Leave No Trace. Pack it Out. Wilderness Steward.
These are just a few of the phrases that you will hear thrown around by individuals who have more than one or two hikes under their belt (or one would hope), but what does it actually mean to Leave No Trace or be a Wilderness Steward? How important is it to practice the Leave No Trace principles and for that matter what are they? Well, we’re here to answer those questions and point you to some awesome resources that can help you become a better outdoor recreator.
The History of Leave No Trace
Wilderness ethics and the concept of “leaving no trace” is not new; in fact, one could argue that it is centuries old. The practice of leaving little to no sign that a person was in a wilderness location is something that Native American and Indigenous peoples have practiced for centuries. However, it wasn’t until the 1960s and 1970s that the United States Forest Service (USFS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and National Park Service (NPS) began to educate and develop programs to encourage the public to practice low impact hiking and camping.
Over the next three decades, various pamphlets and programs were developed under different names, such as Wilderness Manners, Wilderness Ethics, Minimum Impact Camping, and No-Trace Camping. In 1987, the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and United States Forest Service finally got together and created and distributed a pamphlet titled, “Leave No Trace Land Ethics.” Fast forward to the 1990s, when the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) was brought in to develop training programs and in 1994 the National Outdoor Recreation Summit that encompassed various outdoor agencies got together and formed the official Leave No Trace Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Further reading on the history of the LNT organization can be found here.
What Do These Programs and Organizations Do?
Now known as the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, the organization serves many purposes, and plays many roles helping preserve outdoor recreation and wilderness areas. Although are best known for their “Seven Principles” (more below), scrolling through their website shows Leave No Trace works in almost a dozen additional facets of the outdoor recreation and preservation industries. From educating children about the importance of minimizing our impact on the environment to how to take precautions and be safe in the outdoors, there is a lot more to this organization than a series of statements.
What are the Leave No Trace Principles?
When you think of Leave No Trace, the first thing that comes to mind are the Leave No Trace Principles. While being in nature can make you feel like the trappings and rules of society don’t apply, if the outdoor community doesn’t self-govern and educate each other about the importance of outdoor ethics, we run the risk of trails and wilderness areas destroyed by overuse. Along with outlining and educating outdoor recreators about leaving no trace, the principles provide important information about trip planning, camping and traveling outdoors, and being considerate of others. The beauty of these principles is that they are fluid and re-evaluated on a regular basis by the Leave No Trace organization. The organization also provides resources under each of the principles that can help outdoor recreators best practice each individual principle.
Here are the seven Leave No Trace Principles:
Plan Ahead and Prepare
Travel & Camp on Durable Surfaces
Dispose of Waste Properly
Leave What You Find
Minimize Campfire Impacts
Respect Wildlife
Be Considerate of Other Visitors
We encourage everyone who engages in outdoor recreation to not only read each of the definitions of the seven principles, but to take 10 minutes and browse the information on each of the pages. It’s not enough to just know that the seven principles exist, or to have a general idea of what they are. It is our responsibility to understand the seven principles and follow them while recreating outdoors.
Being Familiar with the Seven Principles Isn’t Enough
The more experience we have with outdoor recreation and the more time we spend outside, the greater our responsibility to not only practice the seven principles, but to educate others about them. If you see someone traipsing over alpine vegetation instead of using the trail, talk to them about the fragile plants in the alpine zone.
If you see trash, pick it up. Give the right of way to hikers going uphill and talk about the importance of sharing the trails and minimizing trail erosion with other hikers. Most importantly, do these things in a kind and caring fashion. It’s been said that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, so do your best to educate others about their impact on the environment, but take into consideration that we were all “rookies” at one point, and many people just don’t know that what they’re doing is wrong.
Resources and Further Readings
Leave No Trace Website
COVID-19 and Leave No Trace
Leave No Trace Training/Courses