Looking out my back door

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season! Probably like me, many of your are taking this time to relax, reorganize and reinvigorate.

I've been going through my photos from the last twelve months and there were a lot of great trips and memories! However, this photo was, by far, one of my favorites - my backyard in the summer time.

Rarely does Denver look this green but we were pretty fortunate to have a wet late Spring, which means tree plantings and thriving vegetable gardens.

Here's to your favorite green space, be it your backyard, or the backcountry. Thanks for helping support Leave No Trace in 2010 - see you next year!

Sarah

Ten-Year-Old from West Virginia Makes A Big Impact

Soon to be fifth-grader, Maria Sobinovsky, from Martinsburg, West Virginia loves to hike, climb trees, play tag, sled down the gigantic hill in her back yard and talk about Leave No Trace. Last year she made it to regionals with a social studies fair project about the program. Below, Maria answers a couple of questions for Susy Alkaitis at the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics

Susy Alkaitis: What do like best about Leave No Trace?

Maria Sobinovsky: The thing that I like best about Leave No Trace is that the guidelines teach people how to treat nature and places which is so important.

SA: Describe your project?

MS: My West Virginia Social Studies Fair project title was "Preserving & Protecting our National Parks". The topic hit me almost instantly because my family and I have now visited 297 national parks, so I knew a lot about this subject. In addition to visiting national parks, I have earned 217 Junior Ranger badges so far. I think that my badge vest was a nice touch to my project because it might encourage other kids to earn their own badges. In my project, I talked about the history of national parks, some of the partners that help them (such as Preserve America and Leave No Trace), how kids can help preserve and protect them and what some of the concerns are (such as endangered species and graffiti.) I also distributed a survey to my school (with almost 500 replies) to see what kids my age (10-11) knew about national parks and the Leave No Trace ethics. I found that most kids are not familiar with the Leave No Trace guidelines. I think that we all need to do a better job of educating everyone.

SA: How did you do in the Social Studies Fair?

MS: The WV Social Studies Fair was fun and lot of work...it took me a few weeks to work on my report, abstract, backboard and display. I also had to practice my oral presentation. At my school level, I place 1st in my category of Geography. Then I moved on to the county level where I also placed 1st out of eight counties. In the regional level, I placed 2nd.

SA: How do you and your family practice Leave No Trace?

MS: To name a couple things, our family practices Leave No Trace by following the guidelines such as leaving only footprints and taking only pictures and when camping, we pack everything out.

SA: You're a very accomplished Junior Ranger. What is your favorite part of that program?

MS: My favorite part of every Junior Ranger program is when the ranger gives me my badge. It's nice when kids (and even adults) say "WOW!" and want to earn a badge too. I now have 217 badges. We are fortunate to go to all these wonderful places. I learn so much.

SA: Describe your perfect day outdoors with your family:

MS: My perfect day outdoors with my family would have to be hiking, biking and picnicking in a secluded place where we can listen to nature's music.

Kids in the Valley, Adventuring!

As parents and educators, Chip and Ashley Donahue recognize the need for more opportunities that get families outdoors and encourage them to become environmental stewards of the next generation.

Through their free family nature club, Kids in the Valley, Adventuring (KIVA), the Donahues are bringing outdoor opportunities to over 350 families in the Roanoke Valley.

Activities include park visits, guest speakers and family-friendly events that incorporate games, music and art. Keeping with the trends of social media marketing, KIVA's website also features product and gear reviews, nature-themed book reading list, event listings and tips for starting your own community nature club.

As a recent Leave No Trace grant recipient, KIVA also recognizes the importance of partnering outdoor adventure activities with environmental stewardship information and discussions that leave our open spaces better than we found them.

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.

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.

I don't fish

Even though I have zealot fishing friends who sprint, rod in hands, to secret spots in the Rocky Mountains when the moon is right, I have never really understood the allure. My son, on the other hand, is romanced by the concept. Thus, I lured him to the US Forest Service’s National Get Outdoors Day a few weeks ago, with the promise of fishing demos and lessons.

As my son was being oriented to the finer points of bait and hook, I picked up a fishing rod and did my best “A River Runs Though It” cast-off. The little buoy landed about three feet from my right foot in the dirt. I heard several hefty chuckles behind me and then an old man waddled over, shaking his head.

“That was just terrible,” he told me, visibly horrified by my performance.

He gave me a great lesson on the spot, his buddies chiming in with instructions from a bench a few yards away. Within ten minutes of focus and intense scrutiny, I was able send out a single, lengthy, direct line deep into the lake. I handed back the rod, figuring I should quit while I was ahead.

I must admit though, it was a thoroughly enjoyable ten minutes. I’ve always imagined fishing as stand still in a frozen stream at daybreak, maybe in some rain, occasionally untangling some line.

As we drive today to a friend’s ranch near Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, I am determined to try it again. Believe it or not, I brought Leave No Trace’s Fishing Skills and Ethics booklet along, which I read, again this morning, with a renewed interest…and maybe dreaming of Brad Pitt a little.

-Susy Alkaitis

Take a Kid to Camp

I received an email last week from the organization cityWILD. They were selected as one of 10 organizations nationwide that would be benefiting from Mountain Hardwear's "Send a Kid to Camp" campaign.

cityWILD was a Connect Grant recipient through the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, as well as Outdoor Outreach, another organization selected to be part of this campaign.

"Send a Kid to Camp" is a great example of the outdoor industry giving back to its community. Here is a summary of the program from the Mountain Hardwear website:

YOUR click can help Send a Kid to Camp. For every visitor to the Send a Kid to Camp site, Mountain Hardwear will donate $1 towards this program. Help us spread the word. Between now and April 15th, you and your friends can click to Send a Kid to Camp. You may return every day to donate!

As the website mentions, you can click through once a day until April 15th. It's an easy way to show your support for outdoor youth programs in your region, and it makes you feel good!

Click away!

Forced Fun

During Christmas, my dad pointed out that it sounded as though these days, parenting was about, “resisting, giving in and then restricting electronics for your kids.” I was asking him for batteries for a new gizmo for my son, as I rationalized the gift. I realized how many times I had described version to my dad in the last year, as I pulled out the portable DVD player or looked under a couch for a missing Leapster cartridge.

My dad was absolutely right.

Five minutes later in the Puget Sound sleet, I marched my son and husband out for a beach walk. I was met with reasonable resistance early on, but once we were out there exploring everything the storm had washed up, it couldn’t have been a more spectacularly grey, wet and glorious winter day the Northwest.

And, the commonly held believe that instilling kids with Leave No Trace concepts is relevant environmental insurance was never more apparent. Even in the cold, my son instinctively picked collected plastic bottles and other flotsom among the driftwood and shells. That night at dinner, he dedicated one of the candles he was lighting to less trash. At that moment, all was well in the world.