Lee Hart

A recreation center became a health project. A walking and biking network connected schools, health care, tourism and transportation. Ferry service connected to health, culture, education and the economy. That was part of what happened when about 50 people from across Alaska's outdoor system gathered in Cordova for the 11th annual Confluence Summit and started working across the usual lines between agencies, sectors and funding programs. Participants included state and federal land managers,...

What changes when we design systems around the outcomes a place needs, rather than around the silos we’ve inherited? Over nine workshops this spring, participants in the Alaska Outdoor Alliance’s Regenerative Outdoors Visioning Project (ROVP) explored versions of that question—from infrastructure and livelihoods to health, governance, stewardship and how we measure what matters. Now we’re releasing the record of those conversations: the workshop recordings, key ideas and questions that...

Got a trail project you can’t quite fund? A recreation asset caught between agencies or funding programs? A tourism challenge that needs a different approach? A partnership that makes sense but hasn’t quite come together? Bring it to Confluence. Sept. 22–24 in Cordova, the Alaska Outdoor Alliance is bringing together an intentionally small group of people working across outdoor recreation, community development, transportation, health, tourism, conservation and funding. We want to put that...