Forest Service rewards UM researcher

The U.S. Forest Service has presented this year’s Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research Award to Steve McCool, a UM professor of wildland recreation management.

The award is given each year to an outstanding scientist who works closely with wilderness managers to apply research to real-world situations. McCool received his award last month at a meeting of the World Wilderness Congress in Anchorage, Alaska.

“I work with some great people,” McCool said, “and it’s wonderful to have a hand in helping protect wilderness areas for our children and grandchildren.”

McCool earned the award for his studies of wilderness visitors and using the Limits of Acceptable Change planning framework in Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. The LAC process uses citizen involvement to decide how much human-induced change is acceptable in wildland areas.

McCool has worked in UM’s College of Forestry and Conservation since 1977. His professional involvement with “the Bob” — the 1.5 million-acre wilderness complex comprising the Bob Marshall, Great Bear and Scapegoat wildernesses — started in 1982 when he worked on a study of visitor-use patterns, attitudes and motivations. He also helped facilitate a new planning process, which led to a new recreation management direction for the complex.

His planning processes are now used in many areas within the National Wilderness Preservation System.