Will Rice

Hey there! I'm Will.

I am an Assistant Professor of Outdoor Recreation and Wildland Management in the Parks, Tourism, and Recreation Program and Department of Society and Conservation at the University of Montana. 

As the head of the Wildland and Recreation Management Research Lab at the University of Montana, my research seeks to inform the management of shifting demand for wildland recreation in parks and protected areas. Core questions within the research agenda include:

• What factors drive visitor demand? 

• How does shifting demand influence the ecosystem services attained by visitors? 

• How can we change visitor behavior in the face of increasing visitor use to meet management objectives and limit visitors’ ecological impacts?

• How can wilderness managers best navigate trade-offs between wilderness character qualities in the face of changing use levels?

• How can we fairly ration recreation in the face of use limits?

• How are visitor norms changing across time and space?

In service of this research agenda, I frequently collaborate with interdisciplinary teams of conservation social scientists, resource economists, wildlife biologists, recreation ecologists, tourism and hospitality scholars, designers, and agency partners.