The Company Behind the Car.

“We can talk trash all day.”

My favorite quote in a recent article from USA Today, which features the greening of one household name… Subaru.

A long-standing partner of Leave No Trace, and Title Sponsor of the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer program for 10 years, Subaru has long propelled itself down avenues of community support and social responsibility. Leave No Trace is proud to have leaders in all industries – not just the outdoor community – who are taking steps toward furthering the responsibility of their company culture.

Subaru has just taken itself to a new level: the development of a new “Green” Plant, with primo focus on the processes of reduce, reuse and recycle. Read the article in full at USAToday.

A Friendly Hello

I had a revelation on my hike this morning.  I often hike a trail near my house a few times a week and frequently see the same folks.  It is a bit of a neighborhood playground, with entire families out hiking, dogs included.  While I am always keen on candid neighbor relations, I made a resolution today to say "hello" or "good morning" to every person I passed on the trail and on my walk home.  Think of it a simple way to extend the Leave No Trace principle Be Considerate of Other Visitors to neighbors and fellow hikers.  Try it the next time you're playing outside - I think you'll find it rewarding and it just might make someone's day!

Was It Just A Bad Dream? An Unusual Leave No Trace Moment In Mexico

My family just returned from our third trip to Sayulita, a fishing village on the Pacific Coast of Nayarit, Mexico. Our timing each year straddles the breathtakingly divine and impeccably bad. The good: It is pre-season. The jungle is lush and the banana trees sprout fruit. You’re forced to access your high school Spanish and the waves are perfection.

Sayulita Days, a local carnival and indescribably raucous local party, on the other hand, could bring one to bang her head against a cement wall. The fiesta is a cacophony of questionable kids rides (see my son on one such ride above), all night sirens, battles of the bands, tequila, roving speaker systems blaring some sort of advertising, and the occasional gunshots. For a couple of nights the town reverberates in a way that mere words cannot do justice to. If you wander to the town square in late evening, young men can often be found trashing the place with riot-like vigor.

Something remarkable, though, happens come morning. Everything is restored to its lovely, breezy beach-town order. The surfers pad down to the beach as though they weren’t up all night, dogs doze in the middle of the streets. The town square is eerily spotless.

I initially thought the clean up was a town-sponsored effort to “leave it better than you found it.“ Though after the mayhem turns out not to be something much more amazing. I’ve always been too tired to see it in action, but apparently, a group of local “grandmothers” emerge at the crack of dawn and clean up after the young people. It is the local solution to restoring the order, I suppose, or a locals’ Dispose of Waste Properly’ custom. Weird, but it seems to work. For just a moment, it seemed that I should steal some fairy dust and replicate these magical grandmothers and bring them back to the U.S. — Dispose of Waste Properly: Check.

But upon further thought...

The Next Generation

I took my son on our biggest hike to date last Sunday. We did a 4.5 mile loop trail at our local open space preserve - Button Rock Preserve. I carried him for 4 miles in the backpack and he hiked .5 miles, which for someone with a 10" stride, is pretty far! He loves being outside and this day was no exception. It was one of those rare warm (40's), sunny days with little wind. A perfect day for a father son outing. It was the furthest he had ever ridden in the backpack but I noticed that he was enjoying being in the woods as much as I was. I was pointing out the different trees and rock formations and handed him things to check out like pine cones, rocks, the dog leash (a great toy for an 18 month old) and even some ice we encountered along the trail. He was quite intrigued by all the different things that I handed him, and when done, he would just let go of them and we'd move onto something else. I know that my love of the outdoors started in my childhood and that's what I hope to foster in him. Early exposure seems like the best way to start a lifelong connection to the natural world, and to that end, we'll be spending a lot more time exploring the foothills, mountains, rivers, forest and other wonderful places together.

Skiing at Red Lodge, Montana

During President's weekend I went to Red Lodge, Montana with family and friends to shop and ski. I always enjoy the time I spend at Red Lodge resort because the atmosphere is fun, family oriented, and I always leave feeling relaxed. This year was no exception and we even got a bonus on Saturday night when it snowed 20'!! Sunday morning was fantastic skiing the new powder! I would encourage anyone that lives in that area to consider taking a trip to Red Lodge because I think the town is fun and I have always gotten good skiing conditions!

Wilderness First Aid

This last weekend, I got my Wilderness First Responder recertification through the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS.  It was exciting to see that the front of my WMI book said “Partner of the Leave No Trace Program.”  It feels good to have refreshed and regained my first aid knowledge.  Keeping up with your first aid skills is definitely a great way to Plan Ahead and Prepare by being ready in the incident of a backcountry accident.  I encourage all of you guys to stay up to date on your first aid and CPR certifications so we can continue enjoying the outdoors safely and responsibly!

PEAK Presentations

As you can see from the blog below, Leave No Trace: Kids Speak, teaching Leave No Trace to kids can be a lot of fun. I have been lucky enough to take part in a couple of PEAK Presentations here in Boulder and in Salt Lake City over the last month which has reminded me how enjoyable teaching PEAK can be. In addition to teaching, I have been interviewing teams for the Leave No Trace e-tour that is getting ready to hit the road this summer promoting responsible outdoor recreation to kids. Talking to and about kids all day makes me wonder what others might do when they are using the PEAK Pack or teaching youth about the outdoors. This community blog is a great place for all of us to share our stories and our resources. Many of you teach Leave No Trace and quite possibly teach PEAK Activities. What are some strategies that you have used to make your presentations more dynamic?

Leave No Trace: Kids Speak

Catherine, Dave, Melinda and I went to a local school in Boulder to do a few PEAK activities with the kids before their big field trip up to Keystone Science School. In addition to being serenaded with the lovely "Thank you" song, we received personalized thank you letters from the kids, letting us know what they learned. As always, kids are very perceptive and absorb knowledge. Here are a few little gems:

"I learned that even if you see the prettiest flower in the whole park, you should take a picture so that others can enjoy it."

"I learned three new things yesterday because of you: that stoves can be soooo small; I memorized the Leave No Trace principles and I learned what a gaiter was."

"Last but not least, be prepared. Bring all sorts of things that could be useful."

Above picture: Sarah, Melinda, Catherine "the Happy Hiker" and "Charlie, the silent dog"

Mean Mr. Winter

A few weeks ago I wrote about how important it is to embrace the winter and enjoy all that the glorious season has to offer. As I glare out the window on the gloomy day, little trickles of grey (not white) flakes beginning to dot the sky, I start drifting to a warm, sandy beach, water lapping, sun wrapping it’s gentle arms around…but what is that pesky noise, those kids in the background whining, fighting? It’s cabin fever! They’re my kids and they need to get out! But it’s sooooo cold. Oh sweet spring, tease us a little, show us a sign. You can’t be that far away.

But, alas, it’s only February. Even furry groundhogs know that we have at least two months left of mean, cold, relentless Mr. Winter. I guess it’s time I take my own advice and stop fighting the season. We wrap ourselves in our warmest coats, gloves, hats and anything else we can find and take a lovely (short) walk in the cold, down the street to the coffee shop. It might not be the greatest outdoor adventure but it is what it is today. I know soon enough, we’ll be complaining about the heat!

Pavlovian Frontcountry Experiences

This week, I am watching the dog of a colleague. His name is Otter. He is a very large lab, standing at about my hip height. He could probably pull my car if given a harness and a towrope. He loves to lick, loves to cuddle at my feet, and always knows in which of my pockets his treats are. Otter loves the snow, the dirt, and the outdoors in general.

And get this:

I have never in my life seen a dog – given the option of tearing a diagonal across a field, or taking the L-shaped sidewalk – choose the sidewalk to come back to me when I call. He always takes the sidewalk, and it baffles my mind. (That is, until we get to the big open field… then all bets are off.)

Better yet, when he goes to the bathroom outside, he will stand there until I come to pick it up. No wandering around looking for it, no covering it up with dirt. He is there until it is gone.  Not having a dog myself, and growing up in an area where "scooping poop" was not practice, this is a shift in consciousness for me.  To boot, dog doo protocol has recently been brought up in our neighborhood as an issue - and now I am seeing why.

Though he is just a guest with me for a week, he is setting a shining example for the other dogs in my neighborhood… And their owners, too.  Despite the normal Pavlovian research, I am wondering who is being conditioned here.  I think, in fact, that I am the one being conditioned in to the Frontcountry particularities of dog ownership.

Thanks, Otter. Or should I say, Mr. Big Frontcountry Dog.

Leave No Trace - Now More Than Ever

In the seven years I've been with the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, I've provided outreach, education and training to thousands of people all across the U.S. and in many countries around the globe. While on the road, I'm constantly reminded of just how many people are supporters or practitioners of Leave No Trace - a great thing. Particularly when you consider that there are hundreds of millions of recreationists who regularly enjoy all the outdoor opportunities this country has to offer.

Last week I had the opportunity to present to a group of forty river rafting company owners and guides in Oregon about Leave No Trace. All were part of the Headwaters Institute, an organization with a mission to provide education that inspires individuals and communities to care for and connect with their watershed. They were all very supportive of Leave No Trace and in many ways, it was like preaching to the choir. This week, I'm at the American Camp Association conference in Tennessee, and again, I'm interacting with people who are supportive of Leave No Trace. Many of the ACA conference participants are deeply involved in the Leave No Trace program and are actively teaching kids about Leave No Trace. Both of these great organizations are partners of Leave No Trace and actively promote outdoor ethics.

What I keep seeing is more and more support for Leave No Trace from all those who enjoy the out of doors. Now more than ever, Leave No Trace is gaining momentum and educating more people than we ever thought possible. Together we can make a significant difference for the responsible use and active stewardship of our shared outdoor resources. It's not what you did yesterday, it's what you're doing tomorrow.

Rookie vs. Veteran

I recently had the pleasure of participating in my first ever winter hut trip.  A fairly experienced (in-bounds) telemark skier, I jumped at the invitation of a friend to join a group of experienced backcountry skiers on a backcountry hut trip to the 10th Mountain Hut, part of the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association, near Leadville, CO.  Part of the appeal of this trip for me was to escape the comfort and familiarity of resort skiing, but it was mostly about getting outside, pushing myself physically and learning how to travel safely off-piste.

It felt good to be humbled by my lack of experience ... I had never skied with a pack, never used skins, and knew little beyond the basics regarding avalanche safety.  My counterparts were patient and willing teachers - instructing me on when to use which wax, how to put on my skins, and other important techniques.  However, when it came to the subject of Leave No Trace, I was shocked to learn that my cohorts and I didn't share the same philosophies.  

I had (optimistically) assumed that all experienced backcountry users shared the same ethics when it came to leaving our natural areas in the same shape (or better!) as we found them. 

After a brief break during our ski in to the hut on the first day, I wondered allowed where to put my apple core - in the outside mesh pocket of my pack or back in my food bag.  I was shocked to hear my fellow skier, one of the very "veterans" who had already taught me so much in preceding hours (I'll call him "Joe"), say, "just chuck it in the snow.  The animals will appreciate it."  

I took several issues with this statement, knowing well that introducing my food waste into the diets of wild animals is never a good idea.  However, the hardest part of this verbal exchange was my changing perception of this talented and experienced backcountry skier whom I admire and respect.  It's always been challenging for me to stand up to the contrasting opinions of my elders (I blame my Southern upbringing), but in this case, I didn't hesitate to stand my ground and tell Joe that I didn't think it was at all a good idea and proceeded to put my apple core into the side pocket of my pack.

I refrained from preaching, ranting or rattling off the hazards of introducing human food waste into the diets of animals.  Instead, I chose to lead by example, which I personally feel is the best way to impact the behavior of others.  I have found that the best way to share Leave No Trace outdoor ethics with others is to educate, not regulate.  

What do you think?

Shooting To Reach More Kids

Earlier this month, I attended the Shot Show, a trade show of more than 30,000 manufacturers, trade reps, retailers and media for the biggest shooting, hunting and outdoor trade show in the country. Various meetings are hosted during the show by the trade show’s parent organization, the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Leave No Trace was invited to attend a National Shooting Sports Foundation meeting of shooting sports-based organizations from the Isaac Walton League to the NRA, Youth Shooting Sports Alliance, and the International Hunter Education Association. During the meeting I had the opportunity to talk briefly about Leave No Trace and its relevance to the hunting and youth.

As with virtually all meetings I’ve attended in the last year, Richard Louv’s book “Last Child in the Woods” was sited during the gathering. The shooting sports groups seem to have the same concern and worries about increasing participation as everyone else. Outdoor communities are scrambling and scratching their heads about getting kids off of their Game Boys and into their backyards — hunting is no exception.

It is heartening to see, even among such diverse outdoor groups, common threads regarding kids and the outdoors. Our common thread as we talk to various factions that are working to get kids outside, is that Leave No Trace is a vital companion to any of these efforts.

Ecological Footprint

Over the past week, I have been helping the Center to research a list of websites on the internet about sustainability and "going green."  Throughout my online searches I came across this ecological footprint quiz.  

I try my best to live and make decisions that are environmentally friendly.  I am a vegetarian and live in a small studio apartment.  I try to buy mostly organic foods that are packaged in recycled materials.  I just changed my light bulbs to the compact fluorescents, I recycle, and I walk when I can.  Through all of my efforts, the quiz revealed to me that if everyone in the world lived like I do, we would need two planets to have enough resources to keep up! 

This reminds me how important it is to practice "Leaving No Trace" from beyond just the backcountry.  Every small thing that we can do to minimize our impact on the environment can and will make a difference.  I encourage you to take this quiz and see if your results surprise you, and learn more about what you can do to "Leave No Trace".  

So, what's your story?

Are you a Master Educator, Trainer, a dedicated volunteer or any combination of the three? Well, if you answered yes, we want to hear your story. The first ten people who comment to this blog will receive some Leave No Trace swag.

Here are some questions that might help you tell your volunteer story:

How are you involved in Leave No Trace in your area?
How many workshops do you provide each year?
What state do you live in?
Who is your states State Advocate?
What is your favorite Leave No Trace Activity?
What outdoor user groups do you work with?
Are you trained in Leave No Trace?
Do you own a PEAK Pack?
What are some creative ways to get involved in Leave No Trace in your area?
What does Leave No Trace mean to you?
What is your outdoor ethic?

We look forward to hearing from you and thank you all for everything you do for Leave No Trace!

"I Believe the Children Are Our Future..."

A week ago, I had the opportunity to participate in the Denver Area Youth Collaborative Expo at the REI store in Denver.

The Denver Area Youth Collaborative (DAYC) is a "resource for youth serving outdoor sports and recreation service organizations by providing networking opportunities, establishing best practices and building relationships that enrich other organizations missions."

In attendance were an array of Denver area youth organizations, including:

• Trips for Kids
  
• Wonderful Outdoor World (WOW)
  
• Bluff Lake Nature Center
  
• Colorado Mountain Club's Youth Education Program
  
• EduColorado Adventure School
  
• Avid4Adventure
  
• Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado
  
• Meet the Wilderness
  
• Climbing for Life
  
• Colorado Division of Wildlife
  
• Inner City Outings (ICO)
  
• Big City Mountaineering
  
• CityWild
  
• Denver Parks and Recreation
  
• SOS Outreach
  

The expo was a success in both creating awareness of other organizations and providing opportunities for partnership and collaboration. As a representative of the Center is was great to see the level of Leave No Trace education already being incorporated into outdoor programs for kids, as well as the interest in providing more content.

The evening concluded with a presentation by DPS middle school teacher, Mike Haugan, sharing his Coleman-sponsored expedition on Mt. Everest.

101 Ways To Teach Leave No Trace

Our brand new guide is here!  Full of activities designed to help teach and share the value and importance of Leave No Trace principles with the young and old alike.  Each activity is neatly organized under one of the seven principles or general outdoor ethics categories.  Each activity will walk you through the necessary preparations, applicable audiences, and the required amount of time.

Now for the month of February, 25% Off! Regularly $18.95. Find these in our store now!

New Traveling Trainers

Yesterday in the Leave No Trace office we wrapped up a series of interviews to hire the new 2008 Traveling Trainer teams. No easy feat as it takes half the staff and a fair bit of time to find the best candidates for the job. As I reflect on the process, I think about all that is involved to hire new teams – at least one every year. And it doesn’t end after the hiring is complete. Oh no, there are weeks of training time, coordination of the Team’s gear, equipment and apparel needs, and the ongoing process of setting up high quality events and trainings throughout the year. So much time and effort goes into this program, it can be exhausting! Wow, I ask myself, it is worth it? Without hesitation, I know the answer: You bet it is! This program, ten years in the making, has brought meaningful and relevant Leave No Trace education and training to hundreds of thousands of people across the United States. The Traveling Trainers, with the support of our wonderful partner, Subaru, have put the Leave No Trace program on the map in a profound and lasting way. If you have never met the Traveling Trainers or had the pleasure of attending one of their events or trainings, please request a visit today: http://www.lnt.org/programs/travelingtrainers.php.