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by Jeffrey L. Marion, Ph.D., and David Bates
Leaving your mark is overrated, especially at camp. As those who clean
and maintain camp facilities can attest, picking up litter, removing graffiti,
and restoring worn-out trails, campsites, and grass cover is a thankless
waste of resources that have better uses. Wouldn't camp look better if
your groups left facilities as clean as they found them, if they stuck
to trails and other durable surfaces, and if they truly cared about protecting
natural resources and camp facilities? Wouldn't camp and outdoor experiences
be improved if participants were more considerate of other groups? LNT
skills and ethics apply to both in-camp and trip-and-travel programs.
Camps and public recreation lands are showing the ill effects from their
visitation. User-created trails and campsites proliferate, unsightly trash
reappears on a daily basis, vegetation is trampled underfoot, and soils
erode into creeks and lakes. Disturbance of wildlife can displace them
from critical foraging or nesting habitats while animals that obtain human
food become pesky beggars or safety threats that must be relocated or
killed. These and many other resource impacts can degrade the quality
of outdoor experiences because they are most evident along trails and
at recreation sites where visitors spend the majority of their time. Crowding
and conflicts with other groups interfere with our activities and degrade
the quality of our experiences. While these impacts are numerous and widespread,
the solution is simple: change behavior through education, one person
at a time! The LNT challenge is to preserve the quality of resources and
experiences by eliminating avoidable impacts, such as littering or noisy/rude
behavior, and minimizing unavoidable impacts, such as trampling vegetation
on trails or recreation sites.
When outdoor enthusiasts hear about the program, many think they already
know how to practice LNT. While much of the educational basis is founded
on common sense, the practices have also been peer-reviewed for consistency
with research findings. LNT practices differ depending on differences
in geography and environments and in type of outdoor activity. An appropriate
environmental practice in a forest environment may not be appropriate
for a desert, lake, alpine, tundra, or cave environment. LNT principles
and practices are described in a series of booklets called Outdoor Skills
& Ethics, which are applicable to various camp environments and recreational
activities, including backpacking climbing, biking, horses, caving, and
watercraft.
Teaching Camp Leaders Environmental Ethics
The Skills & Ethics series specifically serves as a resource for
youth group leaders and for leaders of camp trip-and-travel programs where
the outdoor activities occur on public lands. While group sizes are a
concern, research has shown that group size is much less important than
group behavior when it comes to impacting the environment. To achieve
a high standard, group leaders should be well versed in outdoor skills,
teaching novices, and the environmental principles like those presented
in the LNT program.
Leave No Trace Expands to Meet Frontcountry Needs
LNT skills and ethics are rapidly becoming a standard code of conduct
that promotes the stewardship practices necessary to protect the ecological
and experiential health of outdoor environments. While LNT began as primarily
a backcountry program, it is expanding to include a new focus on frontcountry
environments with a new set of guidelines and practices. The frontcountry
includes city, county, and state parks, open space, and areas that are
easily accessible by vehicle and mostly visited during the day.
The frontcountry guidelines and practices are likely to be more applicable
to activities that occur within camp. Frontcountry practices must also
be tailored to match different environments, activities, and organizational
needs. As LNT and the American Camp Association (ACA) continue to partner,
possibilities exist to develop educational pieces directly for leaders
in frontcountry or camp settings and to incorporate LNT skills and ethics
within ACA's Outdoor Living Skills literature.
How Does Leave No Trace Apply to In-Camp and
Trip-and-Travel Programs?
Camp directors might consider the following questions to help them determine
the need for environmental education throughout their camp environment:
- Is camp staff teaching LNT skills and ethics to all campers? Are
they adequately targeting in-camp and trip-and-travel activities that
would benefit from such teaching?
- Are all campsites, trails, and program sites located on the most
durable surfaces?
- Are human waste, garbage, and trash being disposed of in a way that
is not harmful to the environment, water supplies, wildlife, and the
health of other campers?
- Are campers taught to "leave what they find," including
wildflowers, rocks, artifacts, and wildlife?
- Does the camp minimize campfire impacts by emphasizing the use of
lightweight stoves and avoiding large campfires?
- Is wildlife being disturbed by camp activities or attracted by human
food sources?
- Are campers taught to respect other campers, outdoor visitors, and
staff by reducing the noise level and respecting private property in
the vicinity of camp?
These are just a sample of questions to consider. Your camp staff could
be encouraged to develop their own questions and seek appropriate environmental
responses.
Implementing LNT at Your Camp
Implementing LNT at your camp can be accomplished in three steps:
- Start by creating a camp LNT Library. Inform staff of the availability
of these materials and that you are encouraging them to use and incorporate
them into their curriculums and outdoor activities.
- Make it a priority to hire staff with outdoor skills and environmental
awareness training and consider offering a program like LNT training
in your camp's pre-season program. Have a permanent staff member trained
as a Master Educator so that he/she can conduct Trainer Courses and
Awareness Workshops for other staff (see the January/February Camping
Magazine article for course details). Incorporate LNT training in all
aspects of seasonal staff training. Include LNT instruction in performance
evaluations and remind staff of the need to "lead by example."
- Implement LNT instruction and practices throughout your camp. Address
issues related to both camp and trip-and-travel activities identified
by the previously listed questions. Camp staff can respond to some issues
based on changes to facilities and management, others require the education
of campers and changes in their behavior.
There are many resources and options available to you to assist with
implementing LNT at your camp. Include a query about LNT training on your
camp application form, and hire staff that already have LNT training and/or
experience. Check the LNT Web site (www.LNT.org) to see if there is a
State Advocate who can facilitate training at your camp or if there is
a Master Educator near you who could visit your camp during seasonal staff
training. Otherwise call a local federal land management agency office
or the LNT Center for Outdoor Ethics for assistance. The Subaru/LNT Traveling
Trainers (see the January/February Camping Magazine article) may also
be available to conduct training, particularly for national or regional
ACA conferences and workshops.
Consider your objectives for incorporating LNT instruction at your camp.
Your first objective would be to resolve existing or potential environmental
problems within your camp, such as the proliferation of trails, vegetation
trampling at activity sites, attraction of nuisance animals, littering,
and noise that interferes with the educational programs of other groups.
Another objective for programs away from camp is the need to protect the
environment on the private or public lands you use and minimize the intrusion
your group makes on the experience of other groups. A failure to be "good
stewards" can and has resulted in the loss of access for camps to
special features such as caves and cliffs. Finally, and most importantly,
camps have an ethical responsibility to not just introduce youth to the
natural world but to instill an abiding respect and caring attitude toward
nature.
Originally published in the 2005 May/June issue
of Camping Magazine. |
