LANDER, Wyo. - December, 27, 2000 -- The National Outdoor Leadership School's Wilderness Guide has received a national award as the best instructional text published in 2000.

The book, by Mark Harvey, was recently named the winner of the instructional category for the 2000 National Outdoor Book Awards. The awards are the largest and most prestigious national award program for authors and publishers of outdoor books.

The award noted that "the National Outdoor Leadership School is one of [the] outdoor world's most respected wilderness education programs. They were one of the first schools to extensively promote and instruct wilderness users in the techniques of treading lightly and minimizing impact on the outdoors. This is their manual: a compilation of many years of experience, a backpacker's handbook filled with practical and well-tempered advice about equipment, planning, clothing, traveling, navigation, and safety."

The award is sponsored by the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education and Idaho State University.

The 268-page Wilderness Guide is a revision of the 1983 text that set the standard for backpacking field manuals. Published by Simon and Schuster, the book is the classic how-to manual that equips readers with the knowledge to successfully pull off a backcountry expedition.