This Special Issue addresses the intersections of outdoor recreation, nature-based tourism, and sustainability. Outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism provide essential benefits to individuals, communities, and society and thereby contribute to sustainability. Equitable provision of opportunities, cultural variations in desired experiences, barriers to outdoor recreation, and diverse perceptions of both nature and recreation add to the complexity in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism service delivery. Outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism occur within a socioecological system with feedback loops to changing social, economic, technological, and ecological conditions. On a global scale, climate change and other disturbance factors are impacting ecosystems and opportunities, increasing the importance of adaptation strategies for longer-term planning. Population growth and regional shifts in demographics and distribution (e.g., urbanization), as well as socioeconomic trends, affect who engages in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, opportunities sought, nature access, and governance of outdoor services. Overall the complexity of sustainable outdoor recreation and tourism may suggest a need for different approaches to service delivery, culture change among service providers and managers of natural spaces, and novel approaches to inclusive governance and shared stewardship. Given the clear importance of outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism to society, we invite you to consider this initial introduction to our assembled collection, which is meant to advance our understanding of the intersections of outdoor recreation, nature-based tourism, and sustainability.

Leadership has emerged as a central factor in sustainable regional development. Complex regional development initiatives need dynamic leaders to convene diverse stakeholders, sustain participation, leverage external resources, and achieve collective impact. This study researched the deeper meanings and application of backbone leadership using case study research examining a collaborative, regional initiative known as the Mon River Valley Coalition (MRVC). The MRVC is a regional and community-based economic revitalization program that promotes economic and environmental sustainability by capitalizing on the outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism potential of the Monongahela River. Through an inductive logic process, this research study analyzed the role and capabilities exhibited by backbone leaders associated with the MRVC. The data revealed that backbone leadership has been important to the cumulative success of the Monongahela River Valley Coalition. Study results highlight the backbone leadership roles and capabilities demonstrated by the leadership team both internally and external to the coalition. Sustainable development leaders work in uncharted waters—beyond the safe harbors of government, corporations, and nonprofit organizations. Research is needed that elaborates the integrative work that these sustainability leaders do. Studies such as this one can illuminate the pathway for those to follow.

Integrating sustainability concepts, tools, and best practices across the outdoor recreation and park profession has gained momentum over the past three decades. However, missing from the professional and scientific literature have been action-oriented and evaluative research focused on “how” sustainability is being operationalized in the field. Through a qualitative research design focused on the 11 National Forests of the Southwestern Region of the USDA Forest Service, we developed an operational model for how sustainable recreation is being implemented at the Forest level through the Sustainable Recreation Strategy. Data collection included document analysis, stakeholder interviews, and personal observation. Document analysis included a content analysis methodology of 11 Forest-level Sustainable Recreation Action Plans, the principal planning process used to implement the vision and goals set forth by the Regional Sustainable Recreation Strategy. Evidence from the study was used to develop a grounded operational model with three foundational areas of Program, Agency, and Community. Foundational areas were further elaborated into component areas—Program into workforce, communications, outdoor recreation management, financial management, and information management systems—Agency into leadership support, administrative support, and integrated resource management—and Community into partnerships, volunteer program, and conservation education. Operational models such as this can help recreation managers, agency leaders, and policymakers adjust systems, structures, and roles to build program capacity and accelerate program transition towards sustainability.

We assessed outdoor recreation and tourism trends for Canaan Valley (hereafter, the Valley) and Tucker County, WV, from historical and contemporary perspectives. Using various primary and secondary sources, including academic research papers, agency reports, newspaper articles, and personal interviews, we developed a socio-demographic profile of Tucker County to gain a context for understanding the issues associated with outdoor recreation and tourism in the region. We then developed a historical model to outline discrete stages of outdoor recreation and tourism development in the Valley. We identified critical issues, such as the lack of coordination and level of conflict, then formulated sustainable development options for the Valley and its environs. Two specific strategies towards sustainable development include (1) the creation of a Canaan Valley Coordinating Council and (2) the County's active participation in regional heritage- and nature-based tourism initiatives. Tourism development should be part of a broad economic diversification strategy, not just a replacement for a traditional boom-and-bust, resource-based economy.

This editorial proposes that the time has come to both individually and collectively take proactive steps to strengthen the social science voice in environmental governance. The ISSRM symposiums, SNR journal, and IASNR society provide an important and necessary “intellectual home” for the human dimensions movement, but we must now leverage this social and intellectual capital into policy and management innovations on the ground. We can learn much from more established professional societies about how to achieve these objectives. Practical strategies advanced include the formation of association policy committees and task forces as well as the drafting of association policy positions and white papers. It is time now to build on the successes of the human dimensions movement by bringing this collective social capital to bear on the most pressing natural resource policy, management, and education issues of our time.