Ben Bobowski, To Speak At 12th World Wilderness Congress In August

The organizers and hosts of the 12th World Wilderness Congress are excited to announce that Ben Bobowski will speak at the Congress on Monday, August 28th!

Ben Bobowski is a conservation practitioner with more than thirty years of resource stewardship and leadership experience. Since 2016, he has served as the National Park Service (NPS) superintendent of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, a transboundary partner protected area of the Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek World Heritage Site.

Prior to this assignment, he served in leadership positions at Rocky Mountain National Park, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Three of the four parks he has served in have wilderness, designated or proposed, and his current park has the largest wilderness in the NPS system. Over his NPS career, Ben has represented the NPS internationally in ten countries, including a leadership role in rejuvenating the United Nations Educational, Scientific Cultural Organization’s Biosphere Reserve Program within the United States, in coordination with the U.S. State Department.

He also has served as affiliate faculty at several universities and is an author of more than a dozen peer-reviewed publications, including his most recent with co-author Mark Fiege, Wallace Stegner Chair of Western American Studies, titled “Elegant conservation: reimagining protected area stewardship in the 21st century.”

His leadership and oversight of programs and centers has supported and inspired numerous symposia, workshops, classroom and field education courses, presentations, and documentaries. Ben earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Rutgers University and Master of Science and PhD from Utah State University. He has recently received a 2024-2025 Fulbright Global Scholar Award for his professional project titled “Indigenous Food Security & Micro-peace: Innovations to Long-term Food Access in Protected Areas.”

When not serving in a protected area, Ben enjoys adventures in the company of his partner Katie and their family.

The 12th World Wilderness Congress (WILD12) is a global forum to coordinate and mobilize the protection of Earth’s remaining wilderness and wild places. It convenes thousands of delegates from around the world approximately every 4 years to seek and agree upon new actions and principles in the stewardship of Earth. WILD12 is hosted by the Oceti Sakowin on behalf of the Sicangu Lakota Treaty Council, and will place a special emphasis on reinterpreting wilderness through Indigenous perspectives.

To register for WILD12, please visit the link below.