2025 Wilderness Risk Management Conference

Name: Reason for hope; The Federal EXPLORE Act legislation and its impact on permitting and recreation on federal lands.
Start: 2025-10-02T08:30:00-0400
End: 2025-10-02T10:00:00-0400

Main Conference: Tuesday, September 30 - Thursday, October 2, 2025

Preconference: Monday September 29 - Tuesday, September 30, 2025

*Schedule subject to change.

Thursday October 2, 2025 8:30am - 10:00am EDT

Vermont

For years, outdoor leaders have struggled to navigate the systems federal agencies use to issue permits for experiential education programming on public lands. Recently, after ten years of legislative advocacy, Congress passed the EXPLORE Act, an expansive new recreation law that, among other things, seeks to simplify these agency permitting systems and improve access to federal lands for guided recreation and education programs. In this session, two leading advocates for the EXPLORE Act will describe the key features of the new law with a special focus on how the law will improve the permitting process for outdoor programs. Attendees will learn about the new programming opportunities created by the EXPLORE Act and hear how they can assist their agency partners with implementation.

Speakers

Paul Sanford

Director of Equitable Access Policy, The Wilderness Society

Paul Sanford is the Director of Equitable Access Policy at The Wilderness Society, where he advocates for policies that ensure everyone benefits equitably from nature and public lands. Paul has been an attorney and public policy advocate at the federal level since 1991. He has extensive... Read More →

Matt Wade

Executive Director, American Mountain Guides Association

Matt Wade is the Executive Director of the American Mountain Guides Association. In addition to his executive responsibilities, Matt oversees AMGA’s policy advocacy work and chairs the Policy Committee of the Coalition for Outdoor Access. He has been advocating for improvements... Read More →

Thursday October 2, 2025 8:30am - 10:00am EDT
Vermont Holiday Inn By the Bay:88 Spring St, Portland, ME 04119

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2025 Wilderness Risk Management Conference

Paul Sanford

Matt Wade

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