Bigfoot Sightings in Seattle

Greetings from Seattle!

Both the Outreach and Education Departments are up in the Evergreen State this week taking part in Seattle Backyard Sessions. The Sessions are aimed at increasing networking and volunteer opportunities amongst Leave No Trace community members, as well as highlighting our important work with Mt. Rainier National Park as part of the Hot Spot program.

Here's a glimpse of the event last night - as expected, Bigfoot made an appearance.

For more information, be sure to read the upcoming eNews which will highlight our partner organizations, as well as our work with Mt. Rainier.

If you are in the Seattle area today, come check out the second session at the REI store in downtown Seattle. The event starts at 6:00 PM. See you then!

Sarah

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.

Student help hikers "Know Before They Go"

Students from Glen Cove Elementary in Roanoke, VA adopted their local Appalachian Trail Kiosk and gave it some much needed attention.

Check out the photos:

Before

After

Thanks to these students local hikers can learn how to take care of our shared public lands by leaving no trace. Glen Cove Elementary was a Leave No Trace grant recipient and also worked with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's "A Trail to Every Classroom" program.

Our 2010 grant recipients have done some amazing work in their local communities and we'd like to thank them for all of their volunteer work! Check back in January for 2011 grant deadlines.

College Students: Help us with outreach!

Many of you have read the recent posts about Leave No Trace programs in the Red River Gorge.

As part of the Hot Spot program, the Center is also working with the Forest Service to improve outreach to college/university students visiting this region.

If you are a college/university student that recreates in this area - Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, etc. - please take five minutes to complete this survey:

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/334068/red-river-gorge-university-outreach

With your help, we can keep the Red River Gorgeous!

The North Face Speaker Series - join the adventure starting September 28th!

As an organization focused on people doing their part to be both participants and activists in the outdoor conservation moment, we are proud to partner with companies like The North Face who put these values in to action, every day.

Join us this Fall as we meet athletes from The North Face on the road for The North Face Speaker Series, held in select cities across the nation through December 3rd.

Check out the full North Face Speaker Series schedule here, and see which exciting show is happening in your area of the country!

Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers and Staff will at the Speaker Series in the following cities: Boulder, Denver, Santa Fe and Burlington.

See you there!

Community Partnerships in Action

Just finished a great morning training with crew members from Groundwork Denver & Big City Mountaineers. The crew is headed up into Rocky Mountain National Park to camp and complete trail and conservation projects for the next three weeks.

Groundwork Denver (GWD) is a unique organization, whose mission is to bring about the sustained improvement of the physical environment and promote health and well-being through community-based partnerships and action.

"We have found that the interest in urban environmental improvements - ranging from tree planting, to toxic cleanup, to energy efficiency improvements, to transit-oriented design – cuts across income, ethnic, and language barriers." - GWD website

Similar to GWD, Big City Mountaineers works with urban communities, "offering transformative outdoor experiences to enrich lives, broaden horizons and instill critical life skills."

The Center's work with these organizations is critical in providing outreach and education to a broad cross-section of communities participating in a range of outdoor activities. What great projects are going on in your community?

Don't forget the next Connect Grant deadline is August 1. Nominate an organization in your community or apply on behalf of a group you work/volunteer with. Help incorporate Leave No Trace education into all outdoor experiences!

L.L.Bean Outdoor Heroes: Amy Chapman

Each year, L.L.Bean recognizes individuals who are helping to preserve wild spaces and promote outdoor recreation. This year's Outdoor Heroes winners each received a commemorative award and a $500 L.L.Bean Gift Card. In addition, L.L.Bean recognized the conservation organization that each hero helps support. L.L.Bean contributed a $5,000 Outdoor Heroes grant to the Leave No Trace Center For Outdoor Ethics. Many Thanks to Amy Chapman and L.L.Bean.

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.

Happy Holidays from Leave No Trace!

Thank you for a great year!

Looking for some cool last minute gifts or just some fun Leave No Trace goodies, click here.

Cheers from, Kurt, Susy, Catherine, Bode, Dave, Sarah (pictured above) and the rest of the crew at Leave No Trace (Ben, Dana, Whit, and Sara)

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Ascending the Giants Receives the Leave No Trace Award at the Adventure Film Festival

Adventure Film, a dedicated partner of the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, recently hosted its annual Adventure Film Festival in Boulder, CO earlier this month. As a local partner, it was a great opportunity for staff members to get hands-on in the great outreach AF is doing the community. Many of us volunteered our time to help with ticket sales, distribute flyers and posters, and staff booths at the festival. A true highlight for me, however, was seeing the film that received the Leave No Trace award this year: Ascending the Giants.

From the Adventure Film website:

Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics is Adventure Film’s 2009 Nonprofit Partner.

The world’s greatest stories play out in the wild places of this earth, and those wild places are a limited and delicate resource. We are all key players in preserving this stage for future generations. In the Spirit of adventure and conservation, we recognize “Ascending the Giants” as recipient of the 2009 Leave No Trace Award, for upholding a mission of empowering people to be the solution to environmental impact by educating communities worldwide on the skills and ethics of sustainable recreation.

The Klootchy Creek Sitka Spruce Tree on the Oregon Coast was the largest of its kind. In December of 2007, it toppled during a fierce windstorm, leaving the designation of largest Sitka spruce in Oregon up for grabs. With just a handful of contenders for the title, Brian French and Will Koomjian spent several months measuring the candidates. Join them as they travel to four massive Sitkas, each with its own unique personality and growing conditions. This short documentary features stunning cinematography from both ground and canopy that captures the excitement of climbing these proud behemoths.

Watch the trailer:

Connect Grants- Deadline Extended!

Connect Grants for Culturally Diverse Communities provide Leave No Trace educational materials, training and partnership to programs working with multicultural communities.

The deadline this year has been extended to November 1, 2009.

For more information on Connect, and to apply, please visit: http://lnt.org/programs/connect_grants.php

View the photos below for information on past recipients. Please direct any questions, comments or inquiries to grants@LNT.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

View more presentations or Upload your own.

We want you to Take the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Survey!

If you have 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!

Teen Program Page

Hey all-

Check out the new Teen Program page on our website. Content for this page was a collaboration between the Center and the Youth Partnership for Health (YPH), a teen advisory committee for health and environment issues in the state of Colorado.

There are also links to other Educator Resources. Please let us know what you think, and if you have questions!

Sarah
Education Department

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!

Youth Taking Action

Hello there!

Just wanted to give a shout out to the EGBA (Environmental Bee Green Army) at Goddard Middle School in Littleton, CO.

The EGBA is a group of 6th grade science students who have put their classroom discussion into action by doing environmental service-learning project in their community, such as park clean-ups and building soil erosion banks.

They've also created informational boards around their school on a variety of environmental/social issues, such as Leave No Trace. Here is a letter they sent us at the Center:
..............................................................................

Dear Leave No Trace,

The EGBA thanks you beyond belief! We were excited to know you were coming and hopeful to learn more about being environmentally protective. We loved your motto (leaving your mark is overrated); it inspired us even more to continue our green acts.

It was fun to participate in your activities. We all liked how you helped us make the right decision on what to bring when you are hiking or on a camping trip (the backpack helped).

Your introduction video was thought out nicely, and also helped us remember many useful things for the future. Your production was phenomenal and everything you taught us will always be useful throughout our green lives.

Sincerely,
EBGA
..............................................................................

What inspiring stories do you have about youth in your community? Please share!