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Equipping Outdoor Educators & Leaders Since 1977 

Why Professional Outdoor Leadership Matters

The Wilderness Education Association (WEA) is a member-based and volunteer-driven association committed to the development of professional outdoor leaders and educators. Since its inception, hundreds of students, professionals, and academic programs have been impacted by the WEA model and vision for the professionalization of outdoor leadership. Paul Petzoldt, Dr. Frank Lupton, Chuck Gregory, and Bob Christie founded the WEA in 1977 following a collaborative, experimental wilderness-based course with Lupton’s Western Illinois University students in the Wind River Range and Targhee National Forest of Wyoming. This seminal experience would become the inspiration and model for the educational methodology used by future WEA instructors and member organizations.

Today, the WEA continues to serve the outdoor education and leadership industry through the development of professional standards, individual credentialing, and program accreditation.

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Raising the Professional Bar: Become a Credentialed Outdoor Leader

Our courses train outdoor leaders on how to uphold professional standards in the outdoor industry.

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"The value in WEA, for me as an outdoor educator, is in the outdoor skills content, a pathway to proficiency, acknowledgment of professionalism, and a community that supports individuals in all three pursuits. “

-Jamie Lewis Hedges-
Director, GOREC


"As a professor, one value the WEA provides is a launching point for students to see the importance of structure in outdoor education and leadership."

- Benjamin L. Rush, Ph.D -
University of Alaska - Valdez


"Through a network of scholars and practitioners, the WEA provides both standards against which we can review our practices and a gateway certificate program for entry-level through advanced outdoor leaders."

- Andrew Bobilya, Ph.D. -
Western Carolina University

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Our organization's strength is our professional network of colleagues in the outdoor industry. Let's connect.
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Wilderness Education Association, Inc.
PO Box 12 Stonewall, OK 74871 
971.208.5751
nationaloffice@weainfo.org

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