Wilderness Inquiry

Wilderness Inquiry (WI) is a non-profit organization whose activities are based on the concepts of inclusion and social integration. WI conducts outdoor trips and programs for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities, including those with physical and cognitive disabilities. WI is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The organization provides canoe, kayak, hiking, horse pack, dogsled and river raft trips throughout North America and the world.

Programs

Individuals and groups register for Wilderness Inquiry trips to hundreds of destinations including the Boundary Waters, Florida Everglades, Olympic National Park, and Hawaii. International destinations include Costa Rica, New Zealand, and Kenya, among others. Trips are GeneRally three days to two weeks in duration.

Customized outdoor programs are offered to youth, families, schools, and business and community groups. The scope of these programs ranges widely, from single-day events to sequential or recurring outdoor adventures and experiential programs. All activities allow for integration of persons with disabilities as ACTIVE and equal peers of able-bodied participants.

Wilderness Inquiry offers workshops and trainings in social integration practices, inclusion (disability rights), and adaptive equipment for outdoor adventures.

People

Wilderness Inquiry employs eight full-time staff and approximately 60 seasonal part-time staff. Trail staff work directly with participants to facilitate wilderness education experiences. Seasonal trail staff members are also responsible for food supplies, gear maintenance, and upkeep of warehouse equipment including tandem and Voyageur canoes, kayaks, tents, and other group camping gear. Trail staff are certified in Water Safety, CPR, and Advanced First Aid. Trip participants come from all 50 states and from around the world.

History

Greg Lais, current Executive Director, founded Wilderness Inquiry in 1978. The prior year, Greg and Paul Schurke had organized a trip to the Boundary Waters with a group that included two people who used wheelchairs and two people who were deaf.

After graduating from St. John’s University, Greg and Paul served as personal care attendants for a wheelchair-bound Minneapolis attorney named John St. Marie. John helped Greg and Paul incorporate their endeavor as a non-profit organization in 1978.

In 1981, Greg and Paul met polar explorer Will Steger and began offering winter trips. After a couple of years of leading dog sledding trips in the BWCA, Paul moved to Ely in 1984. He susequently led a trip to the North Pole with Will and met fellow polar explorer Ann Bancroft. Ann continues to work as a member of WI’s trail staff.

Wilderness Inquiry has since expanded to over 150 destinations across the US and around the world, providing trips and programs to more than 200,000 people.

Awards

2005: The Wilderness Society’s “Environmental Heroes” award: For exceptional efforts to protect wilderness in Minnesota.

2005: American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) Community Building Award: For leadership in helping to initiate change in communities and organizations that result in persons being increasingly valued and included as community members.

2005: AAIDD Full Community Inclusion Award: To recognize Wilderness Inquiry as a model and inspiration for other community integration efforts at the local, state, regional, national, and international levels.

Research Bibliography

University of Minnesota Institute on Community Integration's Research and Training Center on Community Living: 1

Brown, Terry J., Kaplan, Rachel, & Quaderer, Gail. (1999). Beyond accessibility: preference for natural areas. Therapeutic Recreation Journal , 33(3), 209-221.

Holman, Goldenberg, McAvoy, & Rynders. (2003). Outcomes-consequences-values of an integrated wilderness adventure program. The Journal of Experiential Education, Abstracts, 25, (3) 353.

Lais, McAvoy, & Fredrickson. 1992. Wilderness accessibility for people with disabilities: A report to the President and the Congress of the United States on section 507 (a) of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Washington: National Council on Disability.