The final Leave No Trace principle, number seven, is “Be Considerate of Other Visitors.” This should be common sense for most people, but referring back to Planning Ahead and Prepare, we need to ensure our actions will not negatively impact others or the environment. [More]

The fifth Leave No Trace (LNT) principle is Minimize Campfire Impacts. This principle is important when it comes to protecting the environment; many forest fires are started in the summer when campers don’t control fires appropriately and in many areas the appearance has been degraded because of the increasing demand for firewood. [More]

Today we will be going over the fourth Leave No Trace Principle: Leave What You Find. While this principle may seem like an easy one to adopt, actually putting this into practice can be more difficult than one would think. All too often we pick something up that looks unique or cool and after a little while, it ends up in a box or tossed in the trash. Although this happens all too often, it’s these little things that are slowly changing the wilderness for the worse. [More]

The third Leave No Trace (LNT) principle is Dispose of Waste Properly. Disposing of waste properly is all about a simple idea, pack it in - pack it out. If you carry something in with you, it should come back out with you as well. Usually when people do not follow this principle the most obvious signs are trash and debris. However, many people do not consider the effects human waste, food debris, or water contamination can have for years to come. [More]

The second Leave No Trace (LNT) principle is Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces. This principle is vital to the preservation of the environment you are planning to travel through during your next adventure. When roaming outdoors, damage occurs when vegetation or other communities of organisms are trampled. [More]

During each overnight Outdoor Recreation Center (ORC) trip, the Adventure Facilitators (Trip Leaders) have the opportunity to teach patrons about the principles of Leave No Trace (LNT). These principles are the basis for positive stewardship while enjoying the outdoors. Throughout the remainder of the semester, we will be highlighting each of the LNT Seven Principles: Plan Ahead and Prepare, Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces, Dispose of Waste Properly, Leave What You Find, Minimize Campfire Impacts, Respect Wildlife, and Be Considerate of Other Visitors. While these are not hard and fast rules to abide by, they are a good way to take care of the environment while appreciating the wilderness. [More]

Today I decided to take a look at my environmental impact, also known as my ‘ecological footprint.’ There are several sites that measure your ecological footprint. I used the site linked to the Wellbeing page, www.myfootprint.org. The questions were easy to answer and for the few I didn’t know off the top of my head I used the national average, which was provided by the site. I learned that if every single person on Earth lived the same way that I do, we would use up 4.1 Earths! To be honest I was pretty shocked. I have become known to my friends as the eco-friendly fanatic and although I know that I am not perfect when it comes to being eco-conscious I do make a very strong effort. According to the website the average U.S. citizen leaves a footprint of 246.41 global acres. My consumption level was only 159.27 global acres. If my consumption was over 4 Earths this means that in reality U.S. citizens are living completely unsustainable lives that could consume over 6 Earths! [More]

College students are well-known for their crazy, hectic schedules. This is one of the busiest times of our lives and we are finally at the age where we are making our own decisions and setting up a path that we could follow for the rest of our lives. This is an exciting time but it can also be very overwhelming as we undergo many personal changes. Sometimes we get caught up and forget to take care of ourselves. I have decided to take a step back and evaluate my own wellbeing through the ‘8 Dimensions of Wellbeing’: emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual. I will be blogging about my journey throughout the summer with posts until I have completed my personal adventure. Stay tuned for my first wellbeing blog post! [More]

Being an outdoor enthusiast, when I heard about the opportunity to get trained in outdoor leadership, I couldn’t resist the opportunity.  Aside from my personal desires to gain more experience in the outdoors, I currently work for University Recreation (UREC) Marketing as an intern assigned to the Outdoor Recreation Center (ORC) team and figured gaining additional outdoor leadership experience will only help me become a better UREC employee.  Outdoor Leadership Training is an 11-day course provided by the Outdoor Recreation Center to instruct participants how to lead a group into the wilderness through training in backpacking, kayaking and rock climbing.    This past Tuesday was the pre-trip orientation where trainers from the ORC provided all of the students with an overview of what will be taking place during the training.  Not knowing any of the other students participating in the course, I was glad when the staff trainers started the meeting with an ice breaker for everyone to get to know each other.  They gave us outdoor activity scenarios and asked us to express our “comfort level” with the scenario provided.  This was a great way for each of us to see where we are comfortable and where we still need some development.  It was reassuring to see other people have some of the same situational comforts as I did.  Next, the staff provided guidance on some aspects of the training like Leave No Trace, how to properly pack a backpack for hiking and what to bring and not to bring on outdoor adventures.  We finished things up on Tuesday with a tentative schedule of events for the duration of the course (subject to change depending on weather). Being a leadership course, each of the students teaches several aspects of the course.  I chose to provide a brief history of Granite Point, where we will be conducting the rock climbing portion of training; how to read a topographical map, since maps ar... [More]

Gathering around a campfire to exchange stories and spend time with friends is one of my favorite parts of camping. Watching the flickering flames and the smell of burning wood instills a sense of calm in me. However, what really puts my mind at ease is knowing that my campfire is not leaving a trace on the environment. According to Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, one of the most important rules to follow when building a campfire is to never burn your trash. Here are a few reasons why. First, burning items like plastic bottles and bags, miscellaneous tape, batteries, or baby diapers releases numerous chemicals such as styrene, lead, and xylene—all known carcinogens. These carcinogens are then left behind in the ash created by the fire and are also released into the atmosphere. I sure don’t want myself or anyone else to be breathing in those toxins! Another negative effect of burning trash is damage which accumulates over time. The trash leftover from a fire builds up in the environment causing long term effects. Animals are also attracted and conditioned to human food and trash and will go to extreme measures to seek these items out. Many times, this leads to animals becoming more aggressive and they are then destroyed to keep campers like you and me safe.  Consuming human food also disrupts the natural feeding cycles of wild animals. This would occur much less often if explorers were mindful of the waste they leave behind. Now, how can we go about being more mindful and leaving less waste? It’s simple: pack it in, pack it out. Campers should leave every campsite looking like it has been untouched by human (or gnome) hands. This can be accomplished by packing out all of our trash and either bringing it to a nearby trash receptacle or bringing it home where we can dispose of it appropriately.  By planning ahead for our outdoor adventures, we have the opportunity to reduce the volume of our trash tremendously. Packing food in reu... [More]