Hawk Mountain Scout Reservation Trainer Course

This weekend we led a dynamic group of 7 participants that are involved with the Boy Scouts of America at the Hawk Mountain Scout Reservation in Schuylkill, PA.  This was a unique opportunity to train people that are involved in the organization on many different levels, including cub scouts, high adventure, and future eagle scouts.  Everyone was excited to take their new knowledge and apply it to future outings with their troops.  The Boy Scouts of America have just re-written their hand book to include a more extensive section of Leave No Trace and they will be working hard to integrate Leave No Trace at all levels of scouting. We wish the new trainers well in all their future Leave No Trace workshops!  Here are a few pictures from the course- enjoy!

Safe travels...Kate and Tracy

Picture of the week 9/11/09

Graffiti is one of many reasons Leave No Trace education is so important in front country areas! This photo was taken at Dover Peaks, MA.

Outward Bound on Thompson Island

As we travel the country teaching Leave No Trace, we encounter many firsts.  For our last event in Boston Harbor, we had to take a ferry ride to get to the presentation site! That was definitely a first.  Outward Bound Thompson Island has been serving the youth of greater metropolitan Boston for more than 20 years.  They are stewards of Thompson Island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area where their 204-acre campus is the 'Island Classroom' of the Boston Harbor Islands.  We had the pleasure of working with 17 staff that were gearing up for the fall season.  We shared activities that they could use with their students when they come to study on the island. We applaud Outward Bound for reaching out to urban youth in the Boston area and helping them to feel more connected with nature.  Keep up the good work!

Safe travels...Kate and Tracy  

Bigfoot Wants You to Leave No Trace!

We spotted Mr. Bigfoot on our way to Humboldt State University. During our visit there, we presented to several classes and set up a table in the common area. We talked with hundreds of students, many of whom took the Leave No Trace Bigfoot Challenge!

To show our appreciation, we gave every student who took the challenge a sweet "Bigfoot's Been Doing It for Years" t-shirt.

Want your very own "Bigfoot's Been Doing It for Years" t-shirt? All you have to do is take the Bigfoot Challenge and pay shipping and handling!

LEAVE NO TRACE

(BIGFOOT'S BEEN DOING IT FOR YEARS)

Photo of the Week: Burning Man

We spent a few days at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada. We had a great time working with Earth Guardians and Toxic Avengers!

What's Your Leave No Trace Strategy?

Last weekend we headed to Incline Village, Nevada to set up a booth with Big Blue Adventure Series. In addition to an off-trail triathlon, many trail runners showed up to battle it out during the 5k and 10k races. We had a lot of fun chatting with athletes and spectators about ways to minimize their impacts while competing. Athletes invest a lot of time training for these races and developing a race strategy. We encouraged racers to spend some time developing a Leave No Trace strategy. Trash like water cups and food wrappers are easily misplaced during the race, so having a plan to deal these items is important. Often water cups are dropped at aid stations and quickly picked up by volunteers, but trash dropped on trail can be easily missed by race sweepers. This trash can take many years to decompose and poses a health risk for wildlife. For more ideas on how you can develop your own Leave No Trace strategy click here.

Volunteer Vacation

Most people would agree that spending a week at Lake Tahoe is a pretty great vacation, but it takes a special type of person to spend a week building trails at Lake Tahoe and still think it's a pretty great vacation.

Last week we met up with staff and volunteers from American Hiking Society near Truckee, California. During our morning presentation, we worked with seasoned staff and volunteers as we discussed programs offered by Leave No Trace. Later that day, we were able to meet up with a brand new crew from AHS's Volunteer Vacation program as they prepared to spend the week building trails in the area. We had a great time and were awed by all the work that these folks accomplish while on vacation! Nice work and hope to see you all again in the future. Happy hiking...you've certainly earned it!