Do You Care?

Hello friendly blog readers,

Yesterday during a staff meeting, while reviewing the current Leave No Trace website, a staffer pointed out that the icons on our homepage that identify our Blog, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube connections are very small – almost indistinguishable. A healthy debate ensued about how we most effectively call attention to social media outlets (that we are very involved with) on our website - without them taking up too much valuable real estate.

Another staffer argued that people who are savvy with blogging, Facebook, etc. will know what the small icons stand for and therefore use them. Those that are “less savvy” in the social media arena, won’t be looking for these buttons and probably aren’t interested anyway – so no need to make them bigger and more recognizable.

Hence the debate, are we trying to pull more people into the social media world through our website or do people need to already be there for them to care about the Leave No Trace blog, Facebook page, Tweets, Youtube videos and other on-line communications? Check out our homepage for reference: http://lnt.org/

What do you think fellow blogger?

New Research at Colorado State University

Yesterday, Dana Watts and I travelled to the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins, to talk with Dr. Peter Newman, Ph.D, about his recent work. Newman has been conducting research in Rocky Mountain National Park about use, impacts and human behavior in protected areas.

Even if use in national parks is leveling off, over 300+ million people are visiting national parks each year. Newman made the point that where there is extraordinarily high use, there are also inevitable impacts. His research is helping to identify that relationship between use and impact, as well as the best methods to mitigate those impacts.

Newman believes that Leave No Trace is a very important way to help people think about what they’re doing in protected areas as well as how they are doing it. This, in turn, will help people protect those areas. His research will be used by the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics to refine and revise education, tools and communication, thus we greatly anticipate his next set of outcomes.