Education in Motion: Where to find the Traveling Trainers in NOVEMBER

The Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers, as well as the Leave No Trace e-tour Team are conducting the following training events across the country in November. For more information about these or to attend, visit their calendars. We hope to see you on the road!

Team East November Calendar
Team West November Calendar
E-tour November Calendar

Arizona:

• REI - Paradise Valley
• REI - Tucson
• Youth Now Collaboration AmeriCorps - Tucson
• Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona - Tucson

California:

• San Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains National Monument - Palm Desert
• Living Desert Reserve - Palm Desesrt
• Boy Scoot Troop 772 - Dana Point
• San Gabriel River Hot Spot - Glendora
• Environmental Nature Center - Newport Beach
• Crossroad School for the Arts & Science - Santa Monica
• Outdoor Outreach - San Diego
• Point Loma Outdoor Education - San Diego

Florida:

• Association for Experiential Education International Conference - Jacksonville

Kentucky:

• Jellystone Parks Tradeshow - Covington
  

Nevada:

• KOA Convention - Las Vegas
  

New Mexico:

• San Juan College - Farmington
• Mosaic Academy - Farmington

New York:

• Green Lakes State Park - Fayetteville

North Carolina:

• Montreat College - Montreat

Oregon:

• Oregon Caves National Monument - Cave Junction
• Madrona Elementary School - Grants Pass
• Rogue River Elementary School - Rogue River
• Evergreen Elementary School - Cave Junction
• Girl Scouts of Oregon and SW Washington - Medford

Do you want the Traveling Teams to come to your town? We are currently accepting event requests online for 2012.

NOTE: You MUST request an event by December 1st for the 2012 January - June window.

Awareness Workshop from Leave No Trace Partners - Selkirk Outdoor Leadership & Education and the Idaho Conservation League

Selkirk Outdoor Leadership & Education (SOLE) is a grassroots non-profit which facilitates custom-tailored experiential education programming for individuals and groups in the Inland Northwest and beyond! We strive to empower our participants to become active learners and responsible stewards of their community and its environment. Our clientele includes organizations, schools, agencies, families and individuals searching for a novel way to learn traditional, as well as, non-traditional subjects. Check out more at:

http://www.soleexperiences.org
http://www.linkedin.com/company/selkirk-outdoor-leadership-&-education-sole-
http://www.facebook.com/SOLEExperiences
http://twitter.com/#!/SOLE_Experience


The Idaho Conservation League has been Idaho’s voice for clean water, clean air and wilderness—values that are the foundation for Idaho’s extraordinary quality of life. As Idaho's largest state-based conservation organization since 1973, ICL represents over 20,000 supporters, many of whom have a deep personal interest in protecting Idaho’s wild places and wildlife. You can find out more at www.idahoconservation.org or find ICL on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IdahoConservationLeague

Dear Education Department: The meaning behind the "Swirl"

Dear Education Department,

I see the Leave No Trace logo many places. It’s a great reminder to take care of our open spaces. However, I’m been meaning to ask you for quite some time, what does the swirl mean? Does it represent something in particular? I have some ideas myself but I wanted to hear it straight from the source.

Thank you for your insight!

Sincerely,

Thoughtful Naturalist

**********

Dear Thoughtful Naturalist,

Thank you for your email! We are glad to hear the logo is becoming more recognizable and that it evokes a positive response. Many people have discussed the significance of the swirl over the years and here are some of our favorite theories:

• The dual lines and center dot represent something similar to the Chinese Yin and Yang, or the relationship between humans and the natural world and the need for balance.

• The lines represent the phrase “pack it in, pack it out.” One line symbolizes what you carry into the wilderness (the dot) and one line symbolizes what you carry back out. Again, there is a balance and the wilderness is left the same for better than you found it.

• The lines are the flames of a small, contained campfire (the dot). Fire safety and management is one facet of Leave No Trace and speaks to minimizing impact in general.

• The dot represents a concentrated environmental impact and how it can proliferate and spread (via the lines) if proper education, management and outreach aren’t in place.

In summary, there is no “one” explanation for what the Leave No Trace logo with the exception that it symbolizes what responsible recreation means to YOU. More importantly, it evokes thought, discussion and eventually action that have a future generation effect on conservation and environmental stewardship.

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Education Department

New for Bigfoot Challengers: PEAK and Teen Activity Contest this month puts educator creativity to the test.

This month, Bigfoot is putting Leave No Trace educators and community members to the test, to submit their ideas for new teaching activities to each of these programs. To take part in the PEAK and Teen activity contest, please complete this form: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/286168/peak-and-teen-activity-submission-contest

The PEAK (Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids) and Teen programs are aimed at teaching responsible recreation and environmental stewardship to youth through hands-on activities. Both the PEAK and Teen “packs” provide materials and resources for educators teaching youth about Leave No Trace.

One PEAK and one Teen activity will be chosen as the contest winners. Winners will be announced to the community and will be awarded outdoor gear from a Leave No Trace partner. The winning submissions will be hosted on the Leave No Trace website as free downloadable activities for educators and youth leaders.

On behalf of the Center and Bigfoot, thank you for your participation!

Dear Education Department: Online Awareness Course

Dear Education Department,

I am very interested in providing Leave No Trace education to my community. However, it’s been awhile since I took a Trainer Course or been involved with the program.

Is there a way I can refresh my knowledge about Leave No Trace practices and programs? Do you offer any online training opportunities or refresher courses? Likewise, do you offer similar opportunities that introduce people to the Leave No Trace program?

Sincerely,

Community Educator

*******

Dear Community Educator,

Thank you for your email and interest in providing education to your community. The Center has begun developing online training opportunities and now has an Online Awareness Course available through the website.

The course tests knowledge of Leave No Trace principles, techniques and programs. It is a great review for individuals that have previously taken a Leave No Trace course/workshop or reviewed the website and slideshow.

Upon completing the course, you are able to print a certificate for your records. We hope to provide more training opportunities through this medium, including a youth-based course.

Enjoy!

The Education Department

Leave No Trace Member Teaches A Camper's Oath in Delaware

One of the best parts of my work day is gettingn to hear from active Leave No Trace members and educators about the positive ways in which they are enacting change in their communities. It reminds me that Leave No Trace is a movement that exists beyond the walls of my office... an action-oriented and people-focused community that is growing by the minute.

This week, active Leave No Trace member and educator, Gary Lehr, was kind enough to send along the following article that was published in the Wilmington, DE News Journal. In addition to highlighting a recent, successful Trainer Course, it is also a great reference article on basic Leave No Trace principles and practices. You can read the full article, "A camper's oath: Do no harm," on The News Journal's website.

If you know of other exciting Leave No Trace events, or stories, or if you've seen Leave No Trace in the news, don't hesitate to let us know! Let's celebrate each other's successes, and our combined positive effect to increase Leave No Trace awareness around the world.

Rocky Mountain National Park expanding Long's Peak Parking.

Having spent each summer and the early part of my adult life living a stone's throw from the base of Long's Peak, the tallest peak in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, I'm no stranger to the user dynamic of that area.

If you were to park it on the bench at the trailhead, you would notice a particular pattern established over the course of any day.
3:00am: The first wave of eager hikers arrive, headlamps emblazoned, they head up the trail at a decent clip, determined to reach summit and be back in time for breakfast.
5:00am: Silence.
6:00am: The second wave of hikers arrive. These folks, equally eager, share ambitions of summiting, as well as Chasm Lake, Granite Pass, or any other myriad of stops along the way.
8:00am: The third wave of hikers, which come at a steady roll until late morning, begin the casual, exploratory hiking in the area. Most don't plan on reaching the summit, or they intend to set up camp at the Boulder Field.
10:30am: First group begins to arrive back at the parking lot.
1:00 pm: Second group begins arriving back at the parking lot.
2:00 pm: The skies open up. IT'S STORMING! Run for your car!
2:30 - 5:00pm: Folks arrive back, and the parking lot clears out, save a few overnight parkers.

Granted, you would notice overall - especially on a good weather day - that the parking lot in Long's Peak reaches near capacity. There is a line of cars parked down the access road leading to the trailhead. The lot is, truly, maxed out.

This is perhaps one reason behind today's headline in the Daily Camera: "Rocky Mountain National Park Proposes More Long's Peak Parking." I suggest taking a read through, as it only begins to hint at a larger picture of how increased parking could impact this area - positively and negatively.

I love Long's Peak. I bring my family and friends there whenever they visit, because even if we don't reach the top, just being in the presence of such a beautiful monument is enjoyable enough. It is, without a doubt, a must see in Colorado.

However, if parking increases to the proposed level, what will this do to the land? The alpine areas that make up the large part of these region are fragile, and prone to damage if recreationists are unaware of how they must be treated. Thankfully, Rocky Mountain National Park has done an amazing job with the integration of Leave No Trace in to their park's culture, using the principles on backcountry permits, educating it's visitors at trail heads, and more.

What are your thoughts? What would you do - as a community member or as a supporter of Leave No Trace - if parking was suddenly increased at your favorite park? Increased traffic and user demographics are a catch-22: we need more participation in the outdoors in order to have people connect with and care about the future of the land, BUT we also risk increased impact on the land in conjunction with increased user traffic.

There's merit to both sides, I think.

Ohio Advocacy Forum

This last weekend we were in Delaware, OH spending some time with local Leave No Trace educators and neighboring State Advocates. Over 40 people showed up for a day-long workshop on Saturday along with Laurie Harmon (VA State Advocate), Kim Beach-Shaffer (WV State Advocate), Debbie Dodt (IL State Advocate), and Don Nash (OH State Advocate). The weekend was full of networking, guest speakers, and Leave No Trace activities. We just wanted to say thanks to all that took advantage of this opportunity. It was great to meet and work with you all.

Bringing the Outdoors In

Here are a few photos from a recent PEAK presentation with kindergartners at Pioneer Bilingual School/La Escuela Bilingue Pioneer in Lafayette, Colorado.


Driving to the park.


Stretching for a hike.


Looking at an eagle.


Jogging back down the trail.

With a little imagination, you can bring the outdoors (and Leave No Trace) anywhere.

Putting Nature in the Constitution

I ran across this article a friend had sent me a few weeks ago. It was published in the LA times. Here is an excerpt:

"This month, Ecuador will hold the world's first constitutional referendum in which voters will decide, among many other reforms, whether to endow nature with certain unalienable rights. Not only would the new constitution give nature the right to "exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution," but if it is approved, communities, elected officials and even individuals would have legal standing to defend the rights of nature. "

This was interesting to me on many levels. Having been to Ecuador several times, I have witnessed how (as the article also mentions) the physical geography of the country is very interwoven with the culture and history of its people- the mountains, the rainforest, the coast, the Galapagos! The country is about the size of Colorado and is extremely biologically diverse.

Working for Leave No Trace, we are constantly in dialogue about how we communicate our organizational mission, our programs, who we are, what we do and how it fits into the bigger [environmental] picture. I think everyone here would agree that we feel it's important to protect our open spaces for future generations, to share these bits of our cultural and history with our children and so forth, but, could it be so simple as we have an ethical [legal?] responsibility to?

Here is a link to the full article: http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-ed-nature2-2008sep02,0,4624476.story

Is the Leave No Trace Trainer Course Really Effective?

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics has developed a variety of printed educational materials and training programs to communicate Leave No Trace practices and ethics for over a decade. There has been little research, however, to evaluate how well these messages are absorbed and used by outdoor visitors. Dr. Jeff Marion and Melissa Daniels completed and published a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the 2-day Leave No Trace Trainer course in order to document and evaluate participants' gain and retention of knowledge, ethics, and reported behavior.

The questionnaires were developed based on the most current Leave No Trace information available in the Leave No Trace Skills & Ethics booklet series and Trainer course materials. Over a five month period, the researchers advertised their study through the database of Master Educators, contacted those who were offering Trainer courses, and asked if they were interested in participating in the study. In all, there were 20 courses that distributed pre-course and post-course questionnaires to the participants; an additional follow-up survey was conducted with these participants 4-5 months later. The researchers received a total of 166 pre-course, 156 post-course, and 112 follow-up surveys.

The Results:

The knowledge section contained 25 items, each counted as correct or incorrect and scored on a 100-point scale. The mean score for all knowledge test items improved significantly from a mean pre-course score of 70 to a post-course score of 82. There was a slight 3-point drop from post-course to follow-up, but the long-term change, pre to follow-up, remained statistically significant. Of the 25 knowledge questions, 17 showed significant improvement pre to post, with the greatest improvements in items related to repacking food, traveling off-trail, and scattering ashes. There were no significant declines pre to post.

The ethics section contained 16 items for which participants rated their agreement on a seven-point scale. These showed a similar pattern to knowledge for overall mean scores. Ethics scores for the pre-course survey were fairly high—5.8 on a scale of one to seven—and improved significantly on the post-course survey. The follow-up showed a significant decline from the post-course survey, but there was still a significant improvement pre- to follow-up.

Reported behavior was assessed at two points in time—pre-course and follow-up. These ten items had three possible responses and space for comments. Responses were scored as one, two, or three based on use of the most acceptable Leave No Trace practice. All mean scores for the items were above the middle response of 2, indicating that most respondents chose the most appropriate or second-most appropriate behavior, even prior to the course.

Summary:

The evaluation of the Trainer course curriculum indicates that it is successful in promoting Leave No Trace practices to participants. Research results revealed statistically significant improvement in Leave No Trace knowledge, ethics and outdoor practices both immediately following the course and 4-5 months later. Findings support the contention that improved Leave No Trace knowledge and ethics lead to the adoption of low impact practices.

For more information or to download the study and the questionnaire, please visit http://lnt.org/training/lntrelatedresearch.php