3rd Annual SHIFT Festival Set for October

Outdoor access, impact mitigation, responsible recreation, conservation leadership, and youth engagement are the topics that will be under the microscope at this year’s SHIFT Festival. Held each October in the valley of Jackson Hole, SHIFT is an annual festival that celebrates the future of conservation with food, film, speakers, workshops and outdoor adventure.

From October 7-10, the 2015 Festival will feature an in-depth exploration of the opportunities and challenges at the intersection of conservation and outdoor recreation, with a goal of leveraging outdoor recreation for conservation gains.

“SHIFT is the only gathering of its kind that unites outdoor recreationalists, land managers and conservation advocates around the common goal of protecting North America’s public lands and waters,” says SHIFT Festival Director Christian Beckwith. This year’s event will feature two days of panels, small-group discussions and innovative awards that build on the intersection of five groups:

 The Outdoor Industry

 Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts

 Conservation Advocates

 Public Land Managers

 The Leadership of GEMS (Gateways to Environments of Major Significance)

With an emphasis on GEMS (communities such as Jackson Hole that depend on the health of their environment for economic and cultural success) as laboratories for communities striving to live in balance with nature, leaders in conservation, wilderness advocacy, and outdoor recreation will help to explore the creation of stronger, more enduring, and more united coalitions in order to help usher in a new generations of conservation champions, say event organizers.

2015 SHIFT will feature several notable speakers and attendees, including National Geographic Society’s Chris Johns, who is the SHIFT Keynote Speaker. Johns, the National Geographic Society’s Chief Content Officer, will speak at the 2015 SHIFT Festival on Thursday, October 8, at the Center for the Arts. A renowned photographer with extensive experience in parks around the world, Johns will speak about the National Park system, with a focus on Yellowstone, the first national park in the world and the sole subject of the May 2016 issue of National Geographic Magazine.

“Many of the issues faced by parks around the world can be found in Yellowstone,” he explained. “Yellowstone is a world treasure; it’s the wild heart of North America. I want to talk about what that means today, and what it will mean tomorrow.”

2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, the inception of which was influenced in no small part by the National Geographic Society. To mark the anniversary, National Geographic will focus its 2016 efforts on National Parks throughout the year. “Our coverage of the Centennial Anniversary of the National Park Service across media platforms is the largest editorial initiative we’ve done in our 127-year history,” according to Johns.

Johns’ presentation will extend beyond the park boundaries to include the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems in the world.

For a full list of event speakers, click here.