New Directions in Resource Recreation Management: A Response to the Educational Challenge

Abstract

Managers of natural resources are faced with increasingly complex issues involving resource management concerns and the emerging importance of the socio-cultural context of resource use. The resource manager has been forced to respond and react to new social, cultural, ecological, and economic realities. Educational institutions have often been slow to respond to the changing work environment, even though a growing number of practitioners and educators believe that traditional approaches to training resource managers are inadequate and increasingly, ineffectual. This paper outlines the development of a new curriculum attempting to respond to the new challenges faced by contemporary resource managers. The concepts of interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary study are described, and the need for a new educational approach is argued. Finally, one institution's response to the changing needs and skills of resource managers is reviewed.