Gettin' out the WHY in AZ!

Our week kicked off with back-to-back stellar sessions in Flagstaff and Sedona with the Northern Arizona University Trip Leaders and the Red Rock Ranger District in the Coconino National Forest. With both groups we got to really dig into the "why" of Leave No Trace -- talking about ecological and social impacts in their part of the country as well as how to message the information.  After an intense and snow-filled weekend of trip-leader training, we met with the students back at their awesome rec center. As a group, we got to play some fun games, including Plan Ahead and Prepare Charades and a great game focusing on different outdoor user groups. Two highlights of the afternoon were working with them to reflect on their experience in the field that weekend and discussing how to talk to individuals, both on their crews and people they encounter in the outdoors, about Leave No Trace skills and ethics. Students and leaders like these make it clear why NAU is such a great educational partner for the Center. They even lead Trainer Courses of their own throughout the year and are truly dedicated to practicing and educating the principles of Leave No Trace!

With Candice from the Forest Service in Red Rock Country!

In Red Rock Country, we met with a diverse group of Sedona-lovers including Forest Service personnel, volunteers from the Friends of the Forest, and outfitters. These groups are dedicated to protecting one of the most beautiful parts of the country. One clever technique they employ is having a marketing campaign to educate visitors about cryptobiotic soils -- both their fragility and their importance to the desert ecosystem. In addition to desert issues, we had a great discussion about the frontcountry program from the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. The area receives over four million visitors a year, most of them headed to day-use only locations. By focusing on educating these visitors in a myriad of ways, these frontliners are getting out the WHY to both first-time users and backcountry aficionados. We felt fortunate to spend the day with such impassioned individuals! Thanks for all the hard work you do!

From Red Rocks to Cacti,

Quinn & Frank

Leave No Trace in Central Arkansas

In 1982, the longtime director of the Little Rock, Arkansas Parks and Recreation Department, Julius Breckling, mentioned the concept of a trail of parks alongside the Arkansas River. His vision was to link a chain of parks together along the river. Breckling noted that, “This is a long-term project, probably 10 years before we really start developing it.” Now, almost 30 years later, a “trail of parks” along the river is nearing completion.

The Arkansas River Trail is located in Pulaski County in central Arkansas, and runs through both Little Rock and North Little Rock. The Trail parallels the river, stretching from the Clinton Presidential Library west through the Bill Clark Wetlands and Riverfront Park, as well as seven more parks before ending at Pinnacle Mountain State Park. The Trail is designed to accommodate a variety of recreational use – biking, hiking, running, dog walking, angling, birding, etc.

Trail managers, partners and various user groups contacted the Center in late 2010 to inquire about developing a site-specific, locally tailored Leave No Trace education program for the river trail. After a number of initial discussions, staff from the Center traveled to Arkansas to meet with members of the trail management partnership. Upon completion of this meeting, the partners enlisted the services of the Center in order to start developing a Leave No Trace educational program to meet the trail’s specific needs.

The majority of the region’s population lives in or near urban and suburban areas, and most residents in these areas recreate close to home – in areas considered frontcountry. Frontcountry is defined as outdoor areas that are easily accessible by car and mostly visited by day users. These urban and suburban populations seek quality and easily accessible recreational experiences. Recreation-related impacts (e.g. user conflict, off-trail travel, litter, spread of invasive species, vandalism, pet waste, etc.) must be effectively managed in order to provide quality recreational opportunities now and in the future.

In order to effectively manage recreation-related impacts along the river trail, the Center has already provided many of the following fee-based services in central Arkansas:

• Initial consultation to assess the management concerns of the respective area
• Assessment of current educational initiatives with respect to Leave No Trace practices
• Use of applicable language and graphics from existing Leave No Trace Frontcountry projects
• Development of language and graphics to address other local concerns
• Synchronization of all content for a coherent, integrated educational program
• Consultation on program implementation
• Assessment tools to help quantify the success of the program

Thanks to a strong group of managers and supporters, implementation of the Leave No Trace program along the river trail is quickly taking shape. The intention is to have a trailwide rollout of the education program to ensure consistent outreach to trail users. Center staff will continue to consult with the river trail partnership over the coming months in order to create and implement a robust Leave No Trace educational program that will help protect this wonderful shared resource in central Arkansas.

If you are interested in learning more about Leave No Trace Frontcountry Program develpment or would like to implement a similar education program in your area, please contact Ben Lawhon: ben@lnt.org.

Pick Up Poop

I went for an early, snowy and cold hike this morning with my dog on a local trail. While the trail was quite and lonely this morning (it was 15˚ snowing...), on most days it's one of the most heavily used trails in Boulder. Lots of people in this part of the world hike with their dogs, and this trail is a hot-bed for dog activity. As I was nearing the end of my hike I stopped to look at the trailhead signage and saw this sign:



I was a welcome reminder to all who enjoy the trail that picking up your dog's waste is the right thing to do. The City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks estimates that 40 tons of pet waste is deposited on lands they manage. Much of this waste is picked up and properly disposed of but there is a large quantity that remains on these lands.

From the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP):

Why is dog waste such a big deal? Who cleans up after coyotes?

Besides its bad smell, dog waste can pollute water sources and encourage noxious weeds to grow. Coyotes and other wildlife eat what is available to them on OSMP land. Dogs eat dog food or table scraps, so their waste is different from wildlife droppings. Dog waste can harbor microbes and drain to Boulder's resevoirs. It is also rich in nitrogen, which encourages noxious and invasive weeds to grow.

Check out this video done by OSMP on dog poop: http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11515&Itemid=1082

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

Dear Education Department: Disposing of wastewater in Frontcountry

Dear Education Department,

How am I supposed to get rid of wastewater in the Frontcountry? Dig a sump or broadcast strained grey water? Would I ever broadcast it onto a roadway?

Signed,

Concerned Camper

Dear Concerned Camper,

Generally speaking, we advocate the broadcasting of strained wastewater for most environments. However, there are a few exceptions:

1. In Frontcountry environments, we advocate using existing facilities to dispose of wastewater (sink, sump, etc.) if provided. If no facilities are provided, we’d default to straining and broadcasting. However, if you’re in grizzly country, the sump (6-8” deep cathole) might be preferred as it concentrates smells and provides some smell barrier with the 6-8” of soil and thus might not be as attractive to animals (grizzly bears.

From our Rocky Mountain Skills & Ethics Booklet on wastewater disposal in grizzly country:

Disposing of wastewater in bear country is tricky. Once again, your main goal is to keep odors out of camp. If you are camped by a large volume river—at least 10 feet wide with substantial depth—you can pour strained wash water directly into the river to help disperse any odor. If you are not by a river, consider digging a small hole and sumping your wastewater. This practice concentrates odors in one safe location well away from your camp, however, animals may be attracted to the smell and dig up the hole in search of food. For this reason, sumping is not recommended in areas of high use. In these places, you should walk well away from camp and scatter your wastewater.

2. I would not recommend pouring strained wastewater onto a roadway. The reason is that the food smells in the wastewater are still likely an attractant to wildlife, which can then be drawn to the roadway to investigate. This in and of itself can lead to habituation with food conditioning of animals. Furthermore, it can snowball from there by attracting wildlife to roadways in search of food, which then get hit by cars, which then are fed on by animals like raptors, which then also get hit by cars. It can be a nasty domino effect…

**********************************

One more question: Seems like you have a lot of information on disposing of human waste, but grey water seems to be up in the air so to speak.

While there is some truth to the assertion that our recommendations on wastewater disposal, predominately in Frontcountry, are “up in the air,” our backcounty recommendations are solid – strain and broadcast or strain and sump in grizzly country, always defaulting to agency regulations. In the Frontcountry, it’s a bit trickier. There are many factors that must be taken into consideration. However, we’d recommend the following: dispose of strained wastewater in provided facilities first (sink, sump, possibly a flush toilet even if allowed), if no facilities exist, strain wastewater and broadcast 200 ft from the campsite if possible (can be a challenge in many Frontcountry areas to actually get that far from the site without being in someone else’s site or near a water source, road, etc.) and be mindful of special considerations in grizzly country.

Urban Ethics

Good morning!

Yesterday, my coworker Catherine and I met with Denver Parks and Recreation. They are interested in incorporating Leave No Trace district wide into their Ranger Program. These urban Park Rangers patrol acres of green space attached to schools, neighborhoods and commercial areas. Needless to say, there is a lot of recreation and visitation happening.

Urban green spaces present their own unique set of human created impacts and issues. We've been asked many times if Leave No Trace has ever created or adapted the seven principles for a more urban environment. I've seen a few examples but would love to hear what you think! Here are the current backcountry and frontcountry principles (representing both Wilderness and day-use areas):

How would you adapt these even further? Or would you?

Plan Ahead and Prepare or Know Before You Go
Travel and Camp On Durable Surfaces or Choose the Right Path
Dispose of Waste Properly or Trash Your Trash
Leave What You Find or Leave it as you Find It
Minimize Campfire Impacts or Be Careful with Fire
Respect Wildlife or Keep Wildlife Wild
Be Considerate of Other Visitors or Share the Trail