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Leave No Trace
Leave No Trace – Outdoor Ethics for Ireland
In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa made history by being the first to summit Mt Everest; many had tried unsuccessfully before them. Since early Victorian times our desire to travel and explore has brought us to wild places and we push that quest for knowledge and adventure further and further all the time. When Sir Edmund Hillary stood atop Everest he was in a vast white mountainous wilderness virtually untouched by man. If he were to visit today it would be very different – we have left our imprint on the surrounding landscape in the form of vast rubbish tips, human waste, eroded tracks and culturally by influencing the lives of those that live there. In these intervening 50 years Everest, a site sacred to the Tibetan and Nepali people has become the centerpiece in a tourist and recreation industry. Many hundred hopeful climbers ascend her each year in hope of battling their wits and skills against the mountain gods. Why do they do it? Everyone has their own personal reason just as we all have our own reasons for participating in the types of outdoor recreation that we choose. For some it may be a physical or mental challenge, others fitness, some to be part of nature or maybe to share experience with friends. All of these are legitimate reasons to be in the outdoors as long as we recreate responsibly.
We don’t have to travel to see the effects of a surge in outdoor recreation. In Ireland there are more and more of us pushing our sports to greater extremes and into more remote regions everyday. We engage in a wider range of water and land based activities now than ever before, and although our experiences may be personally satisfying, they can have a negative effect on the places we visit and the people and things that live there. We are really fortunate to have fantastic range of environments in our coasts, rivers, lakes, forests, mountains and crags, but these environments can also be fragile and vulnerable to damage. Eroded soils, trampled vegetation, polluted waters, damaged tracks and campsites, littering and displaced wildlife are just a sample of the impacts linked directly to recreational activities. Every action we take has a consequence. Negative impacts are an inevitable consequence of recreation – even the most thoughtful visitors leave footprints and unintentionally disturb wildlife. This may not seem all that important until we think of the cumulative effect of the many thousands who will come after us. The challenge for us as outdoor users is to enjoy our activities whilst minimizing our impact on the land, thereby preserving the integrity of the outdoors and the experiences of those who follow us. If we fail take up this challenge land managers may feel forced to impose restrictions and legislation that will restrict our freedom and enjoyment.
Leave No Trace is an outdoor message developed in the US in the early ’80’s and is now practiced in several countries like Canada, Australia and Finland. Leave No Trace (LNT) is primarily an education programme which is designed to help people make better decisions when using the outdoors. It differs from other codes and outdoor messages by promoting the concept of a “land ethic”. What is an ethic? An ethic can be described as an attitude or behaviour, or plainly speaking, what you do when no one is looking! At the core of the LNT ethic is a message of respect for the land, wildlife, other users and land owners/managers. It motivates outdoor enthusiasts to behave in a way that respects and protects the integrity of the land, as it recognises that the land has its own intrinsic value, not only a resource for us to use.
Leave No Trace is not based on rules or regulations. Nor does it replace existing regulations. Instead it offers people a different way of thinking. LNT is based on a set of seven core principles (see below) carefully chosen to educate users and rooted in recreation and social sciences. The message is backed up by a tiered education programme, which teaches people to look at their personal outdoor ethic, critically view their impacts and understand the effects of these impacts. Research in the US shows that up to 85% of all impacts are created unintentionally or through ill-informed actions. LNT has proven successful because it empowers the individual to make better personal choices in how they behave. This is a cornerstone to success as it gives people a sense that they can affect real change. It fosters a culture of participation and stewardship, and builds a sensitive attitude towards the outdoors. The beauty of LNT is that it’s simple, reasonable and makes good sense. In truth many of us are already practicing much of what LNT promotes, however exposure to the message may challenge us to examine other aspects of what we do in the outdoors.
Training courses in LNT include a five day Master Educator Course, three of which are taught in the field, a two day trainer course, ten hours in the field and awareness workshops which are variable in length, usually less than one day. These courses can be adapted for different activities and environments; for example, Master Educator courses can be run during a week’s climbing, walking or sea kayaking expedition. These courses teach the “hard skills” like appropriate human waste disposal, good campsite selection and management as well as the “soft skills” - these are the more ethical side of the message dealing with issues like behaviour around wildlife, disturbance of natural and cultural items, social impacts. The courses also aim to teach participants how to teach the LNT message themselves in a non-judgmental, non-sanctimonious way and provides teaching tips to help teach the subject in a participatory, engaging way.
In the US, LNT Master courses are generally provided by accredited organisations like the Scouts, the National Outdoor Leadership School and the Appalachian Mountaineering Club. They provide courses to their leaders and interested individuals who in turn run trainer courses for ordinary members who go on to practice LNT and educate their peers or even sometimes run awareness workshops. Universities also incorporate LNT into their outdoor syllabi allowing credits for students who successfully demonstrate a knowledge and practice of LNT. Individuals are also encouraged to join and practice LNT. Corporate sponsorship from the car manufacturer Subaru pays for teams of travelling educators to travel to schools and community groups across the country. Outdoor manufacturers provide financial support and display the LNT logo on their literature and in their shops, thereby encouraging their customers to support minimum impact recreation. Invariably an educational approach, like LNT, involves a long term buy in and to some degree the benefits may not be seen immediately. However, education is the only viable means to modify behaviour in the long term. Ultimately educational messages take time to filter to all levels of society before they become the “norm”.
For the past 18 months, a committee formed of representatives from Coillte, The Forestry Service, Heritage Council, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Mountaineering Council of Ireland, Duke of Edinburugh Award, Presidents Award, Scouting, Ireland, Girl Guides, Mountain Meitheal and the Countryside Access and Activities Network (CAAN) in Northern Ireland have been exploring the feasibility of LNT as an All-Ireland outdoor message. We are now in the process of setting up LNT Ireland as a branch of Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics in Colorado, just as the Canadians and Australians have done. A training calendar for Autumn 2005/Spring 2006 is being put together with a view to creating a cadre of LNT instructors who can help train others in LNT methods and spread the message. The involvement of CAAN in Northern Ireland means this is an all Ireland coordinated attempt to define an outdoor message for this island - this should add strength and avoid confusion.
Recently there has been interest from Scotland and Wales too. Back in March the Scots ran a Master Educator Course, the first to be run in Europe. I was lucky enough to be involved in the course run in the Western Highlands. The wild weather conditions – snow, hail, rain and very high winds – an average Scottish day, did little to quash the enthusiasm of the participants. They were a hardy bunch anyway made up of paddlers, sea kayak tour operators, environmental educators, outdoor instructors, tele mark skiers, an Eco tourism provider, a wildlife ranger and a lighthouse keeper! I had participated in a similar course last year in New Hampshire. Not knowing anyone else who had done this course, I was interested to meet the Scots and hear their thoughts on LNT. The feedback was good, from a business point of view many felt LNT made real business sense – it allows retailers and providers to be connected to a positive message that promotes good behaviour and practice, something which is set to become more important in promoting sustainable tourism and recreation. Many of the instructors felt that much of the message wasn’t necessarily new to them but it consolidated and “packaged” it for them in a way, which can be passed on easily. They intend to approach the Scottish Mountain Training Board with a view to incorporating LNT into their training schemes. From a user point of view, LNT helped make people explore and challenge their use of the outdoors but most importantly it helped us look at our connections to the natural world and develop a commitment to protect that which gives us so much.
In short, Leave No Trace makes good sense. As an outdoor message it’s not going to address everything that’s going on. There is always going to be anti-social behaviour - people who trash areas and don’t give a damn about anybody or anything else; regulations are the only means we have of dealing with these folk. But for the rest of us who don’t want our every move governed by restrictive rules and regulations, Leave No Trace is the best option we have. If we take responsibility for our actions and practice good outdoor ethics then, not only do we ensure our own continued use and enjoyment, but we also protect the integrity of the outdoors for future generations to enjoy too. Ghandi said that we should be the change we want to see in the world. If we examine our own outdoor ethic we will find that we all have something to learn, something to change, something we could do better and if we challenge ourselves to follow just some of the LNT principles then that’s better than none at all. We all go into the outdoors for very different reasons. We participate in a wide range of activities there. The one thing that connects us is this place we call the outdoors. As cities grow and pressures mount this place becomes more important for our physical and mental wellbeing. Let’s keep it special by aiming to Leave No Trace.
Leave No Trace – Outdoor Ethics
1.Plan ahead and prepare
2.Be considerate of your hosts and other visitors
3.Respect Wildlife and Farm Animals
4.Keep to Durable Ground
5.Leave What You Find
6.Dispose of Waste Properly
7.Minimise the Effects of Fire
If you would like more information on Leave No Trace Ireland or on participating in a training course, contact www.pathsavers.org who host the LNTI site.
More info: http://mountaintraining.ie/index.php?lnk=courses&type=mtnskills
More info: www.leavenotraceireland.org
More info: http://www.mountaintraining.ie/index.php?lnk=courses&type=walkinglship
Ann Fitzpatrick is a Leave No Trace Instructor and Head Guide in the Education Centre of the Wicklow Mountains National Park.
