Leave No Trace Backyard Sessions - April

April Backyard Sessions


In 2011 the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics introduced a new social activism and environmental stewardship campaign called Backyard Sessions.  Backyard Sessions take many forms, but most of all they bring together and activate local communities to incorporate Leave No Trace into all of the ways we live and play.


The Center has been working closely with various organizations to implement Backyard Sessions into existing service projects across the country.  Pennsylvania State Parks has come forward with a myriad of projects slated for 2012 and the Center is currently collaborating with these parks across Pennsylvania to incorporate Leave No Trace education and outreach in their service projects.  While many will take place throughout the year, below are the opportunities, both in and outside Pennsylvania, scheduled for April.  

• 4/23/12 - Trash clean-up at Shining Mountain School in Boulder, CO
• 4/27/12 - Arbor Day tree planting at Tyler State Park in Newtown, PA 
• 4/26-28/12 - Volunteer Clean Up Weekend at Ole Bull State Park in Cross Fork, PA
• 4/28/12 - Knotweed Knockdown at Oil Creek State Park in Oil City, PA
• 4/28/12 Step Out and Volunteer Event at Hills Creek State Park in Wellsboro, PA
• 4/28/12 Tree Planting day at Knzua Bridge State Park in Johnsonburg, PA

Backyard Sessions hope to inspire volunteerism and motivate people to get more involved with Leave No Trace education and action at the local level.


CALL TO ACTION: The Center wants you to organize a Backyard Session in your Community.  Your role as a Leave No Trace volunteer and educator to help organize Backyard Sessions to teach people about Leave No Trace is critical!


Your valuable assistance is now needed in 2 key ways:

1. Mobilize your network of Leave No Trace supporters, youth groups, schools or others to organize your own outing at a trailhead. Provide a 20-minute introduction to Leave No Trace and then hit the trail with trash bags and gloves for an easy clean up. Look for “Leave No Trace teachable moments” along the way. Tell us about it!
2. Identify and attend outdoor and environmental events in your community and offer a 5-30 minute introduction to Leave No Trace concepts.Whether this is with a small crew at a trailhead on a trail-related service project, with volunteers at a river clean up, a youth event or with a group of multi-day backpackers, we’d like you to locate opportunities in your area (preferably in a natural setting) to help spread Leave No Trace skills and ethics. And one last step: Tell us about it!

Call (303.442.8222 ext.107) or email Jason Grubb, Education Programs Coordinator, for more details on how you can get involved!

Southeast Send Off!

All over AR.  For the past three months, we have traveled all over the Southeast providing outreach and workshops to more than 25 schools, universities, organizations, and land management agencies.  All though Arkansas expands our reach to just west of the Mississippi River, we experienced some creative groups that are benefiting from the Leave No Trace Program.  We spent three days at Lake Dardanelle State Park, which provides interpretive programs to visitors at the park.  Take a look at the photo below:  The park rents out backpacks for families looking for interesting and educational activities to fill their time while at the lake.  Notice the Leave No Trace hang tag attached to the pack!

From there, we traveled to Northwest AR, where we worked with 8th grade students from Pea Ridge, who would be attending Outdoor School at Devil's Den State Park later that week.  Our workshop prepared them with a good introduction to how they can be stewards of the land and take responsibility for their choices while enjoying the park.  Following that, we met up with Jennifer Hazelrigs, Leave No Trace State Advocate for the state of Arkansas, at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, for the Arkansas Adventure Programming Conference.

Jennifer Hazelrigs and Scott Dirksen-Lyon College were excited to see Bigfoot come out for the Saturday morning trail run!  

This student-led conference drew faculty and staff from 6 colleges and universities from AR, KY, TX, and IA.  With over 80 participants on site over the weekend, and the majority of the programs led by student presenters, there were many opportunities to learn new skills and gain valuable knowledge of outdoor programming.

We led a three hour skills workshop, with a surprise guest!

Horseshoe Canyon had many goats, horses, dogs, and mules that call the Ranch home.  We were shocked to have two horses join us at our workshop, first time for that!  This would not be the last time we see horses this week...

Tracy, Jacque, Kate and Rob in Snowball, AR.

We finished up our time in Arkansas on horseback!  We spent the day with Rob Stephens, BSA/Leave No Trace all around champion, and Jacque Alexander, Leave No Trace/Backcountry Horseman of America advocate, as well as other members of BCH of Arkansas for a trail ride along the Buffalo River National Park.  15 miles later, we enjoyed river crossings, wildflowers in bloom, and riding along the painted bluffs, all the while making friends with everyone including "Dakota and Shorty".  Thank you to Jacque, Rob, and all of the ladies on the ride.  Oh what a day-Glorious!

As we head towards the Northeast, we reflect on all of our events the past few months since the 2012 season began and look forward with great anticipation for the next three months in the Northeast!

Respect the Resource...Kate and Tracy

Responses to the April Situation

Here’s the Situation: While camped in an area that does not allow collection of wood for fuel, you notice people a few campsites over dragging large logs to their fire ring. It's getting dark and the temperature is dropping, but the campsite host that typically sells firewood isn't around and the wood is locked up. While driving in, you noticed another campsite host a few miles up the road. What do you do?



What you said: 

Head over to their campsite, introduce myself, invite them to hang out with us at our campsite without a fire, but good company. Maybe get into talking about why they might not be allowed to collect wood if it seems appropriate.
 –Eric Raslich

Go up the road to the other campsite host or better yet skip a fire for the night and use a stove to cook!
–Dustin Hall

Use the Tranger to cook food as food warms you up more than a hot drink.
 –Sara Griffin 


Walk over and suggest that they cook dinner and warm up with a stove and not a fire along with our campers and then suggest warming up with an active game of dark hide and seek (marco polo style for those of you who have never played hide and seek in the dark)
--Debbie Todd




What our Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers said: 

The first step is to walk past their campsite, stop to say hello, maybe comment on the changing weather, and then ask if they’ve eaten dinner yet. If they have not, ask them if they plan to use the fire to cook dinner. Then, if you have sufficient fuel remaining, you can offer your camp stove to help them prepare a warm meal before the temperature drops too much. While offering you can mention that the ban on collecting wood for fuel protects the scarce resources of the area, possibly for wildlife habit. If they have eaten, and are building the fire for more social purposes or warmth, you can direct them to the other campsite host farther up the road to purchase wood or to a possible campfire alternative. Maybe you can offer them your stargazing chart to be an alternative activity. Again, it is important to remind them of the reasons for the ban on collecting firewood. Often, this occurs in canyons with scarce dead wood that can be used by animals for habitat or for nutrient recycling and decomposition. Its always great to check in with the local management agency to be sure what kind of fire regulations there might be in your area before you head out on your overnight trip and if the folks around you forgot to check before they left you can be their helpful resource.

Earth Week in Colorado!

Starting on Earth Day on Sunday in Nederland, the e-tour has been spreading the word about Leave No Trace all over Colorado for Earth Week! It's been a truly beautiful location to talk about environmental stewardship to audiences ranging from interested citizens in Boulder County to high schoolers set on making a difference to elementary school students getting outside for the first time!

Bigfoot at Wild Bear!

To kick off the week, we headed up to the Wild Bear Mountain Ecology Center where we joined with other conservation-minded organizations for an Earth Day Celebration! It was awesome to get to talk to youth and adults alike about the outdoors with the Rocky Mountains towering over us. From outdoor enthusiasts excited to learn about new reference cards for Winter Use and Rock Climbing to kids learning the PEAK principles, everyone took home some new information to help make good decisions in the outdoors. Not only that, but our Colorado State Advocate Kristin and famous mascot Bigfoot also were able to make the event!

Quinn and Bigfoot at Earth Day in Nederland, CO!

The next morning, we scrambled over to the Shining Mountain School in Boulder where we got to talk with some high school students before they scattered about town to help out with keeping this beautiful area clean. With this dialed group, we got to focus on the reasons why Leave No Trace is an ethic -- not a set of rules, but a series of personal values and selected responsibilities about how to be a good citizen not of the state or country but of the planet. In addition to cleaning up around their school and community, these students are challenging themselves to take responsibility for the trash that they generate on a daily basis by packing out what they pack in to school just like you would in the backcountry. In this fashion, they become aware of what they are using each and every day and can strive as individuals to minimize their overall impact. We were inspired to get to speak with such dedicated students!
 

Traveling Trainer Frank with his college friend and now elementary school teacher Mr. Gamble at Wildflower Elementary!

Finally, with a little help from our good friend Bigfoot we got to visit elementary school students both in Boulder and Colorado Springs! The kindergarteners in Boulder got to share some of their favorite activities in the outdoors by drawing pictures for each other. By getting out and connecting with nature, these students are forming the foundations for a life of conservation. The fifth graders in Colorado Springs drilled into a lot of the science behind what happens to trash. They asked the tough questions about the difference between natural products and plastic, recycling and composting, and the effect you can have on animals by carelessly discarding food waste. We're confident that they will take this enthusiasm and inquisitive mindset with them as they head out into the world and start making their own decisions about the actions they take and the impacts they make. Great work Wildflower Wildcats!

Everyday is Earth Day,

Quinn & Frank

Lunch Spot of the Week

Can you spot Kate?

The Goat Trail over looking the Buffalo River.

Respect the Resource...Kate and Tracy

Yearning for Higher Learning

San Bernardino Area, CA:

This week Team West had the pleasure of spending time with two extremely active student recreation programs. We spent Tuesday at Pomona College with their Outdoor Education Center staff and adventuring members. Thursday we joined CSU San Bernardino's Recreational Sports department for another set of campus outreach and workshops.

Listening to, and talking with these student driven groups our hopes are that these outgoing members will take up the charge of getting fellow classmates out of doors and practicing Leave No Trace. These recreation programs will provide access to gear and excursions that would otherwise be out of reach either monetarily or logistically. The chance to sea-kayak, rock climb, backpack, paddle-board or bike in an encouraging peer filled environment is a perfect place to foster a blossoming outdoor ethic. Leading by example these groups have the power to show hundreds of students each year that the Seven Principles of Leave No Trace help provide for a better outdoor experience for everyone. Not only on a burly expedition, but from the dorm room to the campus quad too.

Recreate your recreation.

Mark and Tara

Dinner Out in Boulder, CO

A glimpse into the life of the e-tour Traveling Trainer team as they cook up dinner using their Coleman stove!