The purpose of an Outdoor Rereation Degree is to prepare for a job in the outdoor recreation field by studying and experiencing outdoor skills and techniques.
Future jobs could include leading trips for NOLS, Outward Bound, or other adventure oriented companies, teaching people about the outdoors through fun trips, or become a springboard for a career as a professional backpacker, outdoor educator, and gear tester.
Courses and Syllabus below:
Environmental Interpretation
Philosophy, principles and techniques of communicating environmental values, natural history and cultural featres to recreational visitors through the use of interpretive media.
Assigments:
1) Volunteer to interpret at a local organization, I.E., historical society, nature center, etc.
2) Write a paper explaining interpretive techniques, develop own interpretive program and present it on a local item of interest
3) Shadow an interpreter on the job.
4) Write and send a survey to various organizations and interpreters, asking questions about their experiences and techniques.
Bibliography:
Interpreting for park visitors - William J. Lewis
The Interpreter's Handbook - Russell K. Grater
Environmental Enterpretation - Sam H. Ham
Signs, Trails, and Wayside Exhibits - Suzanne Trapp, Michael Gross and Ron Zimmerman
Outdoor Cookery 101
Outdoor cookery techniques through the use of literary and hands-on learning, culminating in a weekend backpacking trip, complete with extravagant meals and snacks.
Assigments:
1) Read all of the books in the book list
2) Prepare meals on a backpacking stove
3) Prepare meals on a regular stove, then dehydrate them for later use while backpacking
4) Research wild edibles that can be included in backpacking meals
5) Get other people to go on the backpacking trip with you to rate your outdoor cookery
Books:
The Hungry Hiker's Book Of Good Cooking - Gretchen McHugh
Lipsmackin' Backpackin' - Tim and Christine Conners
Simple Foods For The Pack - Claudia Axcell
The Well-Fed Backpacker - June Fleming
The Camper's Companion - Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn
Trail Building
How to build trails so hikers will use them. Literary, experiental, and internship learning.
Assignments:
1) Work on paid trail crews building and maintaining trails and shelters.
2) Work on at least one Volunteer trail crew to get a different perspective.
3) Thru-hike one or more really long trails to appreciate trail work.
4) Construct nature trails on the campus property for enjoyment of staff, student, and visitors.
Books:
The Complete Guide To Trail Building - Carl Demrow & David Salisbury
Environmental Interpretation - Sam H. Ham
Signs, Trails, And Wayside Exhibits - Suzanne Trapp, Michael Gross and Ron Zimmerman
The Nature Observer's Handbook - John W. Brainerd
The Field Guide To Wildlife Habitats of the eastern states - Janine M. Benyus
Outdoor Leadership
How to lead so people are happy and things get done.
Assignments:
1) Lead groups as much as you can, from nature programs to a backpacking trip with friends
2) Get a full scholarship and take a NOLS outdoor leadership semester in Alaska
3) Reflect on past leaders, the things they did that worked, and the ones that didn't.
4) Especially reflect on The Tao Of Leadership
Books:
Outdoor Leadership - John Graham
The National Outdoor Leadership School's Wilderness Guide - Mark Harvey
The Tao Of Leadership - John Hieder
Edible and Medicinal Wilds
Edible and Medicinal plants in all seasons. How to harvest, pepare, use and store them.
Assigments:
1) Read every single book in the house on wild edible and medicinal plants.
2) Read every single book in the library that we don't have
3) Go on wild plant indentification forays.
4) Prepare meals using only wild foodstuffs.
5) Introduce other people to medicinal and edible wilds
6) Start a business based on homegrown and wildcrafted plants and herbs
Books:
Everything in the house
Eveything in the library
Everything that can be borrowed from friends
Outdoor Recreation 101
Covering the basics of all forms of outdoor recreation briefly, to prepare for deeper forays.
Assignments:
1) Hike, bike, paddle, snowshoe, ski, sled, skijour, ATV, climb, etc as much as possible
2) Seek out organized recreation, I.E., Green Mountain Club activities
3) Learn a new outdoor recreation pursuit alone or with others
4) Do something that is monumentally stupendous and helps others in the outdoor recreation field
Kayaking
Starting with the basics (Building the thing) and working up to advanced (Kayaking around North America)
Assignments:
1) Build a kayak
2) Practice paddling, rolls, wet and dry entry and exits
3) Go on supervised kayak trips with groups
4) Strike out on own with self-planned multi-day kayak trips
5) Eventually kayak around North America
Books:
Mountain Biking
How to operate, fix and enjoy mountain bikes.
Assignments:
1) Learn to fix and adjust all parts on my bikes.
2) Practice trick riding
3) Explore the Catamount trail by bike
4) Discover Vermont's backgrounds via bike
Books:
The Ultimate Mountain Bike Book - Nicky Crowther
The Original Outdoor People
Legends, experiences and teachings of native peoples.
Assignments:
1) Trace family history and discover what native groups I'm related to
2) Learn their culture
3) Tell the native stories to other people
4) Live native for a day - eating the same foods, wearing the same clothes, etc of tribes I'm related to
Books:
Keepers of Life - Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac
Keepers of the Animals - Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac
Keepers of the Earth - Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac
Animal-Speak - Ted Andrews
Be Here Now - Richard Alpert
Eating On The Run
A glorious celebration of food cooked on car engines.
Assignments:
1) Cook a 5 course meal under the hood of my car
2) Invent my own car recipes
3) Write a book about cooking on/in a car
Books:
Manifold Destiny - Chris Maynard and Bill Scheller
Meditation And Philosophy In The Wilderness
Becoming closer to the outdoors with mindfull thought.
Assignments:
1) Go on a vision quest
2) Go on a long backpacking trip
3) go on a road trip
4) Build a short trail through our woods for visitors, complete with benches
5) Dedicate my life to helping the wilderness
Books:
How To Be Your Own Selfish Pig - Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
Chop Wood,Carry Water - Rick Fields, Peggy Taylor, Rex Weyler, and Rick Ingrasci
In Pursuit Of Happiness - E. Perry Good
The Starship And The Canoe - Kenneth Brower
Introduction To Philosophy - Peter K. McInerney
The Book Of The Vision Quest - Steven Foster with Meredith Little
Physics And The Way Things Work
Understand how the world ticks. Mind expanding theory for greater world happiness.
Assignments:
1) Build a perpetual motion machine
2) Build something that's geometrically impossible or never been done before, and make it work
3) Discover a unified field theory
4) Explore Religion and Physics side by side to explain the universe and why it works
Books:
The Dancing Wu Li Masters - Gary Zukav
The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? - David Feldman
All There Is To Know - Alexander Colema and Charles Simmons, Eds.
The Way Things Work - David Macaulay
The Young Oxford Book Of Astronomy - Simon and Jacqueline Mitton
Advanced Backpacking
A deeper foray into the wild world of backpacking
Assignments:
1) Plan and pull off a thru-hike of The Long Trail ( did fall of 2002)
