Leave No Trace Volunteerism

We are coming upon national volunteer month in another few weeks, so thought I'd take this opportunity to recognize our awesome State Advocate volunteers. These individuals serve as volunteer coordinators in their state, assisting Leave No Trace educators and volunteers with local efforts to promote and teach minimum impact outdoor ethics.

The State Advocate Program is sponsored by Keen Footwear’s Hybrid.Care, which helps fund community events and programs. This year, State Advocates will be instrumental in helping organize or promote the Leave No Trace "Backyard Sessions."

The "Backyard Sessions" are community social events to generate local support and volunteerism for the the Leave No Trace program. With successful Backyard Sessions having occurred already in San Diego and Houston, stay tuned for one near you in the coming months.

If you haven't already, check in with your State Advocate to find out what's going on in your area: http://lnt.org/01_community/index.php

If you notice a vacancy in your state, contact sarah@LNT.org to find out how to apply for this volunteer position!

Photo above: Our ID Advocate Paul Holle at a Sierra Trading Post event.

"Green" Exercise Improves Health

I recently came across this short article, which described how not only exercise, but "green" exercise (in a park, along a trail, by a lake) improves both physical and mental health. Here is a short excerpt from the article:

"The research focused on many different outdoor activities -- such as walking, cycling, horse-riding, gardening, farming and fishing -- and found positive physical and mental effects in the first five minutes of the exercise, the BBC reported."

Just another reason why environmental stewardships programs are so important, they preserve the quality of not only the resource, but of other peoples' recreational experiences and, thus, their health!

Join Today!: 20% Off Annual Dues for New Community Partners

Calling all guide & outfitter services, nonprofits, schools, outdoor programs, clubs, boy and girl scout councils, retailers and parks, municipalities & agencies!

The Center is offering a limited time 20% discount to all new community partners.

Why partner with Leave No Trace? Because partners of the Center are conserving the environment, today. Set an industry standard to prevent environmental impacts before they happen by integrating Leave No Trace information into your program!

Join today and save 20% on your first year of partnership. That's as little as $80* for nonprofits, schools & educational institutions, and $120* for guides & outfitters and retailers.

Benefits of Partnership:

• Exclusive use of the Leave No Trace logo
• Two links on the Leave No Trace website: on both your state's community page and the partner page
• Priority FREE visits by the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers – great for staff training,
• Optional partnership highlights in our e-news and social media platforms
• Sample of FREE educational materials
• Eligibility to apply for grants and scholarships for additional Leave No Trace training and educational materials

Contact Catherine at Catherine@LNT.org or 303-442-8222 x109 to become a partner today!

*Annual dues depend on annual budget/revenue. More information here ( + ).

eNews You Can Use - New Leave No Trace Training Resources

The Center has recently updated two useful training resources, which are now both available directly from the Center’s website, in the online store.

The first is an updated Leave No Trace Awareness Workshop Certificate (shown at left). While available for FREE as a download (PDF file) from the website, the Center is now offering printed color certificates on heavy paper stock for $1.00 each or $0.50 each when 50 or more are ordered at once.

Giving certificates to Awareness Workshop participant is a great way to recognize their participation in your Leave No Trace workshop. In addition, many attendees find the certificate useful for professional development. For more information on Awareness Workshops, please visit http://lnt.org/training/awarenessworkshops.php

The second new resource also available in the Leave No Trace online store is the updated Leave No Trace Trainer Course Participant Packet. The updated packet now includes the National Park Service/Leave No Trace DVD (shown at right). This 9-minute video is a great tool for any Leave No Trace training, educational session or outreach opportunity. Pre-assembled Trainer Course packets are an easy way to ensure that course participants have the minimum information they to get the most out of a Leave No Trace Trainer Course, and the DVD is an excellent addition. Trainer Course Participant Packets come in a distinctive Leave No Trace folder and contain the following items:

• National Park Service Leave No Trace DVD;
  
• North America Skills and Ethics Booklet;
  
• Frontcountry Guide;
  
• Pocket Guide;
  
• Library of Plastic Ethics Reference Cards;
  
• Leave No Trace Bumper Sticker;
  
• 4-pg. Guideline to running an Awareness Workshop;
  
• Reprint of the "Authority of the Resource" article by Dr. George N. Wallace;
  
• Adhesive participant name tag.
  

To view additional Leave No Trace education and training resources (many of which are FREE), please visit the Educational Training and Resources page.

Bigfoot is Back 2010!

By now you have probably noticed that Bigfoot is Back this year to help us promote responsible outdoor recreation on our favorite trails, waterways, mountains and other outdoor spaces. The elusive Bigfoot leaves no trace of his passing through the wild, but we fortunately have been able to track him down to help us in 2010. He even made a visit to our office last week.

Bigfoot met with Education Director, Ben Lawhon, while visiting the Center.

Bigfoot will be hanging out starting today with our Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers at the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in Salt Lake City. He will be helping us with a number of different outreach efforts. Keep your eye on Bigfoot over the next four days on Facebook. We will be uploading stories and photos from the show. There ought to be some pretty funny pictures of Bigfoot interacting with the crowd.

You can also get involved in your local area to help Bigfoot promote outdoor ethics, take the Bigfoot Challenge. Each month this year we will be challenging you to take on one simple Leave No Trace action, that will be fun and easy to do. You can follow the challenges and pledge to practice Leave No Trace each month by clicking here. You will also get some great opportunities to win some prizes donated by Leave No Trace partners.

2010 Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Season is getting set to Kick Off!

On Monday we began our annual Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Training for our 2010 teams. We are lucky to have Kate Bullock and Tracy Howard returning for their third season on the road, starting their year as our Team East. Check out their schedule so far.

We are also very excited to have a new pair, Jason and Agata Ketterick, joining us for our 12th year of the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Program as Team West. You can take a look to see if they will be coming to your area in the coming months by clicking here.

Both teams will be attending the Outdoor Retailer trade show next week in Salt Lake City, and then will be back here for another week and a half of training before they hit the road for the season in early February. If you are interested in hosting the Traveling Trainers this year, please request a visit online.

Kate and Tracy, are excited for you to meet Bigfoot!

Jason and Agata on top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine last June.

The Leave No Trace NPS Video is Online!

The highly acclaimed Leave No Trace video is now online! Visit the National Park Service website to watch it today!

A Third Deadline for Leave No Trace Connect Grants

Connect Grants for Culturally Diverse Communities—Extended Deadline Nov. 1, 2009

Connect Grants help support Leave No Trace education and outreach in multicultural communities. Grants can be directed toward educational materials, teaching resources, training and course scholarships, as well as partnership with the Center. Please note, these grants specifically focus on programs within the United States. The Center is unable to award international grants at this time.

To apply, please visit our online application: http://lnt.org/programs/grantproposal.php
More more information about Connect Grants, please visit: http://lnt.org/programs/connect_grants.php

For questions or inquiries, please email or call Sarah Folzenlogen in the Education Department at 303.442.8222 x 107.

Don't forget your Leave No Trace materials for National Public Lands Day

Each September, thousands of people (120,000 in 2008) come together to celebrate and take care of our nation's amazing network of public lands. National Public Lands Day, Saturday, September 26, is a way to give back to the places that provide us with the outdoor experiences we cherish. Volunteers do a variety of projects including building trails and outdoor structures, planting trees and removing trash. If you have never volunteer for one of these projects - now it the time. Check out: http://www.publiclandsday.org. Most states host at least one public lands day site and many have several.

Leave No Trace hopes to support as many volunteers as possible this year. We have many FREE resources available on the Leave No Trace website. Please visit: http://lnt.org/training/educationaltraining.php and feel free to download, print and distribute the information you need. By providing Leave No Trace information and training to NPLD volunteers, we're helping to ensure the future integrity of our nation's treasured public lands system.

Looking for 2010 Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Requests!

We are beginning to work on the 2010 Traveling Trainer schedule. Now is a great time to request a visit from one of our teams. The Traveling Trainers visit a wide range of people including (but not limited to) outdoor retail stores, guiding services, educational institutions, national parks and forests, state parks, elementary/middle/high schools, open spaces, municipalities, youth serving organizations, and festivals. In 2010, we will have one team traveling the west and one team traveling the east from January through November.  

To request an event:

Step 1 – Visit: http://www.lnt.org/programs/travelingtrainers.php  to find out more information about our teams and what kinds of outreach they provide.

Step 2 – Select Team East for states east of the Mississippi or Team West for states west of the Mississippi.

 Step 3 – Fill out the online request form providing as much information and detail as possible about your event and flexibility on dates.

 Step 4 – Look for a reply from our Outreach Manager 3-6 months before your event. If you have any questions regarding your request please contact Dave Winter

Take the Traveling Trainer Survey Today!

2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Program. For the past 10 years our teams have been living on the road out of a Subaru working with millions of outdoor enthusiasts and professionals throughout the country. Chances are that we have even worked with you once or twice. We recently developed a Traveling Trainer survey to ask you about how we can continue to strengthen our program and encourage you to continue your support of Leave No Trace.

If you had any interaction with the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers over the past 10 years we are asking you to take just 10 minutes to fill out this survey. Click here to begin the survey. Thank you for taking the time to help us improve and build for the future. We sincerely appreciate all that you do for Leave No Trace!

Celebrating 10 Years of Education in Motion.

The Leave No Trace Presence on Facebook

We're on Facebook ... didya know?!

Over last two years, we've used Facebook as one of several social media platform to help meet the diverse needs of the Leave No Trace audience across the world. With the arrival of our fantastic Community + Social Media Inter, Lili (check out Lili's first blog post here), we've started to seriously ramp up our activity on Facebook: adding pictures, discussion questions (check out "Ask an Expert" to get instant feedback to your Leave No Trace-related questions today!), and links.

Here are the places you can find us on Facebook:

Cause
Fan Page
Leave No Trace Master Educator Group
Leave No Trace Trainer Group
Leave No Trace Global Group

Join the Leave No Trace grassroots movement on Facebook today!

This is a Test: The Power of Tweeting

Call to Action: Help Leave No Trace show its Board of Directors how powerful Social Media really is!

What: As of 12:00pm MST today, Leave No Trace has 963 followers on Twitter and 19,354 members of our Facebook Cause. By this time tomorrow, we’d like to demonstrate to our Board of Directors – at the bi-annual meeting in Denver, CO – just how powerful Social Media really is! Our goal: Achieve 1200 followers on Twitter and 20,000 Cause members on Facebook in just 24 hours.

Where: Everywhere.

When: Right now!  {Until Tuesday, May 5th at 12:30pm MST}

How: Follow us, retweet, email your friends, use your facebook status ... Get creative for Leave No Trace.

Free Resources for Leave No Trace Education

Hello all!

I almost forgot my blog today because I've been updating our general powerpoint/slideshow.

This is a great resource for educators that are beginning to familiarize themselves with the Leave No Trace program and need a teaching resource for a workshop, class presentation, even a Trainer Course.

Provided is information about the history of Leave No Trace, the science behind it, how it's grown and the programs that are available for you!

The presentation is FREE for download on the Educational Resources Page, which is under the "Training" tab, or you can click here: Leave No Trace Slideshow

On that note, don't forget to click on the Send A Kid to Camp campaign sponsored by Mountain Hardwear (see my last blog). Each "click" donates one dollar towards a youth-serving organization. It's going on until April.

Sarah