds.