2025 Wilderness Risk Management Conference

Name: The Bear Necessities: Current and Emerging Field Practices and Risk Communication Strategies to Reduce Human-Bear Conflict
Start: 2025-10-02T10:30:00-0400
End: 2025-10-02T12:00:00-0400

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 10:30am - 12:00pm EDT

Cumberland / Kennebec / Lincoln

Bears hold a special place in the human psyche, and can easily be either the best or the worst part of a wilderness adventure. This panel brings together experts with a diverse range of perspectives to discuss current and emerging field practices to reduce human-bear conflict and recent efforts to enhance and standardize risk mitigation, risk communication, and “bear safety” education. Topics will include pre-trip, on-trip, and post-trip considerations. Panelists will discuss approaches to pre-trip education about bear hazards and inclusive risk communication, including practices aimed at reducing disparities and encouraging participation among underrepresented and underserved communities. Panelists will also discuss existing and emerging field practices in food storage (e.g., bear hangs, bear resistant food canisters, portable electric fencing, food storage lockers), research on shaping bear behaviors in urban and naïve bear populations (e.g., hazing), other risk management equipment (e.g., bear spray, firearms, "bangers"), and local/hyperlocal considerations (e.g., species distribution, land managers’ regulations). The work done by WRMC attendees to promote responsible recreation and bear education will help protect participants and bears, and will have generational ecosystem impacts. This panel aims to elucidate current trends and varying perspectives to inform distributed organizational efforts.

Speakers

David Taus

Executive Director, Big City Mountaineers

David Taus (he/him) is Executive Director of Big City Mountaineers and has worked at the intersection of education, nonprofits, youth development, equity and social justice, and outdoor education, including most recently in senior leadership at Denver Kids. David holds a BA from Brown... Read More →

Katie Baum Mettenbrink

Risk Management Director, NOLS

Katie has worked in outdoor education since 1999. Today she is the risk management director at NOLS. Over two decades, she has held a variety of administrative roles at NOLS, chaired the WRMC Steering Committee, co-authored Risk Management for Outdoor Leaders, and spent more than... Read More →

Neal Fox

Founder and Executive Director, Sierra STEM

Dr. Neal Fox (he/him) is the Founder and Executive Director of Sierra STEM, an outdoor education and science enrichment nonprofit based in California’s Eastern Sierra. Neal earned his PhD from Brown University and spent over a decade as a researcher and teacher before moving to... Read More →

Grant Breidenbach

Marketing and Partnerships Manager, BearVault

Grant Breidenbach (he/him) manages partnerships and marketing for BearVault, a leader in bear-resistant food storage technology. Collaborating closely with nonprofit and agency partners, he works on advancing responsible backcountry practices and tools. Passionate about human-wildlife... Read More →

Thursday October 2, 2025 10:30am - 12:00pm EDT
Cumberland / Kennebec / Lincoln Holiday Inn By the Bay:88 Spring St, Portland, ME 04122

Field Practices Staff Training Decision Making, Breakout Session

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2025 Wilderness Risk Management Conference

David Taus

Katie Baum Mettenbrink

Neal Fox

Grant Breidenbach

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