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In the early 20th century, after hundreds of years of gradual decline, the California condor emerged as an object of intensive scientific study, an important conservation target, and a cultural icon of the American wilderness preservation movement. Early condor researchers generally believed that the species' survival depended upon the preservation of its wilderness habitat. However, beginning in the 1970s, a new generation of scientists argued that no amount of wilderness could prevent the condor's decline and that only intensive scientific management -including captive breeding -could save the species from certain extinction. A bitter and highly politicized battle soon developed over how to best preserve the condor. For 5 years the condor was extinct in the wild; however, by the time that officials released the first captive-bred birds the condor recovery program had garnered widespread public support, even among its former critics. Today, condor advocates from the scientific and activist communities work together to manage the species and protect its habitat. The condor's story illustrates some of the tensions, problems, and successes that have accompanied the rise of conservation biology as a scientific field and environmental movement in the United States.

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This paper argues that field courses can improve college students' interest and engagement not only in the environmental sciences, but also in the environmental humanities—including environmental history, philosophy, and literature. We base this argument on five years of experience teaching an environmental studies field course through the Wildlands Studies Program in the Sierra Nevada of California, USA. In the paper we draw from field notes, discussions with students, correspondence with other instructors, and a survey sent to all of our former students. We conclude that three factors—the field immersion experience, the small group dynamic, and the curriculum design—all contributed to an increase in our students' interest and engagement in the environmental humanities.