Institute of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism

Five Programs.

One Outdoor Future.

The Institute of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism helps communities, agencies, and partners plan for the future of outdoor recreation and tourism in the American West. Through decision-support tools, applied research, conferences and workshops, gateway community programming, dark sky stewardship, and fisheries research, we connect science, planning, and practice to support places and resources that people value.

Our Five Programs

Visitation Monitoring, Management, & Development

Monitoring & Decision Support

A program focused on measuring, interpreting, and managing use. We conduct basic monitoring and also develop cutting-edge analytical tools, such as the RECAP platform, to guide planning and management decisions.

Group of USU faculty and students at the 2024 Basecamp Conference

Basecamp Conference and Community Exchanges

Conference & Workshops

A regional conference and workshop focused on sharing ideas and collaboratively creating a path forward for outdoor recreation management and gateway community planning in the American West.

Gateway and Natural Amenity Region Initiative

Research, Education, Capacity Building

A program that helps gateway communities, their regions, and the public lands around them thrive and preserve the things that make them special across Utah and the Intermountain West.

Dark Sky Cooperative

Night Skies

A collaborative program devoted to protecting and celebrating natural night skies through education, outreach, stewardship, and applied work.

Photo of astronomer looking through a telescope

Fisheries Systems

Applied Research

Interdisciplinary research that advances fisheries science and practice by integrating ecological dynamics, stakeholder perspectives, and governance.

Photo of a fisherman on a boat holding a Chinook salmon

What We Do

IORT develops tools, ideas, partnerships, and programs that help improve outdoor recreation opportunities while protecting the communities, landscapes, and resource systems that make them possible. Our work spans visitation monitoring and management, professional learning, gateway community resilience, natural night sky stewardship, and fisheries as social-ecological systems.

Our Five Programs

Visitation Monitoring, Management, & Development

Basecamp Conference and Community Exchanges

Gateway and Natural Amenity Region Initiative

Dark Sky Cooperative

Fisheries Systems

What We Do

About the Institute, Our Team, and Our Vision

Upcoming Trainings, Workshops, and Events

Beyond The Trail Blog and Newsletter

Connect With Us