Leave No Trace - 3 Myths, Effects, and Recommendations for Outdoor Recreation

For the purpose of protecting our environment and delicate ecosystems, I advocate the following recommendations for outdoor recreation: stay on the trail rain or shine, be mindful of plants near the trail, and pick up your dog's feces. Clay soil and poison ivy provide strong examples of how Leave No Trace principles affirm the importance of protecting our delicate ecosystems.

Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace is an international non-profit organization that promotes the ethical enjoyment of nature. In addition, Leave No Trace is a set of outdoor ethical principles that are rooted in the belief that educating people and enhancing their experiences with the natural world is the best way to preserve natural land and wildlife. The following are the seven Leave No Trace outdoor ethical principles:

1. Plan ahead and prepare
2. Travel and camp on durable surfaces
3. Dispose of waste properly
4. Leave what you find
5. Minimize campfire impacts
6. Respect wildlife
7. Be considerate of other visitors
   

The following myths, negative effects of human impact, and recommendations are related to three of the Leave No Trace principles: travel on durable surfaces, leave what you find, and dispose of waste properly.

3 Outdoor Recreation Myths

Hiking, mountain biking, birding, and nordic walking should not come at the expense of future generations. The following are three misconceived myths that hikers, mountain bikers, birders, and nordic walkers may believe:

1. Messing up a trail is unacceptable - The amount of work that has gone into creating and maintaining a trail can lead people to think that it is better to hike or bike off-trail instead of hiking or biking through a trail's muddy sections.
   
2. Poison Ivy should be squashed - Poison Ivy is a nuisance because it can cause rashes, itching, fevers, and blisters when it comes in contact with your skin. Thus, some people think that a trail would be better off if it did not have any poison ivy near it.
   
3. Dog feces fertilizes plants near the trail - Feces is known to be a fertilizer so leaving it near the trail may be a good thing for plants. Further, if wildlife feces is okay then leaving my dog's feces near the trail must be okay too. Finally, picking up and disposing of dog feces requires additional energy that can be rationalized as unnecessary.
   

3 Negative Effects of Human Impact

Improper outdoor recreation can cause harm to soils, plants, and wildlife. What's more, sustained abuse can cause an area to become unusable or undesirable for future generations. Believing in the three aforementioned myths can lead to sustained negative human impact in the form of three compounding and interconnected effects:

1. Severe erosion can cause riles, gullies, and washouts - Some soils are sensitive to compaction that causes erosion. For example, much of Colorado's soil contains a high level of clay. Clay is a fine-grained soil that can absorb and hold water tightly. However, hikers, mountain bikers, and motorized vehicles that compact clay-rich soils prevent the clay from absorbing water which then causes water to run on top of the soil. Water running on top of a clay-rich soil can pick up and carry loosened clay particles. Since clay takes a long time to form, the end result of compacted clay soils can be erosion that takes years to fix naturally or lots of energy for park managers to fix manually.
   
2. Non-native plants replace native plants - Native plants play an important role in localized ecosystems because they prevent erosion and are a valuable food source for insects and wildlife. Specifically, native plants that are lost due to human trampling or human-caused erosion can take years to recover and can lead to a loss of food source for many insects and wildlife. For example, Poison Ivy serves as a food source for bees, caterpillars, and over 60 species of birds. Even though poison ivy is a nuisance to humans, poison ivy plays a vital role in the food webs of ecosystems.
   
3. Wildlife search for unnatural sources of food - In most cases, native plants (e.g., poison ivy) provide a more valuable food source than do non-native plants. Wildlife may begin to search for unnatural sources of food such as human garbage, pets, and gardens if their natural food sources are lost.
   

3 Outdoor Recreation Recommendations for Minimizing Human Impact

The following are three outdoor recreation recommendations that can help you minimize your impact on the environment so that the land and wildlife habitat will be preserved for future generations:

1. Rain or shine, stay on the trail - Trails are designed to withstand repeated human use and can be repaired easier than off-trail areas. Particularly, soil and vegetation around a trail are likely to be sensitive to repeated human use. Thus, it is better to dirty your shoes and muddy up a trail than to mess up the surrounding soil that contains vegetation. Further, it is preferred that you choose to hike or bike on a drier trail or paved trail instead of hiking or biking on a wet trail. Finally, you can kindly remind others to stay on the trail too.
   
2. Be mindful of plants near the trail - Do your best to not trample plants near the trail. In addition, do not pick flowers or remove plants. Finally, kindly remind others to do the same.
   
3. Pick up your dog's feces - Dog feces contains high levels of nitrogen not found in wildlife feces because dog food is chemically-engineered. In Colorado, most of the soils contain a low concentration of nitrogen and, thus, most of the native plants thrive in a low nitrogen soil. Non-native plants and weeds that thrive in high nitrogen soils can replace native plants if enough nitrogen-heavy dog feces is absorbed into the soil. The end result is a loss of food source for local wildlife and insects. Thus, it is very important to use pet waste bags to pick up and dispose of your dog's feces.

Robert Miller is an ardent hiker who lives in Fort Collins, CO. He has a 22 month old daughter with which he and wife have hiked over 85 miles. He is co-founder of Two Knobby Tires, an online store (and Leave No Trace Partner) for outdoor gear that strives to promote a healthy, active, and eco-friendly lifestyle for hikers, bikers, skiers, recreational families, and pet owners. In addition, he is a volunteer trail naturalist for Larimer County and a blog writer for Guide to Colorado Hiking, Biking, and Camping.