Alzar School: Leave No Trace Partnership Highlight

Lower Salmon River

Through the challenge of the outdoors, the Alzar School seeks to educate and develop future leaders. Currently students attend the school for multiple weeks on domestic and international expeditions, but we will begin full year academic programs for high school students in the Fall of 2012.

One of the many reasons the Alzar School includes Leave No Trace curriculum into each expedition is because we enjoy the conversations that spring from applying Leave No Trace practices. Throughout the course of an Alzar School expedition, students become well versed in Leave No Trace practices as they interact with the natural environment around them and complete environmental service projects. Students have the opportunity to earn the Leave No Trace Trainer endorsement as part of their successful participation in our courses. Many of them go on to hold awareness seminars or to teach Leave No Trace principles at summer camp settings.

An Alzar School student pulls invasive weeds

Students have worked pulling invasive weeds, cleaning river banks and access points, and this summer will earn academic credit for an “Environmental Advocacy Practicum.” On this course, students will learn about the effort to protect Idaho’s wild salmon as they float the Lower Salmon river. Exploring a river canyon on a multi-day raft supported trip requires students to use all of the 7 Leave No Trace principles, and especially challenges them to consider how the principles are applied differently based on the ecosystem. As an end project, they will produce a video encouraging support for the Lower Salmon’s designation as federally protected “Wild and Scenic.” All of this leads to questions about the environment. Discussions stem from these activities about why invasive weeds are bad, access to certain areas and debates on how, why, and if we have a responsibility to act in order to protect them. It is these discussions we find are so important and powerful.

- Kristin Bierle, Executive Director, Alzar School