From Access to Belonging: Reimagining the Outdoors as a Regenerative Commons

We’ve talked about definitions. We’ve talked about infrastructure. Now we arrive at a deeper question:

What if the outdoors is not just a place to visit, use, market, or manage—but a commons to steward together?

That’s the focus of the next Regenerative Outdoor Visioning Workshop on May 5, and it may be the most expansive—and practical—session of the series so far.

Because underneath every trail plan, tourism strategy, habitat debate, campground proposal, youth program, permit process, and access challenge sits one foundational issue:

Who is the outdoors for, who benefits, who decides, and what responsibilities come with belonging to place?

What Do We Mean by “Regenerative Commons”?

A commons is more than shared land. It is a living system of relationship, responsibility, reciprocity, and stewardship.

It asks us to move beyond outdated models:

• Public land as commodity

• Recreation as extraction

• Tourism as volume

• Communities as spectators

• Stewardship as underfunded volunteerism

• Decisions made far from place

  
  

Instead, a regenerative commons asks:

• How do communities help realize the inherent potential of the places they depend on?

• How do access and stewardship rise together?

• How do Indigenous knowledge systems inform modern management?

• How do visitors contribute, not just consume?

• How do trails, rivers, parks, coasts, and open spaces create long-term community wealth?

• How do we leave ecosystems and communities stronger than we found them?

  
  

This is not abstract philosophy.

It’s about real things: trail systems, subsistence access, marine use, visitor behavior, workforce pathways, interpretation, local ownership, restoration funding, youth leadership, cultural respect, and who sits at the table when decisions are made.

Why These Guest Weavers Matter

To help open this conversation, we’re joined by two leaders who understand the commons not as a slogan, but as lived responsibility, public policy, cultural continuity, and place-based decision-making.

AlexAnna Salmon

AlexAnna brings one of the strongest community-rooted leadership perspectives in Alaska. Her work in Igiugig and beyond has connected Indigenous governance, climate adaptation, renewable energy, education, language, culture, and long-term village resilience.

She helps ground this conversation in a question Alaska cannot afford to treat lightly:

What does it mean to make decisions as if future generations are already in the room?

Steve Cohn

Steve Cohn brings extraordinary depth to this conversation. He served as BLM Alaska State Director and previously led The Nature Conservancy’s Alaska program, while also spending many years inside federal public lands leadership and planning roles. That means Steve understands the commons from the inside: public land systems, conservation practice, community tensions, competing values, and the hard work of turning big ideas into durable decisions. He brings the rare ability to see public lands as ecological, civic, cultural, and economic systems all at once.

Together, AlexAnna and Steve offer exactly the kind of tension this session needs:

Indigenous leadership and institutional experience. Community memory and public lands expertise. Big-picture vision and practical implementation.

What We Hope to Gather for the Framework

This workshop series is building a practical statewide framework and toolkit for regenerative outdoor development in Alaska and beyond. For this 90-minute session, we want to focus the harvest on three key areas:

1. Reciprocity

What should visitors, recreationists, businesses, agencies, and communities give back to the places they benefit from?

2. Community Wealth

How can outdoor recreation and tourism create lasting local value—in jobs, skills, stewardship capacity, cultural strength, and ownership—instead of simply extracting value from place?

3. Shared Responsibility

How do we build a stronger culture of care around the outdoors, where access, stewardship, maintenance, respect, and belonging are understood as connected?

These three threads get to the heart of the regenerative commons:

How do we benefit from the outdoors without consuming it? How do we share it without diminishing it? And how do we organize ourselves around care, not just use?

Why This Matters Right Now

Across Alaska and many rural places, pressure is rising:

• More visitors

• Aging infrastructure

• Tight public budgets

• Habitat stress

• Housing pressure

• Workforce shortages

• Growing demand for access

• Need for stronger Indigenous partnership

• Communities asking for a fairer return

  
  

We cannot solve tomorrow’s challenges with yesterday’s ownership models.

The regenerative commons offers another path.

Who Should Join

This session is for:

• Land managers

• Tribal leaders

• Outdoor businesses

• Tourism professionals

• Guides & Outfitters

• Educators

• Conservation groups

• Local officials

• Trail advocates

• Youth leaders

• Recreation users

• Anyone who cares about place

  
  

You do not need to be an expert. You only need experience, curiosity, or concern.

Because commons work best when more voices are present.

May 5 Could Shift the Series

The first workshop asked: What is regenerative?

The second asked: How do we build differently?

Now we ask:

How do we belong differently?

That may be the biggest question of all.

Register for this and try to plan to stay for the full 90-minute as these are intended to be interactive sessions. With your help we'll build a vision by Alaskans, for Alaska.

Link to register.