A Wilderness Experience
Finish in the Wilderness
The spring semester of the Master of Natural Resources program ends with a trip to the University of Idaho’s Taylor Wilderness Research Station, in the heart of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho—the largest contiguous wilderness area in the continental United States.
Over the course of several days, students have time to reflect upon their McCall Field Campus experience, present final projects, and explore the wilderness surrounding the Research Station, which sits about seven miles upstream from Big Creek’s confluence with the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. Wildlife including mountain lions, wolves, bears, elk, bighorn sheep and mountain goats abound in the wilderness surrounding Taylor, which is a hub of backcountry research for scientists from around the world.
Student Reflections
"I don’t think that my time at MOSS would have been as impactful without the trip to Taylor. It was an exceptional capstone to our year, tying everything that we had learned together and at the same time, expanding the scope of our knowledge."
--Laura Waksman
"Taylor Ranch is a place where the natural world is valued more than our schedules, and where human interaction and connection is facilitated by the expansive landscape."
--Sadie Perrin
"After having spent most of the last year talking about sense of place, how to connect people to nature, and what values nature holds, Taylor is one of the places I feel most connected to and miss most often."
--Nell Davis
