1 leave no trace awareness educating scouts and scouters about responsible outdoor ethics

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Leave No Trace Awareness

Educating Scouts and Scouters about responsible outdoor ethics

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Why me?

• Introducing Charlie Thorpe• The Scouting record – real or percieved• What they say about us . . .

– group sizes WAY too big– way too much noise– completely soak up popular campsites or

shelters– kids out of control

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Why me?• What they say about us (continued) . . .

– inappropriate play damages the backcountry– inexperienced campers in areas that call for

experience– don't keep appointments to do service projects– camping skills badly out of date– using inappropriate areas (fragile) to train new

campers– And so on . . .

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Why me?

• Why are we perceived this way??– Some of it comes from the belief that any group

of kids is a Scout group– A small part of it probably is Scout-bashing– But...some of it we have earned

The actions of a untrained Scouts and leaders reflects on ALL Scouts and leaders!

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Why me?

• many have decided that we "Scout types" no longer know what we are doing in the woods

• Do you agree? Do I agree?– Yes . . . AND No!

• YES . . .– we have MANY units that routinely commit one or

more of the LNT “sins”

– we have been slow in spreading modern minimum-impact programs like LNT

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Why me?

• No . . .– not all of our units are “sinners”

• some of our best units rival any outdoor group anywhere!

– we won't be dragging our feet forever . . . We are making progress

• LNT Awareness Award

• BSA Handbook

• Passport to High Adventure

• Scouting magazine

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Why me?

• The bad news is that damage IS constantly being done to our beautiful backcountry each and every day...and we ARE doing part of it!

• The good news is that with just a little effort we can turn it completely around.

• Some level of LNT training is appropriate for all of us in Scouting. It takes us Scouters to make it happen...all we have to do is start

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Why now?

• Common question / attitude . . .– If my camping/hiking techniques were good

enough when I was a Scout, why aren't they good enough now?

• Definitions – “Backcountry”, “Wildlands”, “Wilderness Area”

• What is happening to make us want to move programs like LNT to the front burner?

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Why now?

• Simply put, we are beating parts of our backcountry to pieces. Not ALL parts ...and not COMPLETELY to pieces in most cases...but the trend is unmistakable...and it IS accelerating.– 94.5% of Americans recreate in the outdoors each

year

– Just in our public wildlands alone - 1965 - 4 million visitor-days per year & 1997 - 20 million visitor-days per year (+400%)

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Why now?

• More numbers . . . Scouting’s impact– Scouting program seems to work best when

there is a LOT of outdoor activity– One weekend a month and a week or two each

year for high adventure is the MINIMUM backcountry usage for many units

– 40,000 troops + Venturing Crews, Varsity Teams, & even Cub Scout packs!!!

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Why now?

• Pareto Principle - the 80:20 rule

• The raw numbers don’t tell it all

• 20% of the land gets 80% of the use . . . And in many places it is 90:10 or 95:5

• Declining resources & budget limitations

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Why now?

• Why is all this increased use happening?– Population increases– A lot of money has been spent building roads and other

conveniences that open up previously inaccessible backcountry

– Outdoor equipment has improved allowing relatively inexperienced users can push ever deeper into our wildlands

– folks have as much discretionary income and discretionary time available than we ever have in history

– Backpacking is "in"...

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What is it?

• So...what does it hurt if more and more folks are visiting the backcountry?

• Destruction Techniques, “the "4 C's”– Compaction– Contamination – Campfires– Changing

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What is it?

• Contamination– The “easy” part

• trash, garbage, human waste, and other highly visible (or highly smellable!) human byproducts that get left behind

– The “hard” part• contaminations that take longer to show up - soap residue that

turns sour in the hot sun or the dug-up grease pit that starts to stink even quicker

• Noise . . . Boombox, yelling, loud games• Bonfire that chokes nightvision and views• the very presence of too many people being in one place at one

time for it to feel wild at all

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What is it?

• Compaction– Soil as an “ecosystem”

– Repeated compaction kills the soil

We have all come around a turn of our trail and spotted a camp site. How did we know it was a campsite? One immediate clue, of course, is that big bare spot that identifies the area used the most. That big bare spot is usually a prime example of compacted soil!

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What is it?

• Campfires– Fire kills the soil– Firepits as “dumps” . . . Toxic???– Ashes piled & not scattered combine with rain

and alter the soil’s ph (Lye soap????)– Scarring rocks– less obvious is what happens when we keep

stripping the organic materials from an area to use as fuel in our campfires

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What is it?

• Changing– build things– take things– dig soil penetrations (that later become erosion locations)– leave trail markings– hang hot lanterns near tree trunks– leave unnatural foods that disrupt local animal feeding

habitsWe usually do these things for a reason (that is important to

us for only a short time) and create results that often last WAY beyond our need.

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What is it?

• Recap . . . 4 C’s of Destruction?– Compaction– Contamination – Campfires– Changing

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What is it?

Whatever we do is NOT the only time that it ever gets done. We are preceded and followed by LOTS of folks, many of whom are much like us. They are lazy the same way that we are lazy and are uneducated the same way that we are uneducated. If we start to dump our dishwater at the edge of the shelter, there is a pretty good chance that tons of folks have done that on a bunch of yesterdays and will be doing just that on a bunch of tomorrows.

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What is it?

• The real damage caused by the "4 C's" isn't in any single thing we do...it's in what we add to all the other incremental damages that we all are doing.

• Up to a certain point, an ecosystem can repair itself during the "off season." Once the accumulated damage goes beyond that, the damage becomes so permanent that often decades of rest are required to get back to normal (if ever!).

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What is it?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the more people we have out there doing the destructive behaviors...the more destruction we get. We can force a reduction in the number of folks in the backcountry (group size restrictions, daily use limits, etc.)...or we can voluntarily reduce the destructive behaviors that we all just naturally tend to do (LNT is simply the art doing just this)...or we can slowly destroy our backcountry.Our choice!

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Video:“Soft Paths”

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LNT Principle #2

Travel & Camp

on Durable Surfaces

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Travel & Camp on Durable Surfaces

Don’t forget . . .

We ALL do damage every time we visit the backcountry...and LNT is simply the art of minimizing that damage

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On The Trail• The trail is just a long skinny piece of highly compacted

soil! We have killed it deader than a doornail. If it starts to sprout veggies, maintainers whomp it til it's dead again. In fact, we have made the conscious decision to sacrifice that long skinny piece of land for the utility of having a trail in that particular location.

• If a trail is available . . . USE IT . . . the incremental damage caused will be quite low.

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On The Trail (continued)• Widening the trail at mud puddles, cutting switchbacks,

and stepping off the trail to walk side by side are all pretty obvious examples of common ways that we tend to wander off the compacted trail tread.

• Once we step off that tread, we start compacting the fresh soil where we are walking. Before long, we have killed us a new trail = widening mud bogs, erosion (especially at the switchbacks!), and general eyesore from multiple trails

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No trail?? traveling where no trail exists• We need to spread out so that everybody doesn't keep

stepping in the same place.• Look for the most durable surfaces to walk on (rocks,

bare mineral soil, snow, dry grass clumps, thick pine duff, etc.).

• All but the most durable surfaces have times when they are unusually vulnerable to damage...perhaps we all need to think twice before going out into a backcountry softened by prolonged heavy rains, spring thaw, etc.

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In camp• Always (ALWAYS!) choose a legal established

campsite if we can find one that even comes close to meeting our needs– The bare (already compacted) areas are usually already

set up very well for camping...the incremental damage that we will do by camping there is minimal. Our LNT challenge becomes simply to stay in the areas that are already heavily damaged and to not make them any bigger or worse . . . Or maybe to improve them!

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In camp• Most managing agencies make a point of

establishing "sacrificial" campsites at the most durable and convenient locations for their visitors. These campsites are often subtly altered to make them even more "bombproof" without taking away too much of the "backwoodsy" feel. If we all make good use of these sites, we can do a LOT to minimize our impact in other, more fragile, locations.

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Timeout for definitions• Pristine – an area of backcountry is completely "pristine"

if we can't tell that man has ever come near. An alpine meadow with beautiful flowers and no indication AT ALL of visits from humans is pristine. An area burned over by a forest fire, scoured by an avalanche, or flooded by the nearby wild creek...with no indication that man has ever visited...is just as pristine.

• Impacted is at the other extreme. It does NOT mean "beat up"...it means "beat up by man!" Impacts can be obvious (later stages of any of the 4 C's) or they can be very subtle

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Camping in Pristine areas– Choosing to camp in a pristine area means a lot more

than just getting away from the crowds. The very fact that an area is pristine all too often means that we can very easily do a tremendous amount of damage with very little effort...virtually every thing we do can cause some amount of impact!

– camping in a pristine site is at the high end of the camping scale

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Camping in Pristine areas– Scouts need to earn the right to camp in pristine areas

• practice in the impacted sites until they have their basic camping/hiking skills down tight

• then practice these skills in pristine sites that aren't likely to be used much by others (private lands, Scout camps, etc.)

• Only when they are ready, should you schedule a trip to one of the public wild areas

– Hike and camp in patrol size groups (6-8 Scouts & 2-3 adults)

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Camping in Pristine areas– Camp in 3 groups – adults & 2 Scout groups of 3-4– look for a site that is at least 200' away from the water

source – look carefully for a site that has durable areas– The first part of the camp to select is the kitchen area.. .

pick the most bombproof spot– Next select the Scout tent sites– store packs in another location that is well away from

both the kitchen and tent sites

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Camping in Pristine areas– Travel between the 3 points on the triangle is kept to a

bare minimum and always pick a different route each time

– Breaking camp in a pristine area always takes a little longer

• After packing up and stashing our packs on down the trail, everyone comes back and "fluffs" up their camp site. If any plants were tied back or mashed flat, they are gently put back into place. If anything (rocks, sticks, pine cones, etc.) was moved to make a tent area, it is carefully replaced

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Camping in Pristine areas– The whole object is to put the highly used part of the

site (cooking, eating, socializing area) on the most durable ground and to spread everything else out so that none of the fragile places get beat up much at all. Our goal is to literally "leave no trace." Scouts can really get into the challenge of using a campsite so lightly that a passerby couldn't tell the next morning that anyone had ever camped there

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First choice in any heavily used backcountry area is always the many impacted camping sites. Almost zero backcountry ecosystems are robust enough to recover if every visitor tried to camp in the pristine areas (especially groups who are busy introducing newcomers to the sport!).

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Don’t forget . . .

We ALL do damage every time we visit the backcountry...and LNT is simply the art of minimizing that damage

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LNT Principle #3

Dispose of Wastes

Properly

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How Long Does It Last?

Here are some estimated life expectancies for different kinds of litter:

Paper: two to four weeks

Rubber boot sole: 50 to 80 years

Banana peel: three to five weeks

Tin can: 80 to 100 years

Wool cap: one year

Aluminum can: 200 to 400 years

Cigarette butt: two to five years

Plastic six-pack holder: 450 years

Disposable diaper: 10 to 20 years

Glass bottles: Thousands or millions of years

Hard plastic container: 20 to 30 years

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LNT Principle #4

Leave What You Find

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LNT Principle #5

Minimize Campfire Impacts

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LNT Principle #6

Respect Wildlife

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LNT Principle #7

Be Considerate

of Other Visitors

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Be Considerate of Other Visitors• One of the most important components of outdoor

ethics is to be courteous toward other visitors. It helps all visitors enjoy their outdoor experience.

• Noise!– Many people come to the outdoors to listen to nature.

Excessive noise takes away from everyone's experience. Keep the noise level down while traveling and, if you must bring a radio, tapes, CDs, or cell phone, use headphones so you will not disturb others.

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Be Considerate of Other Visitors• Group size

– the feeling of solitude is enhanced when group size is small, contacts are infrequent, and behavior is unobtrusive.

– Visitor surveys show that several small groups are preferable to one large group. Whenever possible, separate larger groups into several smaller groups that travel and camp separately.

– avoid trips during holidays and busy weekends, or take a trip during the off-season.

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Be Considerate of Other Visitors• Be courteous to other groups you meet. • Horses (pack stock) have the right-of-way on trails, and

bikers should yield to both equestrians and hikers. Hikers and and bicyclists should move off the trail to the downhill side and stop. Horses are spooked easily, so stay motionless and talk quietly to the riders as they pass.

• When mountain biking, before passing others, announce your presence and proceed with caution.

• Take rest breaks on durable surfaces well off the designated trail so that the experience of other visitors will not be disturbed.

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Be Considerate of Other Visitors• When selecting a campsite, choose a site away

from the trail and away from other groups, where rocks or trees will screen it from view.

• Keep noise down in camp so as not to disturb other campers or those passing by on the trail. Activities should fit the setting—save the game playing for the park or appropriate camping areas.

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Be Considerate of Other Visitors• Bright clothing and equipment are discouraged. Bright

colors contribute to a crowded feeling. To lessen visual impacts, choose colors that blend with the environment

• Keep pets under control at all times. Allowing pets to run free can be unwelcome, because they can frighten people and leave behind unwanted "presents." – Scoop up dog feces from camps and trails and carry it to a trash

container. – Some areas prohibit dogs or require them to be on a leash at all

times. Know and follow the rules of the land managing agency

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Be Considerate of Other Visitors• Leave gates as you found them

• Leave the land undisturbed for others to enjoy.

• Don’t forget . . . We ALL do damage every time we visit the backcountry...and LNT is simply the art of minimizing that damage

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LNT Principle #1

Plan Ahead & Prepare

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Leave No Trace Awareness Award

Youth Requirements1. Recite and explain the principles of

Leave No Trace.2. On three separate camping/

backpacking trips demonstrate and practice the principles of Leave No Trace.

3. Earn the Camping and Environmental Science merit badges.

4. Participate in a Leave No Trace-related service project.

5. Give a 10-minute presentation on a Leave No Trace topic approved by your Scoutmaster.

6. Draw a poster or build a model to demonstrate the differences in how we camp or travel in high-use and pristine areas.

1 leave no trace awareness educating scouts and scouters about responsible outdoor ethics

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